This class has prerequisites. Please see below.
Make two bowls 6 to 7 inches in diameter in this two-session class as you build your woodturning skills and learn some of the special techniques and insights needed for bowl-turning.
The best (and most fun) way to hone your bowl-turning skills is to use green wood for the blanks. In this class you will turn two green-wood bowls, working on smooth and efficient cuts. In the first session, you will 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 will 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 will learn the basics about 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 time in the BARN Woodworking Studio.
While this class is oriented to novice turners, it is also appropriate and useful for experienced turners who have predominantly used scrapers and wish to acquire or improve their gouge skills.
Details:
Please click here for BARN's current COVID-19 health & safety protocols.
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.
Photograph by Joy McCallister Photography.
Instructor: 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.
You will make the box from maple and walnut. With the lid, the box will be 5¼ inches long, 4 inches wide and up to 3 inches high. At the end of class, your box will be ready for sanding and finishing.
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.
Instructor Bio: 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.
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Designed as a user's guide to BARN's Woodworking & Small Boatbuilding Studio, this free orientation session is required for all who wish to work in the Woodworking Studio. It will cover everything from shop etiquette to specifics of how to use the shop's dust collection and compressed air systems. Overall BARN policies, as well as shop-specific ones, will also be covered.
Participants will also learn about the leadership structure within the shop and about opportunities to participate in helping everything run smoothly. Volunteer jobs range from serving as safety monitors to helping on Maintenance Mondays.
Instructor: Jeff Williams
Practice your woodturning skills or try a project you need help with under the guidance of a woodturning instructor. You will need to bring stock or notify the instructor in advance of stock you need but do not have (paid for separately). Everything from simple bead-and-cove sticks to handles, boxes, goblets and bowls are appropriate for this guided studio time.
BARN is committed to accessibility. For those who might need physical assistance, please learn about BARN's Companion Program here.
Instructor: Mike Morgan
To use the shop, you will also need to attend our free one-hour Orientation to the Woodshop class.
Woodshop Tool Safety 1 will qualify you to use the following tools during Open Studio time and in classes that require certification in these tools:
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.
Dovetails started out as a practical solution to keep drawers from coming apart as people tugged and pushed them in and out. Today, they still serve that purpose. But, in an era when there are also mechanical drawer slides and machine-assisted ways to join wood at right angles, hand-cut dovetails are celebrated as a code for fine craftsmanship.
Learning how to make these joints is a sure way to build your woodworking skills, because the process involves the fundamental steps common to all hand-cut joinery. In this class, you will learn how to design, lay out and mark dovetails, and how to cut them accurately and efficiently using hand saws and chisels. You'll also learn the tricks to getting them to fit perfectly.
There won't be enough time in this class to complete a project, but you will go home with one or two completed corners, which you can use to refresh your memory later about which parts to cut and which to leave. It's surprisingly easy to get that mixed up if you haven't cut dovetails for a while, so having a reference piece can save you a lot of grief.
Details
You must wear safety glasses and closed-toe shoes. We recommend bringing your own safety glasses.
Instructor: Ted Newman. Ted 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.
NOTE: This class was originally scheduled for Sept 25 but has been rescheduled to Oct. 2.
Learn the fundamentals of making beautiful wooden pens as you also learn safe use of a lathe to make small wooden objects using carbide turning tools.
The instructor will discuss the basic concepts of turning, using the modern pen as a model. You will use the drill press to prepare your turning blanks. Then, depending on the experience level of students in the class, the instructor will work out a schedule so that each student gets sufficient lathe time and one-on-one attention to complete a pen.
Instructor: Jeanne Huber
Help design and build woodland or wetland creatures for holiday displays at Bloedel Reserve, the 150-acre forest garden on Bainbridge Island.
In this Community Service project, youth and adults will team up to turn natural materials gathered at Bloedel into sculptures that will be on display from Thanksgiving through the New Year. Each participant will receive a free pass to visit Bloedel during the holiday season to see how the projects were used and enjoy the trails.
Beginners, including the adult helpers, are welcome. Participation is free but registration is required. You can sign up as a team of two adults or an adult and a youth, or parents or guardians can register a youth who will work with a volunteer recruited by the BARN Woodworking Studio. This activity is offered on multiple days, and you can sign up for more than one. The goal is for each team to complete one piece at each session.
Learn how to create a lidded wooden box to hold a range of small items – candy, rings, trinkets – or just for show or gift-giving. Turning wooden boxes is an enjoyable, creative past-time; it’s also a skill-builder that encourages you to employ a variety of tools and techniques.
In this class you will create and finish a classic cylindrical box with a fitted lid from a single piece of stock. You will use not only familiar tools such as a roughing gouge, spindle gouge and parting tool, but also a negative rake scraper plus a skew, which will improve the quality of the surface and provide crisp transitions. You will learn the sequence of steps that must be followed to successfully complete a box with a precision fit to the top, and how to create and use a jam chuck for finishing the bottom.
This class is designed for turners who have mastered the basics and long to expand their techniques.
Prerequisites:
Instructor:
Bob Abresch is a long-time woodworker who has been turning since 2017, when the BARN facility opened. He has taken classes from several notable local turners and has enjoyed creating a variety of turned objects which, much to his surprise and delight, have been popular items at BARN’s annual bazaar.
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 will be in the ETA studio where you will use the VCarve Pro software to design an 8x16" sign. You will prototype your design on ETA's laser cutter then in session 2, you will meet down in the wood shop 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. 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 the 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 the class, you may use an ETA studio desktop computer with the required software already loaded.
Instructor: Al Ebken 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.
Build a small, Shaker-style table suitable as a lamp stand or night stand as you learn to take a project through all of the steps from initial idea to finished project.
This class is designed for students who know the basics of using tools but want to develop those skills more under the guidance of an experienced instructor. This class includes:
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:
"Where do you get your wood for turning?” -- Perhaps the most common question woodturners are asked by people new to the craft!
In this class you will learn not only where to find or buy wood, but also how to evaluate wood for different projects; how to cut, preserve and store it (if it is green); how to lay out bowls, vessels and spindles on your stock to ensure good project success; and how to maximize the yield from your wood. Much of the wood local turners use is free “found” or “fallen” wood, and there are many details to learn about how, when and where to obtain these treasures.
Woodturners use bandsaws to prepare much of their stock, and are often challenged by irregular pieces of wood that require special safety tactics. In this class you will learn how to determine which approach you should use for a particular piece of wood, be it a log, a burl or a piece of spindle stock. Students who have taken Tool Safety II will gain hands-on experience in cutting turning stock on one of the studio’s bandsaws.
You are welcome to bring one or two pieces of wood you want to evaluate for turning stock.
This program has prerequisites. Please see below.
If you're looking to tackle a project but want some help to develop and complete it, Woodshop Guided Open Studio is for you. By signing up for this program, 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 will be scheduled once a month, on the second Sunday of each month, while we gauge interest.
This program promises to help build your woodworking knowledge while increasing confidence and skill using the woodshop. It is open to both 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.
This class has a pre-requisite. Please see below.
As you build a poplar box about 6 inches wide, 12 inches long and 3½ to 4 inches tall, you will learn how to design, lay out and mark the dovetails, and how to cut them accurately and efficiently using hand saws and chisels. You'll also learn tricks for getting a perfect fit. Depending on the pace of the class, you will finish your box using a combination of hand and power tools. There may be time to make a lid.
Dovetails started out as a practical solution to keep drawers from coming apart as people tugged and pushed them in and out. Today, they still serve that purpose. But, in an era when there are machine-assisted ways to join wood at right angles, and mechanical drawer slides, hand-cut dovetails have become a code for fine craftsmanship.
* This class has prerequisites. Please see below.
The 36” Northfield bandsaw is the Wood Studio’s “Big Boy” and requires separate user qualification from the other bandsaws. Successful completion of this class, plus some supervision in your first Studio use of the Northfield, will qualify you to use it independently in Open Studio. You will learn important safety guidelines, how to inspect and tune up this big saw, how to resaw boards and how to cut irregular or unstable stock safely.
Instructor: Jamie Straw. Jamie has been woodworking for more than 20 years and has experience on all of the standard stationary tools of a wood shop. Her first floor-model tool was a bandsaw, which she uses for both sawing large woodturning blanks and processing dimensional lumber.
It is time to make your perfect Jack O Lantern creations and there is no better way than with a proper set of carving tools.
This class will instruct you in making handles for each of these tools. This pumpkin carving set features: a Scoop to easily remove seeds and pulp, Angle Knife to help cut out patterns and trim edges; Serrated Carving Knife to create eyes, teeth, nose and other fine detail work.
This is an excellent beginning handle-turning exercise to introduce you to woodworking on the lathe and you will create a treasured tool set that will bring joy for many Halloweens to come.
This class has a prerequisite. Please see below.
Get started on your woodturning adventure with this three-session beginner's class, where you will learn safety, tool control, and how to create the basic shapes involved in spindle and bowl turning. A small project will be started and completed as time permits.
By successfully completing this class, you will be cleared to use the wood lathes for spindle turning during Open Studio. While you will also be eligible to take a bowl-turning class, it is strongly suggested that you spend time turning in Open Studio a few times before you enroll in a bowl class.
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: 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.
Virtually all woodworking projects involve measurement and math, for everything from calculating materials needed to ensure that parts are cut to dimensions that fit together properly. This class, part of BARN's Woodworking Basics series, will walk you through various kinds of measuring tools, from rulers and measuring tapes to French curves and digital calipers.
You'll get tips about how to lay out angles and curves, how to measure, and how to mark dimensions to ensure accuracy. You will also learn basic math principles that are helpful in woodworking — and ways to cope if math isn't your strong suit.
Beginners, including the adult helpers, are welcome. Participation is free but registration is required.
You can sign up as a team of two adults or an adult and a youth, or parents or guardians can register a youth who will work with a volunteer recruited by the BARN Woodworking Studio. This activity is offered on multiple days, and you can sign up for more than one. The goal is for each team to complete one piece at each session.
Learn the basics of designing and building Euro-style cabinets, also known as frameless cabinets, as you build a versatile utility cabinet that could be at home in a den, office, craft room or garage.
You will build a base cabinet with a top drawer, two doors and one or two shelves. You will be able to modify the dimensions to fit your needs, within the limit of what can be cut from a sheet of plywood. The materials fee covers one sheet of 3/4-inch hardwood plywood per student, with an option to get it pre-finished or unfinished, in case you want to paint once you take it home. Also included are 100-pound-capacity, full-extension drawer slides, hinges, and other supplies needed to complete your cabinet. If you want to use your cabinet later as a free-standing piece, you may want to add casters and a countertop. These will be discussed in the class but the materials are not included in the class fee.
The class will start with an overview of cabinet styles, with an emphasis on Euro-style cabinets and their components. There will also be a discussion about cabinet materials and useful tools. You will learn how to sketch a plan, make a cut list and estimate materials, then go on to accurately and safely cut down sheets of plywood and assemble the pieces into a sturdy, square cabinet box. You'll also learn how to add components: shelves, doors and drawers. The class will cover the basics of how to install cabinets, but the actual installation is not included in the class.
Instructor: Dave Whitacre, assisted by Wayne Chang and Roz Estime.
Instructor: Charles Sharpe
Gain confidence in using a wide array of power tools safely in this three-week component of BARN's Intro to Woodworking series.
You will build a sturdy, two-step stepstool of solid wood and plywood. The project was specifically designed to give you experience with the most common stationary and portable tools in the woodshop:
Instructor: Bob Mathisrud. Bob was cross trained in many trades as a stationary operating engineer, for over 20 years. He helps at BARN in many ways, including by volunteering as a safety monitor in the Woodworking Studio. Morgan Neff will assist.
