Volume VII Issue 3 - FALL 2009

The Dogwood Institute is a woodworking school in Alpharetta, Georgia that has a number of interesting classes in its fall schedule. They include Building a Dovetailed Cabinet with Andy Rae; Turning Christmas Ornaments With Bobby Clemons; Designing and Making Jigs and Templates for Shop Tools; and several foundation courses that teach the fundamentals. For example, their Foundations I course focuses on wood and wood movement, safe use and tuning of necessary hand and power tools, milling wood four-square and sharpening. Foundations 2 focuses on the joinery used in the construction of furniture, while 3, 4 and 5 cover case, drawer and door construction.

The school is located in Alpharetta, Georgia, 14 miles north of Atlanta on a beautiful 13-acre horse farm. The new air-conditioned barn/workshop has twelve foot ceilings, Sjoberg benches and SawStop tablesaws. Call to arrange a tour.

Next time you're coping base trim, removing grout or fixing a chair rung, stop by the Dremel site for a minute first. The company has created a comprehensive collection of woodworking, how-to, craft, hobby and do-it-yourself videos that can be viewed for free online, or ordered on a free DVD. The individual videos lead viewers through step-by-step project instructions and share tips for choosing the right tools and accessories. They can be found on the projects and community page on the Web site (don't forget to bookmark it). There are currently more than fifty short videos available, plus another dozen or so for the Dremel Multi-Max tool. Well worth a visit.

Retirement Plan

Black Hills School of Woodworking student Gary Lundberg (right) completed the first shop project of his retirement this summer, a red oak endtable with a Mission influence. The piece has slats front and back, mortise and tenon joinery throughout, and a single drawer for the TV remove and program guide. Gary, a South Dakota farmer who recently hung up his tractor keys, spent a couple of days at the School learning how to run a table saw, jointer, planer, hollow chisel mortiser, hand planes and other tools. He has already moved on to several other projects and has set up his own workshop at home.

The School teaches new and experienced woodworkers the techniques needed to run machines and hand tools in a woodshop, always doing so through the construction of a project. Students from the region and also from around the country come to the Black Hills for a few days (usually about a week) and get to spend time in the shop one-on-one with the instructors. They bring a drawing, photo, page from a magazine, even just a sketch on a napkin, and the instructor helps them design and build a piece of furniture. The key here is customized classes, each tailored to the skills of the individual woodworker and with a strong emphasis on using tools and machines that he or she will have access to when they go home. Classes run from 8AM-11AM, and then the student is welcome to use the shop on their own in the afternoons or evenings, if they feel comfortable enough doing so. Couples and buddy classes are quite popular, too. The School also offers stained glass instruction. All projects are taken home to sand and finish.

For more info, visit BHSW online.