Dates: Saturday, February 28th & Sunday, March 1st (2 meetings)

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Kevin Hopkins CF'18

Teaching Assistant: Alana Schwartz CF'25

Interested in woodworking and looking for a way to get started? This introductory course is designed to give beginner students an overview of shop safety as well as some of the most common machines and hand tools used in woodworking. We work towards the completion of a small project while building basic skills and getting comfortable with machinery and working at the bench. This class is geared toward beginners looking to get a peek into woodworking. For more in-depth skill-building, check out our Fundamentals of Fine Woodworking and Fundamentals of Machine Woodworking classes. Many students choose to take Woodworking 101 before a Fundamentals class, but it is not required. 

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions.

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None

Age Requirement: Students must be 18+ to attend adult CE classes. No one under 18 years old is permitted to register for an adult class, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Dates: Monday - Friday, March 2 - 13 (10 meetings, class does not meet over the weekend)

Hours: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Instructor: Steve Brown CF'90

This comprehensive course builds foundational hand skills that are essential to completing many fine woodworking projects. The class is suitable for both beginners looking to jump-start a hobby in woodworking and intermediate/advanced students looking to refresh their skills. Topics include sharpening, tuning, and the use of basic hand tools, including paring chisels, hand planes, dovetail saws, card scrapers, and marking gauges; characteristics of wood and wood movement in furniture making; and cutting dovetails and mortise and tenon joinery using flat and square reference surfaces. Demonstrations and exercises develop skills such as chopping and paring with a chisel and hand planning. Traditional cabinet-making practices are explained throughout the course, and instructors emphasize how these methods can be used systematically in any woodworking project. Each student will complete a box with a sliding lid. This course focuses on handwork at the bench. Check out our Fundamentals of Machine Woodworking class if you are looking to learn more about machines. Many students take both classes. If you are just looking to get your feet wet in the shop, check out our Woodworking 101 class.

Tools & Supplies: Please bring the items on this supply list to the first day of class.​ Need an item? Our NBSS Store/Gallery carries dozens of tools and supplies in addition to NBSS branded items and handmade goods. You may make purchases online, in person (Monday-Thursday 7:30 am - 2:00 pm), or via email at store@nbss.edu. Tool orders must be made via email or over the phone.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions. 

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None

Date: Saturday March 7th & Sunday March 8th (2 meetings)

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Brad Wolcott CF '12

Inlaid stringing and banding are hallmarks of furniture styles ranging from early American to the finest Art Deco pieces. This class will teach students how to create, use, and finish stringing and banding on a variety of surfaces. Learn how to incorporate these details for both aesthetic and practical reasons. 

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class. 

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions.

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None

Age Requirement: Students must be 18+ to attend adult CE classes. No one under 18 years old is permitted to register for an adult class, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Dates: Saturday, March 7th & Sunday, March 8th (2 meetings)

Hours: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Instructor: Eric Goodson

This class will introduce students to end-grain cup turning.  Unlike most bowl turning, which orients the grain perpendicular to the lathe bed, end-grain turning orients the grain parallel to the lathe bed, like spindle turning.  Students will learn to use both traditional bowl gouges and ring tools, as well as explore the advantages of turning with the machine running in reverse and once-turned versus twice-turned vessels. Each student will have a dedicated lathe and will create two or three cups or bowls.

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions. 

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None

Age Requirement: Students must be 18+ to attend adult CE classes. No one under 18 years old is permitted to register for an adult class, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Dates: Saturday, March 14th & Sunday, March 15th (2 meetings)

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Oliver Strand

Teaching Assistant: Caroline Knight CF'26

Students will build a rectangular Windsor-style bench, perfect for an entryway or beside the kitchen table. This class covers the basic joinery and shaping techniques used in Windsor chairmaking, and will teach you everything you need to start making benches, stools, and chairs at home! We will use kiln-dried wood, simple hand tools, and tapered mortise and tenon joinery to build a rock-solid bench that will last a lifetime.

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class. 

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions.

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None

Age Requirement: Students must be 18+ to attend adult CE classes. No one under 18 years old is permitted to register for an adult class, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Dates: Saturday March 14th & Sunday March 15th (2 meetings)

Hours: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm

Instructor: Stephen Thrasher

Teaching Assistant: Haniel Wides CF'24

Interested in woodworking and looking for a way to get started? This introductory course is designed to give beginner students an overview of shop safety as well as some of the most common machines and hand tools used in woodworking. We work towards the completion of a small project while building basic skills and getting comfortable with machinery and working at the bench. This class is geared toward beginners looking to get a peek into woodworking. For more in-depth skill-building, check out our Fundamentals of Fine Woodworking and Fundamentals of Machine Woodworking classes. Many students choose to take Woodworking 101 before a Fundamentals class, but it is not required. 

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions.

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: None

Age Requirement: Students must be 18+ to attend adult CE classes. No one under 18 years old is permitted to register for an adult class, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Dates: Monday, March 16 - Friday, March 20 (5 meetings)

Hours: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Instructor: Andy Draper CA '23

Teaching Assistant: Gavin Dover CA'25

The cabinet class will cover the planning, designing, building, and installation of standard kitchen inset-style cabinets. This course will provide the understanding needed to build various other types of cabinets. Students will break down and mill the plywood needed to assemble the cabinet boxes. Using pre-milled stock, students will assemble the face frame and doors and install door and drawer hardware for these lower cabinets before scribing and installation.

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies are provided for this class.

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions.

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: A previous woodworking or carpentry class at NBSS or equivalent experience with permission from the instructor. If you have questions about your experience, please contact ce@nbss.edu. 

Age Requirement: Students must be 18+ to attend adult CE classes. No one under 18 years old is permitted to register for an adult class, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Dates: Monday, March 16 - Friday, March 20, 2026 (5 meetings)

Hours: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

Instructor: Matt Monaco

In this comprehensive course, students will learn the importance of practice in developing fine technique, finesse, and tool control while exploring the benefits of using properly shaped and sharpened tools, an understanding of grain orientation, and wood selection leads to the effective creation of high-quality objects at the lathe. 

Throughout the week, students will be introduced to many aspects of Matt’s design aesthetic, based on his formative years of training, sharing some of his most effective approaches in turning side-grain & endgrain, and of his following years of applied trade development & work experience as a professional woodturner.

• Gain direct understanding from a professional woodturner who has 20 years of experience, in both the wholesale tradeshow, retail, and interior design market industries.
• Gain a direct understanding of how developing fine technique directly mirrors the execution of creating well-designed, finely proportioned objects of any kind on the lathe. 
• Explore what tool control at the lathe, practical usage, and cutting execution are, and why using traditional woodturning tools yields superior results. 
• Learn to properly identify and understand a vitally important variety of cuts and types of traditional woodturning tools, to develop a working language at the lathe. 
• Learn how to sharpen and shape tools effectively and consistently, whether using jigs or sharpening freehand, and the advantages of modifying tools.
• Learn to develop a repeatable method and ethic for seeing results, and how to properly gauge improvement, while introducing design aesthetic. 
• Learn to recognize how body ergonomics greatly affects the creation of high-quality work on the lathe. 

Tools & Supplies: All tools and supplies will be provided for this class. 

Attire: This is a general list of how to dress for the shop environment, please contact ce@nbss.edu if you have any questions. 

• Closed-toe, comfortable, and protective footwear (sneakers or boots)
• No loose clothing
• Long pants suggested
• No loose jewelry
• Long hair must be tied back

Prerequisite: This class is for beginner to advanced students. 

Age Requirement: Students must be 18+ to attend adult CE classes. No one under 18 years old is permitted to register for an adult class, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian.