No Weekend Plans?

Try These Hands-On Woodworking Courses That Don’t Feel Like School

If your first thought is “what weekend?” or generally struggle to come up with an answer, you’re not alone. For many of us, the days disappear into errands, chores, and endless phone-scrolling hours that don’t leave much room for real satisfaction. Instead of letting another weekend blur by, why not embark on a new adventure and learn to make something meaningful and lasting with your own hands?  

If the words “learn,”  “school,” or “course” bring up visions of struggling to sit still, pop quizzes, or unspeakable boredom, we have the perfect antidote—a weekend woodworking course from our extensive community education offerings. You don’t have to be an expert or have a workshop filled with specialized tools. At NBSS, we have weekend, weekday, and evening woodworking courses to fit varying skill levels and interests. We provide the shop and access to tools and materials. Here are just a few examples of what you may find to fill your calendar while learning useful and interesting new skills. (Note: check out our Woodworking Community Education page for current offerings and times.)

Woodworking 101: Our ever-popular introductory woodworking course gives you a great overview of what woodworking is all about. In just two days, you’ll learn how to use some of the most common machines and hand tools while completing a small woodworking project. 

Introduction to Dovetails: Do you love the beauty and function of a classic dovetail design? Whether you are an experienced woodworker or someone who is willing to invest their natural dexterity and detailed eye to learn this skill, this could be a great opening that leads to creating your own furniture or handcrafted boxes.

Picture Frames: Imagine being able to create your own mitered picture frames, including finer detail work like accenting splines. Invest two days to learn the needed materials and skills and reap the benefits for a lifetime.

Build a Cutting Board: Did you ever admire beautiful handcrafted cutting boards that make full use of the beauty and grains of various woods? This is a great way to learn the foundations of machine woodworking techniques while creating your own functional art.

Introduction to Chairmaking: Make a Milking Stool: The process of designing and making a simple stool with hand tools teaches you the essential skill elements of staked furniture, including leg tapering, seat layout, and joining techniques.

Bowl Turning: Learn to create your own wooden bowls using specialized lathe turning techniques. 

The beauty of our community education courses is how they can be tailored to fit your level and type of interest. You might start out by creating your own nested set of Shaker oval boxes one weekend and then move into other weekend projects. Or you may decide to really immerse yourself with longer community education course offerings such as our two week-long Fundamentals of Fine Woodworking or our Three-Month Furniture Making Intensive.

Are you ready to claim your weekends? We have a woodworking bench waiting for you. Join us!