After a slight tease of being put on the waitlist, Addison Woodworking Supplies called to let me know they have space for me in their monthly Intro to Woodworking class. I couldn’t be more excited because all my life people have told me how amazing wood is and at the ripe age of 25, I am just now figuring this out for myself.
For the past two days, I’ve worked with five lovely gentlemen in making a solid nicknack rack. Being a young female in a class of two retired gents and two mid-thirties guys always makes me feel special, but never once did I feel out of place. The man who taught the class was a gentleman who I assume has woodworked practically his entire life. While he focused on teaching us the lingo and proper tool safety, it was his candor and dry wit that stuck with me.
Setup: We used different types of woods, but the best stuff was hidden in the back of the store.
While I’m sure there are a ton of secret words to use when woodworking, the three main jointing terms you need to know are:
- Rabbet: Perpendicular to the grain, across the entire edge of the board
- Dado: Perpendicular to the grain, in the middle of the board
- Groove: Parallel to the grain, across the face
The main pieces of equipment we messed around with (and when I say messed around with, I mean used with exacting precision) were:
- Sawstop: Most amazing saw I’ve ever seen, you should read the story about the man who invented it
- Band Saw: For cutting those sexy lady curves (this was actually very difficult to use)
- Router: cutting all those rabbets, dados and grooves
Over the next day and a half, we cut the wood down, established our joinery, sanded, glued and waited as our pieces came together. At the end, we even go to pick out a little nobby from the nobby wall in the shop.
We used carpenters glue and enormous clamps to join the wood together and waited overnight for it to dry. That’s the shell of my piece.
I’m moving to NYC soon and plan to find a woodworking shop that I can experiment in. Woodworking and learning about the different components of making a great piece was one of the most useful and fulfilling experiences I’ve had in a while, and I’ll never forget it. I definitely recommend signing up for a class for anyone even remotely interested in making awesome things.
P.S. Check out this beautiful Tamarind wood I found in the back of the shop:
Whiskey + Donuts 