The Fall Lineup Is Up

Fall is the good season in a woodshop. The humidity drops, the wood stops moving around on you, and it stops feeling like a waste to spend a Saturday inside. It’s also when people finally get around to the thing they’ve been meaning to do since spring.

So here’s what we’ve got on the calendar between now and the end of the year.

Start here: Introduction to Woodworking

This is still our signature class, and it’s still the best way to find out whether the shop is for you. You build a Shaker-style end table from rough lumber to finished piece — layout, joinery, hand tools, power tools, finishing. No experience required. All materials and tools included.

Three ways to take it this fall, depending on what your life looks like:

• Evening series — Thursday, September 24 or Thursday, November 5, 5:30–8:00 PM over five weeks
• Saturday Special — starting Saturday, September 26, 8:30 AM–12:30 PM over three Saturdays
• Weekend Intensive — Saturday, November 14, 9–5, plus Sunday 9–noon

$350, or $250 for members. Finish the class and your first month of membership is free.

Short classes, real projects

If five weeks is more than you want to commit to right now, start smaller.

Make a Tool Tote — September 19, October 24, or December 5, 9 AM. Four hours, real mortise and tenon joinery, and you leave with something you’ll actually use every time you’re in the shop. $150 / $100 members. This one also satisfies the hands-on class requirement for new members.

Make a Serving Tray — September 1 & 8, September 22 & 29, or November 3 & 10, 5:30 PM. Two evenings. A cherry tray with rabbeted corners and a captured panel bottom — which is to say, it’s a small piece of casework wearing a disguise. $150 / $125 members.

On the lathe

Turning Tool Sharpening — Friday, September 4, 6 PM. If your gouges are dull, everything you make on the lathe is going to fight you. Come fix that.

Introduction to Woodturning — Saturday, October 10. Spindle and bowl work from the ground up in a single weekend. $350 / $250 members.

Segmented Turning — Saturday, October 3. Cut, glue, and turn a twelve-segment bowl over a weekend. There’s some real geometry in this one, and it’s satisfying when it comes together. $350 / $250 members.

Step up

Craftsman-Style Bench — Tuesday, November 17, 5:30 PM, five weeks. An Arts & Crafts slat bench in solid cherry, joined with the Festool Domino. Advanced, and worth it. $350 / $250 members, plus $80 materials.

Make a Whiskey Cabinet — a cherry wall-mounted cabinet with a laser-cut marquetry door panel, three weekends. Intro to Woodworking is a prerequisite. Watch the schedule for the next session.

And a heads up: Make a Stick Chair is in development for next year. Traditional Windsor-style, green woodworking, shaping, hand tools. More on that when it’s real.

A note on signing up

Seats are small on purpose. The short classes fill fastest, and the Intro sessions tend to go a few weeks out. If you’re eyeing something, book it rather than thinking about it.

Full schedule and registration →

Steven