Previous Classes
Copper Chasing: The Reuleaux Triangle Vessel
Instructor: Brian Martens
Weekend course: August 8 – 9, 2026
Price: $350
Chasing is the art of using specialized hammers, punches, and chisels to emboss images into the surface of metal. From simple to complex, adding chased elements to a metal's surface softens and dignifies its appearance. This class will introduce you to the various tools and techniques to create images and patterns on any metal. You'll use these techniques to create a one of kind Reuleaux triangular vessel that can be used as a planter, vase, pencil holder or be an objet d'art on its own. A Reuleaux triangle is a curved triangular shape that has a constant width like a circle has, leading to a pleasing shape both visually and tactilely. Reuleaux polygons have endless uses in architecture and machine design. Other topics covered include annealing, work hardening, patination, and silver soldering.
This class is open a to all experience levels. Students with a meticulous eye for detail will love this class.
Student tips: Bring your glasses or best magnifying readers. Your noise cancelling earbuds or headphones can make many simultaneous hammers more pleasant.
Class will make use of hand tools, torches, and mild chemicals for cleaning and patination.
Class fee: $275
Materials fee: $75
Class size limited to 6
Make a Hunting Knife
Instructor: E. Scott McGhee
2-day course: August 7 – 9, 2026
Price: $550
Join ABS Master Blacksmith, Scott McGhee, in this class to make a hunting knife. In this 3-day class, students will create an 8.75-inch-long hunting knife with a four inch blade. Starting with a section of flat steel bar, the class will cover forging, grinding, heat treatment, handle fitment, and finishing techniques. Students will leave with a finished, full-tang blade.
This class is physically demanding, and the student is encouraged to be
familiar with blacksmithing or metalworking environment. Beginner blacksmithing
experience is recommended but not required.
Class fee $500
Material fee $50
Must bring:
Work boots/shoes. No sneakers
Long pants, no shorts
Clothing must be cotton/denim/wool, no synthetics
Comfortable safety glasses (we have extra on hand)
Hearing protection (we have extra on hand)
Notepad
Water Bottle
Demilune Table
Instructor: Andrew Glantz
5-day course: July 20 – 24, 2026
Price: $1,050
With an eye toward sculpture and design, this five-day project class digs deep into the legacy of Wendell Castle. Students will have the opportunity to create a 36” wide table with gracefully tapered curly maple legs that include a tapered walnut accent line and feet, and a gently dished walnut top. Shop skills involved in the project are table saw, band saw and router usage. The class will look carefully at the design process, templating, glue-up techniques and construction alternatives.
Class fee: $900
Materials fee: $150
Class size limited to 10
Non-Ferrous Metals for Woodworkers
Instructor: Andrew Glantz
Weekend course: July 18 – 19, 2026
Price: $350
This two-day overview class will provide a quick look at how woodworkers can use their tools and equipment to include elements crafted from non-ferrous metals such as copper, aluminum and brass. Students will have the opportunity to get hands-on experience cutting and shaping copper into a hanging light to bring home. The class will touch on drilling, tapping, bending, rolling and shearing metals, and well as various soldering alternatives for joining pieces together.
Class fee: $300
Materials fee: $50
Class size limited to 10
Stack Lamination Fabrication and Carving
Instructor: Taeyoul Ryu
5-day course: July 13 – 17, 2026
Price: $950
Wendell Castle changed furniture history when he incorporated stack lamination techniques into his work. This allowed him to move away from “stick build” to more fluid pieces. This course will take you through the entire stack lamination process but will focus on the fabrication and carving steps. (The companion, 2-day, course will focus on the design front-end.) Each student will choose one of four designs to build or they can build what they designed if they took the preceding 2-day course, Design Techniques and Tools for Stack Lamination. Designs should be limited to a 12"x12"x24" envelope in order to finish the glue-up and carving within 5 days.. Templates of your chosen design will be provided to you. You’ll then trace the template on prepared stock, cut it out on a bandsaw, glue-up the laminations, and carve. We’ll progress through various power carving tools starting with an electric chainsaw and/or an angle grinder. We’ll then finish with hand tools. Instructor Taeyoul (Terry) Ryu was a longtime employee of Wendell’s and is a master of the stack lamination technique. There will also be at least one full-time assistant instructor. Class size is limited to 8 to ensure plenty of individualized attention.
Read about Castle's pioneering techniques in this Fine Woodworking article, originally published in 1976.
Class fee: $850
Materials: $100
Class size limited to 8
Design Techniques and Tools for Stack Lamination
Instructor: Taeyoul Ryu
Weekend course: July 11 – 12, 2026
Price: $350
Wendell Castle changed furniture history when he incorporated stack lamination techniques into his work. This allowed him to move away from “stick build” to more fluid pieces. This course will take you through the entire stack lamination process but will focus on the design and digital template creation front end. (The companion 5-day course will focus on the fabrication and carving processes.) Each student will create their own design. The process steps we will go through in class is as follows:
- Sketch
- Carve in foam or clay
- 3D scan
- Clean up model and manipulate
- Digitally slice the model and to automatically create templates
Students will need to bring their computers for steps 4 and 5. Instructor Taeyoul (Terry) Ryu was a longtime employee of Wendell’s and is a master of the stack lamination technique. There will also be at least one full-time assistant instructor. Class size is limited to 10 students.
Read about Castle's pioneering techniques in this Fine Woodworking article, originally published in 1976.
Class fee: $350
Class size limited to 10
Make a Woodworking Draw Knife and Froe
Instructor: Brian Martens
Weekend course: July 11 – 12, 2026
Price: $325
There is no satisfaction like making something with tools that you've made. This workshop will focus on forging functional tools for use in the woodshop. Students will start by learning about appropriate steels and how to process them to bring out the desired qualities in hand tools such as durability, edge retention, and sharpenability. Students will then forge a drawknife and froe. Tools will be forged, filed, and rough ground prior to heat treat. After heat treating tools will be finish ground and sharpened as time allows. Students will also turn handles on a lathe. Final sharpening is an exercise left for home, though basic edge geometry will be established in the class.
Who Should Take this class:
This class is open a to all experience levels but prior forging experience is recommended. This is an interactive, hands on course where you will be forging tough materials and forge welding. Some project modifications may be made for those with less experience. Class will make use of hand and some power tools (grinders).
Class fee: $275
Materials fee: $50
Class size limited to 6
Metalworking for Woodworkers
Instructor: Sophie Glenn
Weekend course: June 13 – 14, 2026
Price: $300
In this weekend class, students will learn a few fundamental metalworking and woodworking techniques to create a series of small marking and layout tools. In the making of a marking knife, small bevel gauge, and a square, we'll learn about different metals and their applications (tool steels, brass, and bronze), learn to to file, grind, heat treat, drill, hammer, sand, and cut our metals, and we'll make wooden handles by incorporating cutting and shaping techniques using the bandsaw, drill press, sanders, and various hand tools. This class will be a practical way for any woodworker to dip their toes into metalworking.
Class fee: $275
Materials fee: $25
Class size limited to 8
Learn Hand Tool Skills Making a Tool Tote
Instructor: James Wright
3-day course: June 8 – 10, 2026
Price: $550
In this class, we will build a splayed-side tool tote. This project is designed to stretch your hand tool skills and show that anyone can complete the project. We will make angled dovetails, tilted grooves, and a steam-bent handle, assembling everything without glue, and doing it completely with hand tools. The project is intended for beginners and intermediates alike, and the goal is to conquer apparently complex hand tool skills and bring them within the reach of any woodworker. And in the end, you can take home a quality-built tool tote you can cherish for the rest of your life.
Class fee: $500
Materials fee: $50
Exploring Bent Lamination
Instructor: Laura Kishimoto
6-day course: May 30 – June 4, 2026
Price: $950
Bent lamination represents a dramatic departure from most traditional fine woodworking. Rather than working within rectilinear geometry, you will lean into the materiality of the wood and explore its natural strengths through curvature. Reference face is often non-existent, so cutting joinery requires some creative thinking and novel use of machinery and hand tools. We will explore a variety of methods including cold lamination, mold making, vacuum forming, and freeform bending. Students will design and prototype a project that showcases bent lamination aesthetically and structurally.
Class fee: $850
Materials fee: $100
Class size limited to 12

































