Overview

Wood Week is a thematic week that celebrates all things woodworking—from turning to carving, painting to sharpening, there’s a wide variety of skills and projects on offer, centered in hand tools and local woods. The Carver’s Conference on Friday, March 6 is a day full of free demonstrations, lectures, and gatherings open to the public. This year’s offerings draw from North House’s deep bench of talented regional artisans and include six brand-new courses. The week will include evening gatherings and presentations.

Carver’s Conference Schedule: Friday, March 6, 9am-9pm

As a special feature of this week, all classes will take a break on Friday to allow everyone to participate in demonstrations, presentations, and Dinner on a Stick. Participation in the Carver’s Conference Day is free and does not require registration. The public is welcome to attend.

Evening Gatherings

All Wood Week students and the public are invited to attend these free gatherings. Locations vary; will be posted on the Welcome Center doors daily.

Tuesday, March 3

Community Night | 7-9pm

As a special perk of Wood Week, North House will be open for students to carve away the evenings. Bring your own project; hosted by a volunteer instructor. Note: some hand tools will be available for use, but students are encouraged to bring their own. Hosted by Cooper Ternes. Don’t have a project? No worries, we’ve got board games you can play, just come hang out. Musical instruments, snacks to share are all welcome.

Wednesday, March 4

Talk: Craft Adventures in Japan with Jarrod Dahl

Jarrod will present photos and commentary of his most recent visit to Japan. In May 2025, Jarrod and his wife Jazmin set off on their third trip to Japan to learn about and study more about the rich craft traditions there. They visited the area around Fukuoka on Kyushu Island, an area known for its weaving and indigo dyeing craft industry. Here they visited many indigo dyers and weavers, as well as a bamboo basket maker, a cooper, and an incense maker. They visited Japan’s oldest and largest craft show in Matsumoto with their friend, renowned spoon carver Kotoro Okubo. There they met craftspeople from all over Japan. Then returned to Yamanaka Onsen in Ishikawa prefecture, where Jarrod studied woodturning in 2018. This area is one of the main woodturning centers in Japan. They visited Jarrod’s teacher and a few woodturning workshops there. Along the way, they spent time with friends and visited more crafts folks, ate amazing food, and visited other places of interest. Their trip finished in Tokyo where they visited one of the biggest antique markets and kicked around the immense city. If you have an interest in travel and the rich craft traditions of Japan, there’s lots of inspiration and learning in his stories.

Thursday, March 5

Film Screenings: The Woodwrights Shop

Back in early 2004, the famed Roy Underhill of The Woodwright’s Shop visited the young North House Folk School. Come on down for a screening of this fun episode, as well as some other short videos and films from the past.

Friday, March 6

9am Featured Demonstration: Japanese Style Wood Turning with Jarrod Dahl

Jarrod will be giving a presentation on Japanese turning wood tools and techniques. Jarrod has been using a type of Japanese style lathe and techniques in his production of woodenware since first learning some basics on his first trip to Japan in 2018. Using a modified Western lathe, Jarrod will elaborate on how the free floating tool rest, hook tools, and hand held scrapers all work together to produce end grain bowls and cups quickly and efficiently. There will also be in-depth details about hook tool cutting techniques. He will briefly talk about two Japanese wood finishes—Urushi lacquer and Hassui ceramic and how they are used in his work.

10:30am Featured Demonstration: Guitar Building with Drew Heinonen

Join luthier Drew Heinonen discussing various aspects of acoustic guitar construction, along with demonstrations of raw materials and building processes, including wood bending and inlay work. Since building his first guitar over 20 years ago, Drew has had a hand in the creation of over 1500 instruments in various capacities, the last decade of which has been spent working out of his home woodshop right here in Grand Marais. Come for the wood, stay for the Mammoth ivory.

2-4pm Sharpening Clinics

Several seasoned NHFS instructors will share solid tips for fast and effective sharpening of various hand tools. From tiny kolrosing knives all the way up to axes and adzes, we will have various tables set up to demonstrate sharpening many of the carving tools used in woodworking. Demonstrations range from powered sharpening all the way to simple techniques with a single stone. Two hours will be broken up into smaller time blocks, allowing students to learn several different techniques.

6pm Dinner on a Stick

Gather around a bonfire and cook over an open fire as a community. Participants bring their own food; we’ll provide the fire, the pointy sticks, and some popcorn to supplement (it’s a vegetable technically). Sausages to steaks, pudgie pies to home fries, it’s all welcome. Dutch ovens, griddles, etc. Dress warmly and wear boots.

7pm Featured Presentation: Reflections on a Life of Traditional Work with John Beltman

Drawing on his experience of over 50 years of working with wood, longtime North House instructor John Beltman will present on his journey and why traditional craft is still relevant and important today. Providing a perspective on the connections between history and traditional work and what we can learn from the lives of the woodworkers, farmers, sailors and horseloggers that came before us.

Saturday, March 7

7pm Travels in Scandinavia Roundtable

Several NHFS instructors have been traveling in Sweden and Norway recently, meeting and learning from green woodworkers old and new. They’ll share a few stories and images from their time abroad. Roundtable participants include Paul Linden, Cooper Ternes, Liesl Chatman, Lauren Newby, and John Fleck.

Sunday, March 8

Community Night | 7-9pm

As a special perk of Wood Week, North House will be open for students to carve away the evenings. Bring your own project; hosted by a volunteer instructor. Note: some hand tools will be available for use, but students are encouraged to bring their own. Hosted by Lauren Newby. Don’t have a project? No worries, we’ve got board games you can play, just come hang out.