Courses

Pick up your hammer! This course is designed for students with little or no building experience who want to build a tiny home, small cabin, or workshop. The techniques for building a small frame building are not only for the skilled carpenter; nearly anyone can come away from this course…

There are many designs for the sawhorse, as it is one of the most important tools a timber framer or woodworker has in the workshop. Der Zimmererbock is the traditional version of a sawhorse used and taught throughout Germany, where instructor Gerald David did his training in the timber framing.…

The Windsor chair has graced American homes since the mid-eighteenth century, before there was even a “United States” to speak of. Rich in tradition and lore yet instantly recognizable for its clean lines and simple form, the Windsor chair is a classic project. With a comfortable design as a top…

The axe is perhaps the most indispensable of all tools in the North Woods. A sharp axe, skillfully wielded, makes tasks from splitting kindling to carving spoons and canoe paddles a pleasure. In this course, students will begin with a pre-made hand-­forged axe head, then make a hardwood handle and…

North House is excited to welcome Swedish craftsman Anders Lindberg to campus as our featured guest instructor for Unplugged. Anders will teach a classic green woodworking project: this straight-back chair. Students will learn and use a variety of green woodworking skills to create an heirloom piece. With simple tools, students…

North House is excited to welcome Swedish craftsman Anders Lindberg to campus as our featured guest instructor for Unplugged. Anders offers this four day stool building course for anyone who has ever thought they might be interested in building furniture. This relatively simple project teaches a variety of important woodworking…

Create the traditional paddle used by Northwoods travelers for hundreds of years. In this course, a North House classic, students will learn about wood selection and wood grain considerations as well as paddle sizing and the theory of shape as applied to handles, shafts and blades. Choose from a variety…

This course introduces kids age 10 and older to the various hand tools and simple skills involved in working with wood in the shop. The course is co-taught by a father and son team, Paul Linden and Avery Carlson (age 16). Avery has been working with many of these tools…

Learn to turn on both power and pole lathes and to explore the historical continuum of bowl turning in this unique course offering. Students will move back and forth between the foot-powered pole lathe and modern electric lathe to delve deeply into a study of old world Norwegian ale bowls.…

In chairmaking, the travisher and compass plane make wonderful assistants for excavating, carving and shaping concave surfaces. The travisher is like a curved spokeshave that can hog or make nuanced cuts. The compass plane is like a scrub plane with a curved sole, fantastic for hogging seats and a great…

In this three-day tutorial open to students of all levels, participants will be guided through the process of turning wood on a pole lathe according to their skill levels and personal goals. We’ll cover both the basics and more advanced techniques. Starting with open form bowls, the class will move…

One interpretation of folk craft is simple and straightforward: the things people make using the materials they have readily available. In the twenty-first century, lumber yards and home improvement retailers always have a supply of plywood for relatively cheap; learn how to turn that plywood into functional custom furniture for…

If you’ve never really had the opportunity to gain experience in the woodshop before, the prospect of working with power tools can be a bit daunting. However, the chop saw, the planer, the table saw, the jointer and the rest are all just tools; once you know what you’re doing…