Tillers International teaches sustainable skills to help improve lives. By Jeff Skiver Pages: 74-76 From the June 2008 issue #169 Buy this issue now Most woodworking classes start the same way – with the students introducing themselves and telling about their backgrounds and interests. The most recent class I attended, at Tillers International, was different. … Read more
One woodworker’s toolbox launched this thriving family business. By Robert W. Lang Pages: 76-79 From the April 2008 issue #168 Buy this issue now The dream of starting a nice little business is common among woodworkers, and it isn’t anything new. In 1906, Harry Gerstner followed his dream and established H. Gerstner & Sons in … Read more
Reuben Margolin uses scraps to explore science, nature and math. By Raphael Rosen Pages: 74-77 From the February 2009 issue #174 Buy this issue now At this moment, Reuben Margolin is building a gigantic wooden sculpture that moves. It’s titled “Yellow Linear Wave,” and is one of his many creations – usually built out of … Read more
This sylvan school offers a wide variety of classes in woodworking and more.
By Stuart Page
Pages: 58-59
From the June 2010 issue #183
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Country Workshops began when Drew Langsner and his wife, Louise, moved from California to the Smoky Mountains. On their farm, a 15-minute drive from the nearest tarmac, they’ve built a two-story cabin by hand, which took two years (and an infinite amount of patience) to build.
As I drive the path to the Langsner farm, I marvel at their beautiful buildings: the old tobacco drying barn used as a workshop and guest quarters; and Drew and Louise’s cabin farther up the hill, which looks out over the valley below. Nestled in the trees of the surrounding woodlan is a second guest lodge. And just when you think things can’t get better, you eat some of Louise’s home-cooked food (picked from the garden) and watch the sun set over the valley.
I stayed above the workshop in student accommodations, where it is pleasantly cool even in the summer heat. The rooms are Spartan but comfortable, with plenty of craft books for bedtime reading. I found myself diving into tomes about knife-making before falling asleep to the sounds of the forest.
If you’re looking for a five-star hotel, look elsewhere. But if you want simple comforts, healthy food in workingman’s portions, warm fires and good company then Country Workshops is what you’re looking for.
Web site: Contact Country Workshops.
Article: Read about Roy Underhill’s The Woodwright’s School.
Article: Discover John Wilson’s The Home Shop.
Article: Read about the College of the Redwoods.
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A St. Louis physician spent years assembling the perfect shop.
By Christopher Schwarz
Page: 52-54
From the February 2011 issue #188
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The problem with many “dream shops” is that their visionaries never wake up and get on with building any furniture.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with building a hobby shop and having the shop alone being the hobby, but this magazine is about building wooden things inside a shop. So it seems a waste when I visit a shop that never sees a speck of sawdust. For the last few years, I’ve been following the progress of Dr. Kent Adkins, a young surgical urologist outside St. Louis, who has been methodically planning and constructing an 1,800-square-foot shop attached to his home by a breezeway.
It would be easy to assume that Adkins simply picked the machines and tools with the highest price tags for his shop, but that would be an insult to the years of passionate research Adkins and his friends have put into searching the world for tools that are the best in class and safe as possible.
I’ve seen Adkins on the floor of the International Woodworking Fair, picking apart the features and details of machines, veneer presses and even hand tools. He traveled twice to the Ligna woodworking show in Germany. I’ve watched him question sales representatives with the insight of a journalist. And in May 2010, I got to operate his crane.
Video: See the Maka mortiser in action.
Web Site: Download a free video from this shop. Read more
In the last 11 years, Marc Adams’s woodworking school has experienced explosive growth. By Kara Gebhart Pages: 94-98 From the December 2004 issue #145 Buy this issue now It’s an unusually cool August day, and Marc Adams has all the doors of his woodworking school swung open, letting the bright Indiana sunshine in. In an … Read more
One woodworker’s quest has become a historical treasure trove for all to share. By David Thiel Pages: 38-40 From the October 2004 issue #143 Buy this issue now Dana Batory didn’t start out to become the authority on vintage woodworking machinery. His college education was leading him to a career in geology, but that didn’t … Read more
