Summer Woodworking Institute

In this flexible workshop series, you can pick from a menu of woodworking projects and pursue them at your own pace, guided by our staff instructor Max Smith, while practicing tool use. Whether it's learning joinery through building a box or making an end table, these are woodworking lessons on your own terms and your schedule. Learn from a woodworking expert and your classmates!

Each session will start with a group meet to review plans, cut lists, address any initial questions as to procedures and practice to be done. From there, students will break off to acquire materials, practice tool skills on scrap wood, or set up tools for specific operations, all under the observation of a volunteer shop manager. As the session progresses, the instructor will be making rounds to observe student progress, address questions as they arise, and may convene a "shop huddle" to address recurring issues or demonstrate a particular procedure.

Prerequisites and/or prior skills students should have: Foundations of Woodworking power tools/hand tools or equivalent is required. Special nights for the review of power tool / hand tool safety and use could be scheduled.

NOTE: this workshop is not open to just any project--only the ones we offer. But you can customize the size of your piece to suit your needs. Available projects are: 

• making a sturdy custom shelf unit with biscuit joints and dado cuts (3 sessions)
• building a footstool or small stool for sitting (5 sessions)
• Shaker-style end table (7 sessions)
• lidded dovetail box (7 sessions)

When registering, please select the number of sessions you think you'll need for a project, based on our guidelines above. You can always pay for extra time later, as needed.

We charge a base materials fee. If you want to customize the dimensions of your piece, you can purchase additional material from our shop as needed.

Session Dates: July 16, 17, 20, 23, 28, 30
Aug. 3, 4, 13, 15, 16
Times: 5:30-9 PM (weekdays); 9 AM - 1 PM (weekends)
Instructor: Max Smith
Class size (max.): 5
Skill level: basic
Prerequisites: see description above

Registration (per session)
Household Member & Above: $65**
Individual Member: $72**
General Public: $76
Register By: rolling

Base Materials Fee: $50 (included at checkout)**

*We encourage you to become a member to receive discounted class tuition. You must be a current member on the date of registering to receive your discount. Please login to activate your member discount. To become a new member, please sign up here, or call 845-338-0071.

**For basic materials at standard project sizes. If you want to customize the dimensions of your piece, you can purchase additional material from our shop as needed.

Instructor: Max Smith is a multidisciplinary craftsman with ten years of experience in woodworking in various forms, stringed instrument repair and making, piano tuning and repair, boatbuilding, cabinetmaking, and as Maintenance Coordinator for the Beacon Sloop Club. He is a full time instructor at HRMM and has participated as a skills demonstrator at the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent, CT. Max frequently sails his 15' Goat Island Skiff, inviting friends and teaching them the basics of sailing.