Sketching is an important skill shared by makers across many disciplines–here’s an opportunity to practice and improve.
This weekly sketching group includes visual prompts and an opportunity to ask questions as you practice. It's facilitated by a veteran BARN instructor.
Ages 14 and up are welcome.
View BARN’s current COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
BARN is committed to accessibility. Tuition assistance is available. Fill out the application before registering.
For those who might need physical assistance, learn more about our Companion Program.
Michael Gunderson facilitates these sessions. A veteran BARN instructor, he moved to Bainbridge Island after a 30-plus year career in public education in California. His degree is in the arts, and he's taught classes in art, jewelry, ceramics, and the trades, as well as serving as an activities and athletic director. He is a founding member of BARN and a past lead of BARN Woodworking.
Michael thinks of himself as a person who solves visual problems. He proposes a situation and looks to openly create a visual answer, whether it be paint, wood, or combinations of media. “Drawing is a language that creatives share,” he said. His sketchbook is a companion that he converses with daily.
Details:
Please click here for BARN's current COVID-19 health & safety protocols.
Get started in woodturning by learning safety, tool control, and how to create basic shapes for spindle and bowl turning.
A small project will be started and completed as time permits.
In Session 1, you will learn about woodturning safety, bevel contact, and gouge technique focusing on good body mechanics - all important to building a foundation to launch your turning skills. You will use the roughing gouge during most of the class, followed by an introduction to the regular (“fingernail”) spindle gouge. Tools you will use include a spindle roughing gouge and fingernail spindle gouge.
In Session 2, you will review the earlier lesson, and then focus on the spindle gouge and parting tool, learning new mechanics for turning beads and coves. Toward the end of class, you will learn how a scroll chuck and tenon work in preparation for Session 3.
In Session 3, you will increase the precision of your turning technique by making a small project such as a honey dipper, finial, spinning top, or goblet, with your own design elements. You will use a scroll chuck, a Jacobs chuck and Forstner bit.
Completing this class clears you to use the wood lathes for spindle turning during open studio. While you also will be eligible to take a bowl-turning class, it is strongly suggested you spend time turning in open studio a few times before you enroll in a bowl class.
Wear safety glasses and closed-toe shoes, tie back long hair, and avoid loose-fitting clothing and jewelry. We recommend bringing your own safety glasses.
You must first complete Orientation to the Woodshop. Multiple sessions of this free, one-hour class are listed on the Woodworking Calendar. Log in to your BARN account and click on "My event registrations" to ensure you will have completed this class before Intro to Woodturning begins.
Class Policies
Jamie Straw has been turning wood for several years, working on both spindle and bowl projects, and has taught woodturning at BARN since July 2017. She also serves as coordinator of BARN’s woodturning classes. She is past vice president for education and training for the local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners. Her focus is on helping students build skills progressively as they design and create their woodturning projects.
Learn the basics of designing and building Euro-style cabinets, also known as frameless cabinets, as you build one!
Build a simple cabinet that includes the basic features found in base and upper cabinets in this intermediate-level class. We start with an overview of cabinet styles with an emphasis on Euro-style and a discussion about cabinet materials and useful tools.
You learn how to sketch a plan, make a cut list, and estimate materials, then go on to accurately and safely cut down a sheet of plywood and assemble the pieces into a sturdy, square cabinet box. You add the drawer and door and learn how to adjust the hinges so the door hangs properly. The class covers the basics of how to install cabinets, but that is not demonstrated.
At the end of this class, you'll be prepared to build simple cabinets with the dimensions you want during open studio sessions. If you have a complicated cabinet, extra help is available in our Coached Woodworking Open Studio sessions, which are listed on the Woodworking Calendar.
You must wear safety glasses and closed-toe shoes, tie back long hair, and avoid loose-fitting clothing and jewelry.
We recommend bringing your own safety glasses.
You will go home with an upper cabinet approximately 28" tall, 20" wide and 12" deep, with one drawer and one door.
A $100 materials fee included in the cost of the class covers all the plywood, hardware, and supplies you need.
You must have completed Orientation to the Woodshop and Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 1 & 2. Multiple sessions are listed on the Woodworking Calendar.
Dave Whitacre and Roz Estime. Dave moved to Bainbridge in 2013 after he retired as a petroleum engineer in Alaska. Woodworking has been his hobby for the past 40-plus years. He's enjoyed designing and building traditional-styled furniture and hopes to broaden his skills and techniques now that he has more time to devote to the craft. Roz has been an active member in the BARN woodshop since 2018. He is an architectural planner specializing in hospitals and laboratory facilities design.
If you have beginning skills in Fusion 360 software, this class will introduce you to this design program’s CAM (computer-assisted machining) functions.
At the second session in the Woodshop, you will use the CAM functions to develop tool paths for the router, output G code to run the router, and use the Laguna CNC to cut out and embellish your wooden box.
You will create a box made of maple and walnut. With the lid, it measures 5 1/4" long, 4" wide, and up to 3" high. At the end of class, it will be ready for sanding and finishing.
Bring a laptop with a mouse and a working copy of Fusion 360 already installed.
Doug Salot has adopted Fusion 360 as a lifestyle. He has used it to design signs, cabinets, and replacement parts for various broken things. You'll often find him in ETA using the laser cutter or in the woodshop carving things on BARN's CNC router.
Learn how to use hand tools skillfully in this four-session component of BARN's Beginning Woodworking series.
Once you've taken Orientation to the Woodshop, join us to build a two-compartment tote, handy for storing or carrying silverware, garden tools, or other items. The project was specifically designed to give you experience with the most common hand tools.
You will learn to use:
All students must wear a mask to this class.
Orientation to the Woodshop (multiple sessions are listed on the Woodworking Calendar)
Tom Leurquin has been a BARN member since its opening and specializes in projects involving hand tools. After taking several hand tool courses at BARN and the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, he fell in love with the intimacy and meditative aspects of working wood by hand. His civil engineering background has helped him achieve a critical eye for detail and precision that enriches the art of hand tool woodworking.
Building or repairing a violin is a challenging project, and not one that can be completed in a few class sessions. So this class is structured to let you work at your own pace with a minimum of stress. The class fee covers three hours a week of instructor time for 12 weeks — approximately three months. You can also work independently between sessions. If your instrument is not completed after three months, you can sign up for another 12 weeks (or more). It's likely that 12 weeks will not be enough to build a new violin, especially if you don't already have hand woodworking experience or if you can't devote much time to work on it between sessions.
The instructor will focus instruction on what each student needs. If you're building a violin, you will start with a bundle of wood and go through all the steps, from shaping the parts to assembling them, applying finish, and setting up your instrument so it's ready to play. If you're repairing a violin, the steps will depend on what is needed.
This class is open to beginning woodworkers and students who do not play the violin or fiddle (the instruments are the same; it's the playing that differs). But experience with either or both crafts would be an asset.
Learn the basic safety principles of five key tools in the woodworking shop.
In this hands-on class, you will make practice cuts on wood that the shop will supply. Completing this class qualifies you to use the following tools during open studio time or in classes that have this as a prerequisite:
You will shape a piece of wood using specific studio tools.
All needed materials will be provided.
None.
Charles Sharpe
Gather with other woodcarvers to share tips, explore different techniques, and work on individual carving projects.
More a weekly gathering than a formal class, Carving Afternoon is open to beginners as well as experienced woodcarvers.
Each session begins with basic safety and carving instruction, so beginners should plan to arrive promptly at 1 pm. Blanks for a simple carving project and all tools will be provided.
More experienced carvers should bring a project to work on as well as any personal carving tools, although BARN tools also are available. Once beginners are engaged in their projects, there will be time at each session to explore more complicated techniques, discuss carving traditions, learn about topics such as sharpening or wood selection, and get advice about the best way to proceed.
Work on your own project or one provided for beginners, which will be a simple basswood figure or design. The projects shown are all by BARN members who plan to participate in these sessions. Dan Webb carved the wooden balloon and the hand. Jeff Iller made the spoons. Bill Clapp carved the halibut bowl.
All materials and tools are provided at no cost for the instructor-led project. Participants must bring materials for their independent projects.
Try It! Make a garden trug from old-growth cedar and copper in an intro to the Woodworking and Metal Fabrication studios.
Trugs are great for harvesting veggies or flowers. In this beginner-friendly class, you'll use wood purchased from Makoto Imai, a master of Japanese woodworking profiled in The Seattle Times. You’ll cut the end pieces with a bandsaw, and use a bandsaw or hand saw to cut strips for the basket bottom and sides to the desired length.
You’ll then bend the copper handle, cut the copper connector plate, and use Chicago screws to hold the parts together.
This is part of BARN's "Try It!" series of classes meant to introduce students to new skills.
A garden trug approximately 10" wide by 16" long
David Grant and Linda Sohlberg David is a safety monitor in the Woodworking Studio and has taken the lead on many community-service projects. Linda leads the sheet metal activities in BARN's Metal Fabrication Studio.
Learn to sharpen the tools you need to turn spindles, bowls, and other projects on the wood lathe.
To turn wood effectively and enjoyably, you need sharp tools with high-quality profiles.
Learn to sharpen gouges according to BARN protocol and gain an understanding of how to sharpen other tools (e.g., skews, parting tools, scrapers).
If you would like advice on your own tools, you are welcome to bring them.
This class is strongly recommended for students who have completed Intro to Woodturning or are enrolled in Intro to Bowl Turning. The class is required for any turners who wish to use BARN turning tools on an ongoing basis.
This is a skills class focused on sharpening tools needed for the wood lathe.
Any needed materials will be provided.
None
You must wear safety glasses and closed-toe shoes, tie back long hair, and avoid loose-fitting clothing and jewelry. We recommend bringing your own safety glasses.
BARN is committed to accessibility. Tuition assistance is available. Fill out the application before registering
Jamie Straw has been turning wood for several years, working on both spindle and bowl projects, and has taught woodturning at BARN since July 2017. She also serves as coordinator of BARN’s woodturning classes. She is past vice president for education and training for the local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners. Her focus is on helping students build skills progressively as they design and create their projects.
Get checked out on the Woodworking Studio’s major power tools not covered in the Tool Safety Checkout 1 class.
Learn the basic features of VCarve Pro, a popular program used to make signs, engravings, intricate inlays and imported 3D shapes and models on computer-controlled routers.
VCarve Pro is easier to learn than Fusion 360, the other 3D design program taught at BARN, and can be used for projects on both the large CNC router in the Woodworking Studio and the small CNC router in the ETA Lab.
Session 1 is in the ETA studio so you can use the VCarve Pro software to design an 8x16" sign and prototype your design on ETA's laser cutter. In session 2, we meet in the Woodworking Studio to carve it on the CNC router.
Please note: To take this class, you need a laptop computer with a mouse and a working copy of VCarve Pro 11 already downloaded to that computer (you can download a free trial at www.vectric.com). The software requires a PC or a MAC that has Windows installed. There is no time during class to download the program. If you have questions or run into problems downloading the program, please email the instructor for help. If you don't have a laptop you can bring to class, you may use an ETA Studio desktop computer with the software already loaded.
BARN is committed to accessibility. Tuition Assistance is available - click here to fill out the simple application before registering for a class. For those who might need physical assistance, please learn about BARN's Companion Program here.
Al Ebken - Al is a retired ocean engineer with many years of computer and computer-aided design experience. In the picture, he's using the Woodworking Studio's CNC router to make parts for face shields to protect against coronavirus infection.
The meeting this month has been canceled. We apologize for any inconvenience.
These monthly meetings always offer an informative presentation on various aspect of woodworking, plus a short business meeting. It's a good opportunity to meet other woodworkers of all skill levels, learn what's new in the shop, and share your thoughts on class offerings and studio operations.
As usual, we’ll have coffee and nibbles. Free and open to all — no need to register.
Instructor bio:
Practice your woodturning skills or work on a project you need help with under the guidance of a woodturning instructor.
Everything from simple bead-and-cove sticks to handles, boxes, goblets, and bowls are appropriate for this guided studio time.
Whatever you're working on, whether that be a specific project or your woodturning skills.
Bring stock or notify the instructor in advance of stock you need, but do not have (paid for separately).
This introduction to our Woodworking & Small Boatbuilding Studio is required for anyone who wants to work in the studio.
This free orientation covers policies and etiquette in a community workshop, safety, and the studio’s leadership structure.
The Open Studio experience is discussed as well as what the studio contributes to support members’ learning and project work.
Learning opportunities to help the studio run smoothly are provided. Volunteer jobs range from serving as safety monitors, assisting on community service projects, and helping on Monday Maintenance.
If you are new to woodworking, a basic series of classes is explained to help you begin your woodworking experience while using natural and sustainable materials to create with your hands.
You will learn how our studio works and fulfill the orientation prerequisite for further use of the studio and classes.
Any materials used will be provided.
Jeff Williams
If you're looking to tackle a project but want some help to develop and complete it, this guided open studio is for you.
You and up to two other woodworkers will have access to an instructor to guide your work. You will share the shop and tools with others, just as in any open studio. These sessions are scheduled on the second and fourth Sundays of each month.
This experience promises to build your woodworking knowledge while increasing confidence and skill using the woodshop. It is open to beginning woodworkers, as well as those with more experience who are seeking help with an unfamiliar process or a technical challenge, such as determining the most suitable joinery or designing a jig.
Purchase your own materials.
Ages 14 and up are welcome. (unless otherwise specified in class details, in which case omit)
Ben Dykstra has been a woodworker for almost 30 years and has expertise in custom furniture and high-end kitchen cabinetry. He has worked with youth for more than 10 years and currently teaches middle school woodshop and high school technical drawing and CAD.
Make a chessboard using real wood veneers that you cut precisely and laminate in a vacuum press.
Working with thin pieces of two kinds of wood with naturally contrasting colors, you will learn to cut strips and then shorter pieces to precise widths and lengths. You will arrange the veneer pieces into a traditional chessboard pattern, glue them to a plywood base, and use a vacuum press to provide even pressure while the glue cures.
Then you will make solid wood banding for the edges, fine-tuning the joints so they fit precisely. And, finally, you will smooth out the surfaces and apply a coat of a natural wood finish.
You will go home with a chessboard approximately 14" square and 3/4" thick that's ready to use.
A materials fee of $10, included in the cost of the class, covers all materials and supplies to make the board. You will need to supply the chess pieces or checkers.
Make a set of jigs to simplify kumiko woodworking, a Japanese-style process of cutting and arranging thin strips of wood.
Kumiko is a technique of assembling wooden pieces into intricate, interlocking geometric patterns without nails.
You may also wish to sign up for a class that uses these jigs to make several kumiko pieces with different traditional patterns. Learn more and register for that here.
You will make five jigs that help ensure accurate cuts:
Paul Kury studied woodworking at Lonnie Bird’s School of Fine Woodworking in Dandridge, Tenn., and has been an active woodworker for more than 40 years. His preference is 18th-century furniture. Paul also volunteers as a woodworking safety monitor at BARN.
Mike Morgan
Build a small, Shaker-style table as you learn how to take a project from initial idea to finished project.
This class is designed for students who know the basics of using tools but want to further those skills under the guidance of an experienced instructor.
We will cover:
Build a hardwood table about 26 inches high with a 16-by-16-inch top and a base about 14 inches by 14 inches. Suitable as a lamp stand or night stand.
A $35 materials fee included in the cost of the class covers all wood and shop supplies needed to build your table. Depending on wood prices, the table might be maple, cherry, poplar, or another hardwood.
The fee does not include finish, which you will need to supply and apply after you take your table home.
Ted Newman studied woodworking and has assisted in classes at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine. He is active in BARN's woodworker group and volunteers as a safety monitor.
Jeanne Huber
Teens (7th-12th grade), come on down to BARN for a free evening of art, friends, music, and creativity! You're not going to want to miss it. We'll have pizza and snacks and you'll get to choose from activities like cooking, woodworking, sewing, jewelry making, metal working, and more - every month is a different lineup. Come with a friend or come on your own and meet new friends!
Teen Night is so popular that we're now requiring registration to ensure that there's enough food and activities for everyone!
We're grateful to the City of Bainbridge Island for their financial support so we can offer this event for teens in our community!
Learn the fundamentals of carving a sculpture from wood as you shape a piece of walnut into a candlestick.
Both beginners and experienced carvers who want to make sculptures can benefit from this class, which covers all the basic steps in creating a three-dimensional wood carving.
After exploring some of the many candlestick designs made by carvers from around the world, you will work with the instructor to choose a design that is simple enough to complete or nearly complete in this five-session class. If you want, you can work on your piece between class sessions during the carving afternoons scheduled for 1-3 pm Sundays, and at other open studios listed on the Woodworking Calendar.
Once you have a design, you will cut and glue up the size block you need. Then you will transfer your sketch to the wood and rough-cut the shape on a bandsaw. You will use a variety of hand carving tools to create a progressively more refined shape. You also will learn how to sharpen the tools, an essential aspect of wood-carving.
Learn the fundamentals of the powerful and versatile table saw - the cornerstone of every shop.
We start this introductory class with the anatomy of the table saw and how to calibrate it to achieve precise cuts every time. Then we move on to skills like ripping wood, making miter cuts, and learning to make rabbets and dadoes.
By the end of this class, you'll have covered most of the cuts you'll ever make with a table saw. You'll have the skills and confidence to change blades, the know-how to ensure that your cuts are straight and square, and understand how to cut pieces to size accurately and repetitively.
This class focuses on learning techniques, not building a class project.
You must first complete Orientation to the Woodshop and Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 1. Multiple sessions are listed on the Woodworking Calendar. Log in to your BARN account and click on "My event registrations" to confirm that you have completed these prerequisites.
Dina Madson is a safety monitor in the Woodworking Studio and a local general contractor. She has battled her addiction to wood and woodworking machinery for more than 30 years.
Invitation Only: Volunteer Appreciation
Who doesn’t like pizza? Level up your pizza game with your very own crafted wooden pizza peel.
This is a beginner-friendly class. In the first session, you will choose wood strips to lay out and learn how to properly glue and clamp wood strips together. You will also have a chance to make it your own by designing a shape or other features you like. In the second session, you will cut out the shape with a bandsaw, fine-tune the shape with large sanders, and work on edge profiling with files and orbital sanders. Time permitting, you can apply a food-safe butcher block oil that will bring out the beauty of the wood and protect the peel.
And you are now required to make pizza for the Woodshop with your new peel!
Make two bowls as you build woodturning skills and learn some special techniques and insights needed for this craft.
Turn two green-wood bowls (using green wood for blanks being the best - and most fun - way to hone your bowl-turning skills), working on smooth and efficient cuts, to create two bowls six to seven inches in diameter. In the first session, you learn the best bowl shape for a novice turner, how to safely mount the blank on the lathe, and how to use a scroll chuck and bowl gouge. You also learn how to maintain even wall thickness, and how to treat the bowl to prevent cracking while it dries. In the second session, in addition to turning a second bowl, you learn the basics of balancing grain and which Northwest woods are best for turning.
By successfully completing these two sessions and turning two bowls, you will have a good understanding of the process and techniques, and be qualified to turn bowls of this size independently during open studio in the Woodworking Studio. You will be provided with a third bowl blank to turn during open studio.
While this class is oriented to novice turners, it also is appropriate and useful for experienced turners who have predominantly used scrapers and wish to acquire or improve their gouge skills.
Open to students who have taken Intro to Woodturning or demonstrated equivalent lathe safety and turning skills during a private studio session, which you can arrange by contacting Jamie Straw, (360) 551-9233, at least 10 days before this class.
Students must also have completed Orientation to the Woodshop, Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 1, and Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 2. Multiple sessions are listed on the Woodworking Calendar. Please login to your BARN account and click on "My event registrations" to ensure you will have completed the required prerequisites before this class begins.
Bowl photograph by Joy McCallister Photography.
Learn Fusion 360, a 3-D design program that lets you turn designs into items made of metal, wood, plastic, or molds.
Fusion 360 can generate G-codes (geometric codes) for computer-controlled tools at BARN including the plasma cutter in the Welding and Sheet Metal Shop, the milling machine in the Machine Shop, or the CNC router in the Woodworking Studio. You can also use Fusion 360 to design objects for BARN's 3-D printers.
This two-session class is designed to allow you to work with the program after the first session and get help with roadblocks or answers to your questions during the second session. Allow time between sessions to work on your project, which you will get at the first session. A learning reference guide will be provided on the techniques covered in the class, including:
You must bring a laptop computer with a mouse and a working copy of Fusion 360 already downloaded. This is critical as no computers are provided, and the design program does not work well with a trackpad. There is no time during class to download the program.
You can download a free trial directly from Fusion. Click "Get started" under the column "Fusion 360 for Personal Use." It will walk you through the process including creating an account and a confirmation email.