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Adirondack Chair In A Day What could be a more classic woodworking project than
an Adirondack Chair? So many students have asked for this class, we had
to add it. Each student will construct and take home a pine Adirondack
chair, learning lots of tricks to simplify building. We'll use pattern
cutters on the bandsaw and flush trim router bits on the router table to make
identical parts. The chairs are assembled using exterior glue, exterior
screws, and Miller Dowels. Unlike lots of Adirondack chairs, this design
has both a curved back and curved seat, making it extremely comfortable.
Each student will leave with a set of wooden templates so you can
make lots more chairs for your yard! (8 hours) Cost: $175.00 Prerequisite: Woodworking I or Build
A Mantel Clock or suitable previous shop experience.
Bowl Turning I Did
you know that you could turn a rough looking piece of wood into a finished
bowl? Here’s your chance to try
it. Students will be introduced to
parts of a lathe, selection of tools, and material selection and mounting. Each
student will turn a bowl mounted on a dummy board (plywood backer) using a paper joint technique. This
class emphasizes the scraping technique. (3 hrs) Cost: $85.00
Prerequisite: None
Build a Mantel Clock
This is an entry level project that will provide you
an opportunity to use almost every tool in the shop and will teach you how to
select wood and lay out a project. At the end of this one-day class, you will
go home with a beautiful mantel clock made from exotic hardwoods that will
amaze your friends. These clocks make
great gifts. This class serves as a
substitute for the Woodworking I Tool Tote class. One
day. Cost $175.00 Instructor: Dave
Abraham
Cabinetmaking I Learn the basics of cabinetmaking including dado and rabbet joints,
face frame construction, and the cutting of door rails and stiles. Students
will construct a wall cabinet of hardwood plywood with a half-overlay flat
panel door. Adjustable shelf holes are
made with a plunge router and shop-made template. The techniques learned in this class are core to making cabinets,
bookcases, dressers, and entertainment centers. (2 days) Cost: $340.00 Prerequisite: Woodworking I or
Build A Mantel Clock or suitable previous shop experience.
Chair Making I Need chairs for the dining room? Make one
with us and leave with the chair, the templates and the material list you need
to make as many more as you want. We'll use solid hardwood to make these right
angle (also called four square) chairs. The chairs have upholstered seats, lots
of mortise and tenon joinery and are made completely from solid wood. We
use a variety of techniques for the mortise and tenon joinery including the
router table, bench top mortiser, and Leigh FMT jig. The vertical slats
in the back of the chair are resawn from one piece to create a bookmatch.
(2 days) Cost: $340.00
Prerequisite: Woodworking I or Build A
Mantel Clock or suitable previous shop experience.
Classic Tool Chest Made completely of solid wood (we use
reclaimed pine) this chest is full of through dovetails. This class will
give you a chance to try the Akeda, Leigh, and Porter Cable 4212 dovetail
jigs. The interior compartments will hold routers, planes, chisels,
router bits, lay out tools, whatever you need. The lid is made up of a
solid panel with a breadboard edge. Shop made molding surrounds the bottom of
the case. The tray bottoms are resawn from solid wood. The reclaimed pine
we use is beautiful stuff, and a pleaure to work with. It was harvested
in about 1920 and used in the construction of warehouses. It's getting a
second life by being salvaged from buildings slated to be torn down, and
resold. We've counted growth rings (boy, are they dense) and found planks
from trees that started growing in 1780! This box is a beauty, complete with
all the character (knots, nail and screw holes..) that comes with this old lumber!
(2 days) Cost: $400.00 Prerequisite:
Woodworking I or Build A Mantel Clock
or suitable previous shop experience.
Furniture
Making I Mission style
furniture is classic, and fits into nearly any décor. Each student in this class makes a Mission style end table from
solid red oak. 24 mortise and tenon
joints hold this table together. We’ll
use a variety of means to cut the joints, so you can settle on the one that
works best for you. The top and shelf
are glued up from solid material. Table
top fasteners that allow seasonal movement of the solid top are used. (2 days) Cost: $340.00 Prerequisite:
Woodworking I or Build A Mantel Clock
or suitable previous shop experience.
New class!!
Furniture
Making II The sofa table
made in this class is a beautiful and elegant piece of furniture. The legs are gently tapered, using the
tablesaw, and the top is made up with a tongue and groove breadboard edge. The drawer, centered in one rail, is
dovetailed and inset into the drawer opening.
Each student completely prepares his or her own material from random
width and length solid lumber. (3 days) Cost: $450.00 Prerequisite: Furniture Making I
Guitar Making Many of those
who have played or admired the beauty of the guitar have shown interest in
someday making an heirloom instrument to play today and pass on for future
generations to play and admire. This class is designed to take an intermediate
woodworker through the steps to make a steel string acoustic guitar from a
unique kit. You will learn the terminology and the techniques focused on many
of the specialized processes to complete your own personalized instrument. The
process is broken down into small steps to familiarize the student with the
construction of the neck including binding, truss rod installation, fingerboard
& fretting, abalone inlay and construction of the body including brace
trimming/fitting, top installation, bridge gluing/alignment, purfling and final
fit up the neck to body joint using a bolt system. Much of the work on this
project is done using hand chisels, handsaws, and cabinet scrapers. At the completion of the class the guitars
will require final sanding and finishing.
Two models are available: Sapele or
Sycamore. Specify kit upon registration.
Course fee:
$399.00
Guitar kit:
$249.00
A completed sapele guitar A completed sycamore guitar The kit
Lathe Turning I Two solid days of turning! Bring your
own chisels and we'll start by sharpening them. Then let the turning
begin! It's spindles first, where you'll learn to use the scraping
technique to form beads, coves, and straight surfaces. Then you graduate
to shearing, learning to produce a fine finish from a well honed chisel.
This really reduces sanding.
When we've got spindle turning mastered, we move on to bowl turning. Each
student will mount a blank to a dummy board, using paper to provide separation
later, then mount the assembly to a faceplate. Start with the scraping
technique, then move on to shearing. If you've got your own bowl gouge,
bring it along and I'll help you learn to use it. If you don't own your
own chisels you're welcome to borrow ours. Bowls will be completely
sanded and finished on the lathe.
One great aspect of this class is the chance to use a variety of
machines. Each time we change projects, we change lathes. You can
experiment with everything from a $250 benchtop lathe to a $2,000 stationary
model.
Each student makes
two shop mallets and two bowls. One mallet is a simple "potato
masher" style,the other includes a handle that is carefully turned and
threaded to fit the hole we drill and tap in the mallet head. Your first
bowl will be turned from a kild dried hardwood blank, the second will be turned
from green wood. If you've never turned a green wood bowl, you're in for
a treat! (2 days) Cost: $340.00 Prerequisite: None
Master Cathedral Raised Panel Doors Many woodworkers want to make raised panel
doors, but are intimidated by the process, especially when it comes to using
large diameter router bits. Adding a cathedral (arched) top to the door
adds another layer of complexity. George has a bulletproof technique for
raised panel doors that has been published twice in American Woodworker
Magazine. Here’s your chance to learn it, step by step. Each student will
make a cathedral raised panel door. (4 hours) Cost: $100.00 Prerequisite: None
Master Pen Turning Custom turned pens make wonderful gifts, and
are quite easy to make. And turning pens on the lathe is a great way to
get a feel for basic lathe turning techniques.
Each student will turn a hardwood pen and pencil while learning about
parts of a lathe and proper handling of chisels. (3 hours) Fee: $85.00 Prerequisite: None Instructor: Tim Nyberg or George Vondriska
Master the Leigh Jig
Whether you already own a Leigh Jig, or are
considering purchasing one, this class is for you. With a few simple tune-up tricks we’ll have the jigs set up and
working great. Then each student will
cut a set of half blind and through dovetails.
If you already own a jig bring it along and you’ll leave with a
well-tuned machine. If you’re
considering purchasing a Leigh Jig this class will help you confirm that the
Leigh is right for you. When
registering please let us know if you’ll be bringing your own jig and router,
or borrowing one of our units.(4 hrs) Cost: $100.00 Prerequisite:
Experience handling a router.
Master the Router I This is
a class for novice router users. Students will learn to safely use
their own router, wrenches and bits they’ve brought to class. We'll
discuss types of routers and what each type is best for, and how to safely
mount a bit in your router. Working on a mock picture frame, you will
rout a decorative profile and a rabbet. Then, using a shop made jig you
get to take home, you'll rout a dado in 3/4" plywood.
Each student must bring the following bits: 1/4" round over and 3/4"
straight bit
If your router has a 1/2" collet, buy bits with a 1/2" shank. (3 hrs) Cost: $80.00 Prerequisite: None
Router Table In A Day It's time for you to own a professional grade, full size, fully
featured router table. Why not make it yourself? This is a one day
session in which we'll work together so everyone can leave with a beautiful
router 
table
set-up. The top, fence, insert plate, and reducing rings will all come
from JessEm Tools. We'll use the Mast-R-Top, Mast-R-Fence, and Mast-R-Plate.
They can be viewed at www.jessem.com We'll build a two door melamine
cabinet with two storage drawers to house all your bits and pieces.
Retail price of the JessEm components alone is $440. (1
day) Cost $580.00 Prerequisite: None
Techniques
Week/Cabinetmaking
Here's an opportunity to learn
cabinetmaking, from soup to nuts. This five-day class gives us enough
time to teach you a variety of ways to approach your projects. You'll learn
to cut dadoes and rabbets using a stack dado on the tablesaw, as well as with a
hand held router and router table. Want to make doors? We'll make
frame and raised panel doors using the router table, one suitable for glass
panels and the second for a cathedral raised panel. We'll teach you a
variety of ways to assemble drawers including half blind dovetails and through
dovetails, and drawer lock router bits. You'll work with baltic birch and
solid wood for the drawer boxes. We'll join face frames using screw
pockets. Each time we use a shop-made
jig we'll take the time to build a jig for you to take home. We'll also
discuss purchasing material including board foot measurements and hardwood
grading. Whether you specifically want to improve your cabinet building skills
or just learn lots of woodworking, this class has a lot to offer.
Each student makes his or her own upper and
base cabinet and shop made jigs.
Individual students are responsible for shipping their cabinets and jigs
home.
(5 days) Cost: $795.00 Prerequisite: Woodworking I or Build A
Mantel Clock or prior experience with tools.
Techniques Week/Lathe
Turning
An entire week of lathe turning!
What could be more fun? Turning is so satisfying because you can take the
most plain looking piece of wood and, in very little time, turn it into
something beautiful. If you own
lathe chisels, bring them. If not borrow ours and we'll start by taking
you through the wide array of lathe chisels, what each is for, and how to
sharpen them. Once the chisels are sharp you'll get started on spindle
turning and master the scraping technique. This includes proper speed
selection on the lathe, and the mechanics of your stance and approach to the
machine. We'll move on to two spindle projects; a simple "potato
masher" style mallet and gavel style mallet. The second mallet will
be made using the shearing technique, and includes threading the end of the
handle to mate into the hole we drill and tap in the head.
On to bowls, starting with a piece of kiln dried lumber
mounted with a paper joint to a dummy board. Once again we start with the
scraping technique. With that mastered you'll learn to use a bowl
gouge. We'll help you with a variety of techniques to prevent the gouge
from catching, and get the walls of your bowl to a uniform thickness.
We've also got tricks to show you that simplify sanding a bowl. Then it's
on to green wood turning. There's nothing more fun than seeing those
spaghetti-like strands of wood flying from the bowl blank!
Ready for more fun on the lathe? Each student will turn
a pen and a lidded box. You'll go home with one more lathe chisel than
you came with, because you'll turn a lathe chisel handle in the class and leave
with a new chisel.
Bandsaws are integral to lathe turning,
and you'll have lots of chance to use one in prepping your own lathe blanks.
The projects made in this class will
pack into one box for the trip home.
(5 days) Cost: $795.00 Prerequisite: None
Turn A Lidded Box
When it comes to face plate work, bowls are just the
beginning. Instead of throwing your
watch on top of the dresser, store it in the beautiful lidded box you’ll make
in this class. Students will use both
the scraping and shearing technique to hollow and shape a base. The lid will be turned from a material that
complements the base, and we’ll custom turn a handle for the lid. This class provides a great way to hone your
face plate turning techniques.
(3 hours) Cost: $85.00 Prerequisite: Bowl Turning I
Twig and Stick
Furniture For your living room or your
lake home, here's furniture that's unique and lot's of fun to make. Combining
readily available tree limbs and branches with some simple tools and techniques
makes this approach to furniture building straightforward and enjoyable.
Each student in this class will make a shelf and learn how to work green wood,
cut mortise and tenon joints, and choose the right fasteners and glue for
rustic furniture. (1 day)
Cost: $190.00 Prerequisite: None Instructor: Laura
Fairweather
Woodworking I This class serves as the introduction to many of the classes
taught at Wild Earth. Whether you intend to take additional classes, or just
want to dip your toe in the woodworking waters, Woodworking I is a great
starting point. Students learn to safely operate various portable and
stationary power tools including the tablesaw, jointer, miter saw, bandsaw,
router, and router table. Each student
will make a tool tote. Students must take this class if it is listed as a prerequisite. Students of all skill levels will take
something away from this class. (3 hrs) Fee: $85.00 Prerequisite:
None
Woodworking II
Take your
woodworking skills to the next level. Each student will build a solid oak
footstool using the bandsaw, tablesaw, jointer, sanders, and routers. The
stool top requires edge-to-edge gluing, the legs and rails are joined by
dowels. This class reinforces and builds on skills and techniques
learned in Woodworking I and is a great way to advance your skills before
taking the more intensive two-day classes. (1 day) Fee:
$175.00 Prerequisite: Woodworking I or Build A
Mantel Clock or suitable previous shop experience.