I'm excited to announce that Woodworking in America returns this fall with a lineup of top-notch presenters. The October 11 & 12, 2024 event is hosted by Woodsmith, Fine Woodworking, and Popular Woodworking magazines.
Get Your Tickets
Update 7/18: Ticketing is now available. Sign up here.
Ever since our last event back in 2019, I've been looking forward to gathering with like-minded folk again. Since then, we've joined forces with Fine Woodworking and PopWood — Voltron style — allowing us to host a bigger, better experience for woodworkers to enjoy. One of the best parts is that you'll get to talk with staff members from all three magazines together in one place.
Woodworking in America 2024 will be held in Des Moines, IA — the home base for Woodsmith and Popular Woodworking.
When, Where, What
The event will be held at The Franklin Center. This is a re-purposed former junior high school. We'll be using the auditorium, several classrooms and the old woodshop for our presentations.
Exhibitors and refreshments are located in the cafeteria. Walking the halls will take you back to your school days. This is an ideal venue for a woodworking event like Woodworking in America; an educational setting for learning more about our craft.
Ticket Options
2-Day VIP ticket includes ($425) : • General Admission to exhibit floor October 11th & 12th • Unlimited access to seminars and demonstrations October 11th & !2th • Entry for one (1) to Friday’s Cocktail Party • Open House with your event hosts – Thursday October 10th - tour of the shop and studios for Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and the Woodsmith Shop TV show.
Marketplace Ticket ($25) Children 16 and younger are admitted free. Access to exhibit floor for one day
Lodging Info
Looking for a place to stay? This one is just a short drive away.
Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Des Moines Northwest 4800 Merle Hay Road Des Moines, IA 50322 $104++ per night
Group Block Name: Woodworking America Group Block Code: WWA Hotel Code: DSMDU
Reservations Deadline: September, 19, 2024
Presenters
The lineup of presenters is growing, so check back in often. Here's what we know so far:
Patrick Edwards — A Lifetime of Working With Traditional Protein Glues
W. Patrick Edwards, a furniture conservator in private practice and the 2014 SAPFM Cartouche Award recipient, will discuss the various advantages of working with animal protein glues in woodworking. With over 50 years of professional experience, he will demonstrate using hide glues for rub joints, hammer veneering, lamination, marquetry, and veneering, as well as how to reverse the glue bond when correcting mistakes in assembly. Patrick is the developer of Old Brown Glue and will explain how the glue was modified and how it has real advantages over the traditional hot hide glue using a double boiler. Don’t be confused about adhesion and gram strength; find out from an expert with a lifetime of experience. wpatrickedwards.com
Alexis Dolese — Building Custom Furniture & A Business
Alexis Dolese is a second-generation furniture maker and educator in Bozeman, Montana. She will share practical techniques for building custom furniture and insights on running a business. Her discussion will also focus on the practical aspects of designing solid wood pieces with clients in mind and strategies for creating high-quality works efficiently. She will also touch on setting up a shop for furniture making and teaching woodworking. Dolesewoodworks.com
Wilbur Pan — Japanese Tools for the Western Workshop
Japanese tools are a great addition to any woodworking shop. In this session, you’ll learn about Japanese chisels and saws, why they are so great, and how to incorporate them into your shop to make your woodworking better. We may even get into Japanese planes. Spoiler alert: there’s no hype, and you don’t have to work on the floor.
Wilbur Pan is the author of the Giant Cypress blog. He has given demonstrations and talks on Japanese tools and Asian woodworking at Woodworking in America, the Society of American Period Furniture Makers, and Kezurou-kai USA. He has written articles for Popular Woodworking and Mortise and Tenon magazines. He lives in beautiful Central New Jersey.
Matt Monaco — Two Turning Demos Demonstration 1: Beginning — Advanced usage & application with traditional woodturning tools.
Demonstration 2: Turn a classical wood pottery vessel with traditional woodturning tools.
Matt Monaco operates a full-time woodturning studio in the Ozark region of Missouri, and is one of very few young modern traditional woodturners in America having apprenticed & trained as a trade professional, and has worked closely within a high-end professional furniture production landscape — Shackleton Thomas Furniture & Pottery as a full-time maker/item producer. At the center of Matt’s work is his understanding & mastery of tool control, sharpening and cutting execution as an expression of traditionally crafted design as fine art — in producing forms & items that are made to be as tactile as they are sublime, and created with intent & purpose. Matt is also a Fine Woodworking Contributor & Ambassador who values both the integrity of traditional woodturning and mastery of the craft as an art, as well as diversity within the handmade craft and woodworking idiom.
Rollie Johnson — Coloring Wood with Dyes & Stains
Chromophobia is defined as a persistent, irrational aversion to colors and is usually a conditioned response. Sounds like a woodworking problem! Too many woodworkers are terrified of adding color to their woodworking, falling back on the hackneyed phrase “I would never ruin the natural beauty of wood by changing its color.” What they’re really saying is “I’m afraid of color and that I might ruin the piece.” Unfortunately in many cases, that’s exactly what happens. Rollie will demonstrate how to correctly use color to bring out the best in a piece—no more bland! Many factors will determine the outcome of using color, and we will make a grand tour of them. Stain, pigment dye, and reactive dye will be compared, and there will be an overview of best application practices. We will also delve into surface preparation and correct adhesive usage to avoid the dreaded “glue spots.” Fear no more, color is here!
Matt Cremona — Getting the Most Out of Live Edge Boards
As woodworkers, we see all sorts of possibilities in a piece of wood. But, getting the most out of your material can be a task. In this demonstration, I’ll walk you through my process of taking a rough-sawn, live edge piece of lumber, and breaking it down into parts. This includes color matching parts, selecting the best grain, working with (or around) inclusions, and more. Taking this approach will help you save money on projects, and end up with a better looking project as well.
Matt is a woodworker from Minneapolis Minnesota. His website can be found at: https://mattcremona.com/
Marc Spagnuolo — A Hybrid Approach to Woodworking
In the last few years, there’s been a push to return to the roots of woodworking when every step was done with hand tools–from resawing lumber and planing it flat, to cutting joins and creating profiles. Working this way can produce beautiful results, but is it the best method for woodworking in the 21st century? Maybe, but maybe not. In this presentation, I’ll be talking about the hybrid to woodworking, and mainly concentrating on the hand tools that can supplement and enhance woodworking in your power tool shop.
Marc Spagnuolo founded The Wood Whisperer Guild with his wife Nicole. They produce woodworking content on their Youtube Channel, and partner with instructors from all over the US to teach woodworking through video courses.
Gary Rogowski — Transformational Power of Hand Planes
Hand planes have a place in every shop because of their versatility. There are hundreds to choose from but you need just five to get started. Learn about blade geometry, the importance of a thick chip breaker, and how to sharpen a plane iron with or without a honing guide. These tools can take on so many jobs: fitting drawers and doors, shaping, chamfering, making templates or smoothing boards, these planes will save you time.
Gary Rogowski is a furniture maker. He has been writing about the craft of woodworking since 1988. His "Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery" is in its 20th printing. He has written for Fine Woodworking, Woodworker West, Popular Woodworking, Quercus Magazine, and Craftsmanship Quarterly. "His latest book is Handmade: Creative Focus in the Age of Distraction." He has been teaching woodworking since 1980 around the country. In 1997 he founded, The Northwest Woodworking Studio. When Covid changed the world, he moved all his classes to an Online format offering both the two year Online Mastery Program and the series, Setting Up Shop, for folks just starting out.
Amanda Russell (Fine Woodworking) — Router Joinery Machines Amanda has used both the Pantorouter and Shaper Origin to create anything from a basic mortise and tenon to more complex joinery like dovetails and castle joints. She will walk through the basic operations of each machine, how to set up for success, and the advantages of using each depending on your shop needs. After demonstrating the versatility of each tool, she will go over how she uses them to create jigs and shop fixtures that maximize the potential of other machines in the shop.
Phil Huber (Woodsmith Shop) — The Band Saw-Centered Workshop
Several years ago, Phil sold the table saw in his shop. While that seems like a crazy idea for a furniture maker, it makes sense in his small shop. During this presentation, you’ll see how his shop space works with a bandsaw and learn how the other tools he uses play well with this vital machine. He’ll demonstrate a few techniques and share his favorite jigs and accessories for making accurate and safe cuts for a wide range of woodworking tasks, from tables and cabinets to spoons and bowls.
Logan Wittmer (Popular Woodworking) — Sawing and Drying Your Own Lumber
As woodworkers, we see the potential of every tree growing around us. The conversion of a tree to usable lumber is an exciting thing to behold. Does this log hold your next heirloom project, or is better off in the fireplace, heating during the next winter? In this presentation, I’ll walk you through all aspects of milling a log. From inspecting the log, to determining how to lay it on the sawmill, to milling it with a hydraulic bandsaw mill. We’ll then talk about stacking, stickering, and drying lumber, and things to watch for during this process. This demonstration will take place outside, in a sheltered tent.
Ben Strano (Fine Woodworking) — 3D Printing for Woodworkers You don’t need to be a 3D-printing enthusiast to enjoy the benefits of this incredible technology in your woodshop. From tool holders to dust-collection fittings there is an ever-growing array of 3D models you can download and use in your shop. For Ben, 3D printing hits the next level when paired with free CAD software to make that exact doo-dad you need. Ben will demonstrate how he makes custom mortising templates, bends forms for multiple stringing, routs complex patterns, and makes custom marking and measuring tools.
Putting Shaper Origin to Work — with Rollie Johnson
Shaper Origin is a handheld CNC router. It’s been on the market since 2018 and is in use by thousands of woodworkers around the world. In this seminar led by Roland Johnson, you’ll witness live demonstration, learn about practical applications — like joinery, inlay and template routing — and discover ways to incorporate Origin with your existing tools and workflows.
Ken Page — Wendell Castle – Father of the Art Furniture Movement - His Work and Influence
Wendell Castle, celebrated as the Father of the Art Furniture Movement, revolutionized the world of furniture making through his innovative approach and sculptural techniques. He integrated stack lamination, a technique more akin to sculpture than traditional woodworking, into his furniture designs. Trained as an industrial designer and sculptor, Castle found a natural fit in sculpting furniture, and he continually pushed the boundaries of his craft by exploring various styles and techniques. A hallmark of his work was his commitment to exceptional design. For decades, Castle dedicated two hours each day to drawing, and he once remarked that his favorite hand tool was a pencil. This talk will showcase some of Castle's iconic works from the 1960s until his death in 2018. For over 50 years, he produced distinctive pieces in his Scottsville, NY studio, a portion of which has since been transformed into a nonprofit woodworking school. Attendees will leave inspired to embark on new ventures in their woodworking journeys.
Ken Page, the Director of the Wendell Castle Workshop—part of the nonprofit Wendell Castle Project—will lead the presentation. For more information on classes, visit Wendellcastle.org/classes.
The Wendell Castle Project promotes the artistic legacy and craftsmanship of Wendell Castle through education, cultural programming, and conservation. The Wendell Castle Workshop and the studio as a whole provides current and future generations the opportunity to experience the creative processes around the artist’s life and work.
Titebond & Bob Behnke — 5 Steps of Gluing Wood
The presentation will cover the five steps for successful gluing. From dry assembly to waiting for the glue to dry. Wood glues can affect the wood as it is being assembled and being prepared in advance will eliminate costly joint failures and frustrating disassembly. The discussion will focus on the steps needed to use wood glues with ease, what to watch out for when the glue hits the wood and why failures occur. Also covered will be some frequently asked questions and why there are so many different wood glues.
Bob welcomes gluing questions as this is a discussion, not just a presentation.
Bob Behnke is Franklin International’s Technical Service Manager for the Construction Division handling all technical aspects of the Titebond Branded product line of wood glues, construction adhesives, wood flooring adhesives and sealants. At Franklin, Bob manages a group tasked with handling all calls to the company’s 800 number along with technicians tasked with testing of competitive products and new substrates. Bob has worked for over 30 years in the adhesives and sealants industry with experience in the development of emulsion polymers, scale up from bench to production of a range of adhesive technologies and development of breathable technology for organic and inorganic fabrics.
Shop Talk Live ... Live
We’ll also host a live recording of Fine Woodworking‘s podcast, Shop Talk Live, with audience Q&A.
Join Us for a Open House
From 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 10, you’ll have the chance to attend an open house tour of the shop and studios for Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and the Woodsmith Shop TV show. Meet the staff and get a behind-the-scenes look at upcoming projects and issues.
Exhibitors & Sponsors
Air Handling Systems Grizzly Industrial Hartville Hardware Jet Tools Lee Valley Tools, Ltd. Old Masters Shaper Tool Sutherland Welles Titebond
