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Learn to carve letters and you'll be able to make a "Welcome" sign for your entry, a custom bread board, or all kinds of projects, from plaques to boxes, that celebrate milestones in the life of your family and friends.
In this three-session class, master carver Jeff Iller will guide you in choosing a font, laying out words and carving the letters so the details are crisp and uniform. In the class, you will work on rectangular pieces of basswood. With skills learned in the class, you can go on to carve lettering on plates, boxes or other projects.
This class is open to hose who already have some carving experience. BARN offers Beginning Carving classes every other month, and Iller is also happy to help you learn at the weekly meetings of the North Kitsap Woodcarver's Guild, which meets from 6 to 9 p.m. each Thursday at the Sons of Norway Hall, 18891 Front St. NE in Poulsbo.
Details:
Instructor: As a third-generation woodworker, Jeff Iller learned about woodworking tools and knives early on. By high school, he was winning ribbons with his wood carvings at his hometown fair. Around 1996 Jeff found room for a shop and he has carved ever since. He’ll carve most anything, but prefers to innovate with the working tools to carve multiple parts inside one piece of wood and to make physically detailed and accurate carvings of women's faces. Carvings on the entry sign to the BARN Woodworking Studio shows the quality of his work.
Iller says he was taught early on that he could make anything from wood. He is still trying to prove that statement wrong.
In this class, 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.
Beyond the speed and noise of power tools, there is a whole world of woodworking done with hand tools. Whether you’re a luthier, a wood carver, an inheritor of old hand tools or just generally interested in honing your hand woodworking skills or tools, you are invited to this weekly gathering in the bench room. Share tips, ask questions, get inspired.
NOTE: These sessions may need to be canceled occasionally. Check the woodworking calendar for any updates.
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.
This class is free, but please register so we know how many to expect.
How to flatten and polish the back of the blades (and why that's important). How to shape the lower front edge to the required angle, using BARN's WorkSharp tool. How to polish the bevel using water stones. How to hone a polished edge to razor sharpness. How to flatten a waterstone using a diamond pad.
A $5 materials fee for shop supplies will be added when you register and pay. Bring one or two plane or chisel blades that need sharpening, if you have them. If they are in really bad shape, you might not have time to get them fully tuned up during the class. If you don’t have tools to bring, no problem. You can learn on BARN’s tools. Should we say something like this or just emphasize it in the class? BARN’s tools must be sharpened according to specifications that the studio has adopted. You can use other angles or processes for your own tools. The sharpening systems are also available for use during open studio times. These are free for members and $20 for non-members.
Instructor: Matt Jabloner, assisted by Bob Worden
Get started on your woodturning adventure with this two-session beginner's class, where you’ll learn how to create the basic shapes involved in both spindle and bowl turning and make two or three spindle projects. By successfully completing this class, you will be cleared to use the wood lathes in Open Studio at BARN, and be eligible to take a bowl-turning class.
In Session 1, you will turn basic spindle shapes as you learn about woodturning safety, technique and how to use the tools with good body mechanics — all important to building a foundation to launch your turning skills. Tools you will use: spindle roughing gouge, spindle gouge and parting tool. You will make one basic spindle project such as a wand or a spinning top.
In Session 2, you will learn more about spindle turning as you make a bottle stopper or opener. You will learn about design elements and balance, how to use a mandrel system for securing material, and the use of a template and calipers.. Additional tools used will be a negative rake scraper and skew. All of these skills will prepare you for other turning efforts such as turning bowls and boxes.
Instructor: Jamie Straw has been turning wood for about four years, working on both spindle and bowl projects, and has taught woodturning at BARN since July 2017. She is Vice President for Education and Training for the local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners. Her focus is on helping students, especially new turners, build skills progressively as they design and create fun woodturning projects.
Short-sleeve or tight-cuff tops and close-toe comfortable shoes are required. No jewelry other than "button-type" earrings for women is allowed, so no rings, bracelets, necklaces. Long hair must be tied back.
No experience necessary. We will be on hand to help as needed.
Start a project, finish a project, or just play with wood and see what happens. We will have some extra wood available or bring in your own.
Your child must 8 or older.
Join others who are learning to use Fusion 360, a program that BARN participants can use to design projects for the new CNC router in the Woodworking Studio, the CNC milling machine or plasma cutter in Metal Arts, or the 3D printers in Electronic & Technical Arts.
The users group meets from noon to 2 p.m. on the first and third Sundays of each month to give people a time and place to work on their Fusion projects or simply to develop their Fusion skills. With many people meeting and working together, we’ll be able to share knowledge and increase all of our skillsets. The group is intended as a followup to BARN’s introductory Fusion classes, but people who are learning Fusion on their own are also welcome.
This event is free for members and $20 for non-members. Please register so we know how many will be attending.
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Short-sleeve or tight-cuff tops and close-toe comfortable shoes are required. No jewelry other than "button-type" earrings for women are allowed, so no rings, bracelets, necklaces. Long hair must be tied back.
You will learn to take a project through all of the steps from initial idea through finished project, including:
The seven 3-hour class sessions probably will not be enough for you to finish your project. Plan on doing additional work during the woodshop's 30 hours a week of open studio time so that you complete your table by the end of the class. Open studio time is free for BARN members. Non-members enrolled in this class can also work on their tables during open studio time without an additional fee.
This class has a prerequisite; please see below.
Woodturners of all skill levels will enjoy the challenge and joy of turning their own French rolling pin. The style can be tapered or straight, any length from a palote, used for rolling out tortillas, to full-sized for making pies and other pastries. Smaller in diameter than the classic American rolling pin, and lacking handles, this style of rolling pin gives the baker an excellent feel for the dough as it’s worked. It is also very maneuverable, making for easy corrections in thickness, and it can be used to lift the dough and easily drape it into the pie pan or other baking dish.
In this three-hour class, students will design and turn their choice of style for a one-piece rolling pin, choosing from wood specially selected for the project. Attention will be focused on turning a truly symmetrical shape and finishing with a food-safe finish, leaving a smooth surface that will perform well and give years of service. Maximum length of pins will be approximately 15.5” .
Instructor: Jamie Straw has been woodworking, mostly with power tools, since 2006. Her current focus is on woodturning, both bowls and spindle-turning, and she is a past VP Training and Education for the local chapter of the American Association of Woodturners. She has taught woodturning at BARN since 2017, and puts an emphasis on building effective turning skills that enable students to enjoy and explore their craft, taking it to artistic levels as they learn.
Get a good foundation in carving techniques, including push, stop and draw cuts. In this three-session class, you will learn the basics of safe handling and use of carving knives the first night, then go on to learn how to deal with changes in wood grain, hollowing techniques, and other concepts as you make a spoon and carve a figure during second and third sessions.
This class is open to both beginning carvers and those who already have some carving experience. Each time BARN schedules this class, the carving projects are new.
Interested in being a safety monitor in the Woodworking Studio at BARN? This three-hour free class is a key step in the process. Prerequisites: To take this class, you must be a BARN member and have already taken Orientation to the Woodshop, Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 1, and Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 2.
This class will explain the safety monitor program and the responsibilities of a shop monitor. BARN and woodshop policies will be covered. Discussion will include safety of users; safe operation of tools; woodshop systems including lighting, dust collection, cleanup, and procedures for opening and closing the shop for open studio time.
Once you complete this class, you will need to “shadow” a monitor for one shift before you can be certified as a monitor.
Level of Class: Intermediate
Prerequisites: To take this class, you must be a BARN member and have already taken Orientation to the Woodshop, Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 1, and Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 2.
Fee: Free to BARN Members.
Instructor: Joe Dunstan has been a woodworker for 20 years and has built his own house. He manages the safety monitor program for the BARN woodshop.
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.
Instructor: Chris Stanley is a model maker, artist and educator. For 19 years, he taught model making and design as a full-time instructor at the Art Institute of Seattle. He currently teaches classes here at BARN in jewelry, metal fabbrication, sheet metal, and now woodworking. Bill Gray will assist.
You will learn how to use a bowl gouge while designing and turning tthe two bowls. In the first session, you will learn the basics about selecting green wood and creating proper bowl blanks, preserving the blanks for future turning, mounting a bowl safely on the lathe, and using bowl gouges to create the bowls. In the second session, you will turn a seasoned bowl blank as you practice and improve your gouge skills and learn the basics of sanding and finishing.
By successfully completing these two sessions, and turning two bowls, you will have a good understanding of the process and techniques, and be able to turn bowls of this size independently during Open Studio time in the BARN Woodworking Studio.
Photograph by Joy McCallister Photography.
Learn basic safety principles of key woodworking power tools with the goal of being checked out to use them during the BARN Woodshop's 30 hours a week of Open Studio time. This is a hands-on course and students will be given a piece of wood to cut and shape according to specific measurements.
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:
Get checked out on the Woodworking Studio’s major power tools not covered in the Tools 1 safety class. Provided you have also attended our free Orientation to the Woodshop class, completing Woodshop Tool Safety 2 will qualify you to use the following tools during Open Studio time or in classes that have this as a prerequisite:
Instructor: Joe Dunstan has been a woodworker for 20 years and has built his own house. He manages the safety monitor program for the shop.
Take a break from holiday hubbub and spend some time carving! This informal event is designed so you can bring guests and family along and spend a pleasurable afternoon exploring this craft and making something together.
Master Carver Jeff Iller will have ideas and materials for simple projects that even beginners can make. He'll guide you in how to carve safely and efficiently. Or you can bring a carving that you are working on and want help with.
Iller will be in the shop four afternoons this week, Wednesday through Saturday. Each day is listed separately on the BARN calendar so you can sign up for one or more sessions, as you wish.
Instructor: As a third-generation woodworker, Jeff Iller learned about woodworking tools and knives early on. By high school, he was winning ribbons with his wood carvings at his hometown fair. Around 1996 Jeff found room for a shop and he has carved ever since. He’ll carve most anything, but he especially enjoys carving multiple parts inside a single piece of wood and making physically detailed and accurate carvings of women's faces. Carving on the entry sign to the BARN Woodworking Studio shows the quality of his work.
We always offer an informative presentation on some aspect of this craft, 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 shop operations.
Contact: Jeff Williams
