Woodworking School

I am in the process of establishing a woodworking school that will be directed toward individuals who wish to "do it themselves." Many people dream of creating an "hierloom" that will be kept in the family for centuries. Perhaps you want a roll-top desk or a pool table and would like to try doing it yourself. If you want to build it but just need advice, tools and machines and coaching along the way then you may want to consider doing it in my studio. Following are some photo's of work in progress showing skills that can be learned easily. The first photo shows a cedar strip canoe under construction. It is 15 feet long and has full length 1/4" x 5/8" bead and cove planks. Inner stems are already in the canoe at both ends. The outer stems are formed and lying on the canoe hull and are ready to be fitted and shaped.

The Canoe Strongback

A strongback is the platform for the pattern sections that form the shape of the canoe. It must be built with precision with special attention to precise measurements, and square, plumb and level assembly. In other words - "absolute accuracy."

Raised Panel Doors

Shown here is an arched raised panel door blank being machined on a shaper using a starter pin. This panel has a cathedral arch top and has been bandsawn and sanded precisely to a pattern shape. The next step is to shape the arched top to its finished depth. Following this procedure the panel will go to a standard shaper where the other three straight sides will be machined. The completed panel will be assembled into a grooved frame set.

Frame & Raised Panel

This door in five quarter (5/4) eastern white hard rock sugar maple is highly figured and all of the profiles were machined with the shaper. The raised panel was done with a three wing cutter; the cope and pattern maching was done with a 6 piece - 3 wing cutter set and the edge detail was cut with a single 3 wing cutter (shown here).