Woodworking Residency

Overview & Purpose

This residency is designed for those that are completely new to woodworking and are interested in learning to use all of the tools that we have available in the WoodLab. The program allows woodworkers to gain more experiences in practical and advanced joinery techniques than our regular safety and orientation classes provide. Mentorship and guidance from qualified carpenters allows beginners to build their skills with a specific hands-on project. 


Included in residency

Duration

2 months

Cost of residency

$925 + tax + Any additional materials residents may use outside of building the side table 


What is expected from each resident

Month 1:

- Create a side table with sliding drawer out of hardwood

- Documentation - Introductory blog post, and weekly Instagram posts (at minimum)

Month 2:

- Become mentors for the next cohort and meet up on a weekly basis

- Start work on personal projects while receiving support

- Documentation - Mid-way though and end of residency blog posts, and weekly Instagram posts (at minimum)

- Create a summary of your body of work produced and lessons learned to be shared at a meet-up at the end of the residency.


Residency commitment

All classes will take place on Thursday evenings during the first month of residency, from 6pm to 9pm, and residents must be available during these times. All other hours throughout the week are flexible, but we ask that residents be at MakerLabs a minimum of 15 hours a week to be committed to the program. This includes class time, time spent meeting with mentors / mentees, and time spent working on homework / projects. We encourage working in groups and meeting up with your mentor / mentee on a weekly basis. 

Residents must document their experiences and work completed during the residency. This includes posting on the Residency Instagram account at least once a week.  We also require three posts on our blog over the duration of the residency (one introductory post, one mid-way through post, and one post upon completion of the program).


Accommodation and travel 

This must be arranged by the resident. 


Project legacy

All intellectual property will remain in possession of the residents

Anything built here is the property of the resident. If you want to leave the project at MakerLabs after the residency is over you will have to pay for storage.

Any documentation will be shared by MakerLabs through our website/social media etc

For Residents

Expectations

Throughout you have access to the Makerlabs Instagram account and Wordpress blog. We want one Instagram post per week (at least), and you are encouraged to post much more if you want to. You can cross post. We require three blog posts: one Introductory post, one after your first month, and one at the end of the residency.

You should be able to attend all  classes in the first month and are available to mentor for all of the second month. If you can't commit enough time to the program, please let us know and we can try to reschedule you for a later month.

Inter/Intra Cohort Communication

Join the Slack Workspace for the Woodworking Residency. You can message each other and there will be a channel for each cohort. Please communicate regularly on Slack, so we can see that you are actively participating in the program. You are also free to exchange phone numbers with each other.

Schedule


Pre-Residency

Week 1

Weekly Goals: 

Familiarize Yourself with MakerLabs 

Build 2x panels sized at 3/4" x 16" x 40"*

*Due week 3


Class #1 Itinerary: Intro to the Woodlab

1. Safety Protocol

2. Pick Materials for Project

3. Intro to Solid Wood Breakout

4. Intro to Grain Direction and Panel Layout

Class 1 Project Instructions:

1. Select material for table based on provided cut list

2. Rough cut material for table box to 40” length. 

3. Joint 1 edge if necessary, and rip pieces to rough width. 

4. Joint 1 face and 1 edge on all pieces. 

5. Plane edge to parallel jointed edge, and plane to 3/4" thickness.

6. Arrange pieces into 2 panels, roughly 16" x 40"

7. Cut biscuit splines.**


** use #10 biscuits, not necessary until week 2.

Suggested Instagram Post: Project plans or photos of results from tool practice. Progress pictures of your side table.


Videos to watch:


Grain Direction in Wood

This video is a clear explaination aboutwood grain - Warning: when he referrers to "back sawn" that is what we referrer to as "flat sawn"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJHk7eViPFw


How to Read Wood Grain | Paul Sellers

This video focuses on wood grain and how it relates to hand tools.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJHk7eViPFw 


Understanding Wood Grain | Paul Sellers

This video shows more in depth about wood grain and how cutting direction matters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47OSZ5lgPBM 


The Way Wood Works -- What Every Woodworker Needs to Know About Wood.

This video is more in depth about different wood cuts (plane sawn vs quarter sawn vs rift sawn) and how that relates to wood movement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZkYLVrTYe4 


Understanding Grain Direction and Runout: Planing Downhill

This video is just to supplement some of the concepts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ98Hj2RVo0 


How to Make Sense of Rough-Sawn Lumber

This video is great to show how you might mark up and pick rough lumber for a project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOBtDRxXw7Y

How To Make Flat, Wide Panels - WOOD magazine

This video doesn't talk about grain direction at all, but it's a good example of solid wood breakout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIBE7VCBYzU

10 Tips for Wide Panels that Stay FLAT.

This video is just a handful of tips for a good panel glue up. He forgot to stress the importance of a dry fit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3oFRbPsB7Y 


Why do they call it a jointer when it planes wood?

This is a great video all about using a jointer and milling wood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8ey0z3bkUo&t=56s

Table saw safety tips you forgot about (or never knew)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSbS5zhH7cE


After this video you'll make better table saw RIP cuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bADmnDEcuYo


Review the curriculum of Week 1 here:

Week 2

Weekly Goals:

Class #2 Itinerary: 

Week 2 Project Instructions

Suggested Instagram Post: Project progress, pictures of your side table legs


Videos to watch:

Pro Tips for Table Tops, Counters and Panel Glue Ups

This is a great video to show you the different options for a panel glue up. It also goes over the different opinions in woodworking and gives some pros and cons for commonly contested woodworking practices (ie. wiping glue away with a damp cloth vs scraping it away after a short time vs chipping it off after 24 hours).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNCHVzBZH3Y 

Biscuit Joinery Tutorial

This video is about the basics of the Dewalt biscuit jointer and how to use it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNd7I4OiOf8


Review the curriculum of Week 2 here:

And find an Intro to the Router Table here:

Week 3

Weekly Goals:

Class #3 Itinerary:

Week 3 Project Instructions:

Suggested Instagram Post: Work in progress shots of your side table

Videos to Watch:

Every woodworker needs three table saw blades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSQJ0247ifY

Clever ways to make better table saw crosscuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ok1h0gJ5o

So, you think you know how to sand, eh?

This is a good video on how to use a random orbit sander.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDYPGgjQmF4

This video will change the way you cut miters and bevels with a table saw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aZCdt8Cs8M


Review the curriculum of Week 3 here:

And how to assemble your box here: 

Week 4

Weekly Goals:

Class #4 Itinerary:

Week 4 Project Instructions:

Suggested Instagram Post: Work in progress shots of your side table, pictures of you and your class in the Woodlab.

Videos to Watch:

Plywood is difficult to cut on the table saw? Let's fix that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71UenL74k2E


Review the curriculum of Week 4 here:

Week 5

Class #5 Itinerary:

Homework:

Videos to Watch:

How To Buy Lumber & Plywood At A Hardwood Dealer

This video is great to walk you through how to buy hardwood lumber and plywood from a lumber yard like PJ White. Please keep in mind that soft wood lumber is very different to buying hardwood lumber and that some wood is sold by liner foot, not board foot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQT_D0b2eTc

Suggested Instagram Post: Post about your specialization/favourite class or tool. Pictures using that tool.  Write your halfway blog post (include Wordpress tag: woodworkingresidency)

Week 6

Homework:

Set a time and meet with your mentee this week. See if they need help with their project.

Begin dimensioning lumber for your next project.

Suggested Instagram Post: Reflect on the progress of your goals, or a project you are working on. Show progress photos of your new project.

Week 7

Homework:

Meet with your mentee again this week. Check in and see if there's any area they need extra help in.

Continue working on your personal projects.

Make sure meet-up plans are in place.

Suggested Instagram Post: Any other works in progress or completed projects that you done over the residency. Continuing work on your personal project.

Week 8

Homework:

Complete your final projects.

Fill out final survey, clear out your projects and any personal items from the shared Woodworking Residency space.

Write final blog post about your experiences, completed projects, and lessons learned.

Present at the meet-up.

Suggested Instagram Post: Completed projects.

Additional Resources

There are lots of great videos and resources on YouTube with some more information about woodworking. Here are some YouTube channels that have a lot of great information while also focusing on safe practices.


Stumpy Nubs

https://www.youtube.com/@StumpyNubs

These videos are less project based but unbelievably informative.  This guy knows SO much about woodworking and tools.  He goes into the knitty gritty details of woodworking and the tools involved.  If you want to know specific information about woodworking, try searching his videos and you’re likely to find it.

Steve Ramsey

https://www.youtube.com/@SteveRamsey

These videos are great for new woodworkers.  He uses very simple tools, nothing fancy.

The Wood Whisperer

https://www.youtube.com/@woodwhisperer

These are fantastic project based videos packed full of tips.  He really knows his stuff and has a nerdy sense of humour to boot.

Foureyes Furniture

https://www.youtube.com/@Foureyes.Furniture

These two make all sorts of fantastic furniture.  Lots of post-modern style furniture and funky angles.  There are loads of great tips and technics within each video and they do a great job of explaining what they are doing and why.

Michael Alm

https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelAlm

We love this guy’s stuff and his videos…especially his patterned plywood projects.  He explains what he’s up to very nicely.

GET HANDS DIRTY

https://www.youtube.com/@GetHandsDirty

She has some very cool projects and does a decent job of explain what she’s doing. 

3x3Custom – Tamar

https://www.youtube.com/@3x3CustomTamar

She is great at explaining and demonstrating how to do everything a few different ways.  She makes lots of jigs to do all the things she does.  She knows the right way to do everything even though she is self-taught.  She continually impresses me with what she can accomplish with simple tools (well, before we got fancier tools that is).

Blake Weber

https://www.youtube.com/@weberwoodshop

His projects and his videos are very well done.   He prefers very high end projects and mixes it up with his use of hand and power tools.  His newer videos explore more digital fabrication techniques and his older ones are more traditional.  His videos are few and far between but they are worth the wait.

Alexandre Chappel

https://www.youtube.com/@achappel

He takes great care in the design of his projects.  He incorporates lots of 3D printing into his designs.  He is less dependent on woodworking to make his projects, but it is still interesting to watch.  He is in the middle of renovating his apartment, so if you’re not into that, be sure to watch the older videos instead (2021 and earlier).

I Like To Make Stuff

https://www.youtube.com/@Iliketomakestuff

He makes all sorts of fun stuff with loads of different materials and techniques.  He’s more of an all-round maker than a woodworker, but his videos are fun to watch.

Mark Rober

https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRober

These have very little to do with woodworking but these are some of the best videos on youtube.   Mark is a NASA engineer turned youtuber who makes great videos aimed at teaching complex ideas in an understandable way.  You’re welcome!