After Castle’s death, says Ken Page, interim director of the nonprofit Wendell Castle Project, the family “wanted to have a school, they wanted to archive his works, and they wanted to have a museum.” Castle, known for organic forms and stacked laminations, “would call himself a designer and a sculptor,” Page says. Part of the school’s mission is “to pass on the legacy that Wendell had of excellent design.”

Several Workshop instructors are former employees or students either of Castle or his students. (Castle ran a school from the studio in the 1980s.) Page describes this as “keeping the DNA of the place alive.” For instance, former Castle apprentice Silas Kopf taught a sold-out marquetry workshop last spring, while 17-year employee Taeyoul Ryu will teach two stack lamination workshops in the fall.

Learn Castle’s Techniques, Use His Tools

When Castle began making stacked laminations, “his first tool for carving was a chainsaw,” Page says. Students in a weeklong class will carve sculptural items with electric chainsaws, “whereas the weekend class is going to be the way Wendell did the stack lamination in the 2000s and the ’90s, which is making his model, scanning it into the computer, having the computer divide the model up into layers digitally and the computer printing off those templates.”

Students in the five-day course will receive pre-made templates to cut on the band saw, while the weekend class will review the digital process and tools needed. “The way Wendell did it for the carving was he had a robot,” Page says. “People aren’t going to buy a $150,000 robot, but we’re certainly going to demonstrate it.”

The school’s students will, however, have the chance to try some of Castle’s tools. “I was not going to do that, (but) Wendell’s widow was insisting on it,” Page says. Students will be able to borrow Castle’s tools from the classroom’s instructor bench to try them out.

Most of the power equipment in the Workshop was also used by Castle, with the exception of a new SawStop 5hp table saw, a Delta 20″ band saw and an additional horizontal slot mortiser. Those and additional power tools are split between two machine rooms.

While students will have access to the stock preparation room, normally Page says he will plane, joint and rough-cut wood to size ahead of time. Exceptions include a September beginning furniture class taught by Larissa Huff, in which students will prepare their own stock.

Archives of Inspiration

The Workshop also contains a room with 14 student benches Page built earlier this year. Most classes, however, will be limited to 10 to 12 students. Courses are targeted to a range of skill levels, including beginner, intermediate and advanced, with both weekend and week-long offerings. Lodging is available in Rochester, New York, 10 miles north of the studio’s Scottsville location.

Currently, the school is taking up 5,000 sq ft of the 15,000-sq-ft studio, a former bean mill that once served as home to Castle, wife Nancy Jurs and their children. A gallery provides inspiration to students by showcasing both Castle’s works and ceramic pieces by Jurs. A “Great Room” area will eventually become an event space and museum, while the Wendell Castle Archive will also be housed in the building.

“He drew every day from his 20s into his 80s,” Page says. “So there are thousands and thousands of drawings that he’s created and then models that he made for his work.” The Wendell Castle Project owns at least 100 of Castle’s foot-square models.

Also located on the campus are a former railroad station that is currently Jurs’s ceramic studio and a metalworking building. The school may add ceramics and metalworking courses in the future.

Right now, the studio also occasionally houses Castle pieces sent in for repair and a few pieces whose completion he had approved prior to his death. “Those are literally being final-sanded and finish put on them at this point,” Page says.

“The magic is here,” he adds. “The space itself is where Wendell actually designed and created his different masterpieces.”

For more information, visit wendellcastleworkshop.org.

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He started harvesting the tree with an electric chainsaw and, at one point, found the forester’s note nailed to the log: “Call me.” Turns out, he couldn’t do that in a city park, but “He told me, ‘You really want logs? The city has massive quantities of logs that we don’t really know what to do with,'” McLean reports.

What the city had, McLean says, was “a pile of logs, the better part of the size of a football field, and turns out that they’re paying to get those turned into mulch – and it’s all oak, and ash, and maple and all of this high value, high quality material. I was like, ‘What if I told you I’d take all of it?’ I went and bought a truck trailer, skid steer, sawmill, kiln, warehouse, quit my job and got to work on trying to divert some of this stuff from the waste stream.”

Backlog of Logs

The reason the city of Minnetonka in Minnesota had such a backlog of logs was due to a confluence of factors, McLean says. Trees come down due to emerald ash borer, oak wilt, storm damage; warmer winters may have some impact. Subsidy shifts to solar over biofuels changed municipalities’ markets for mulch.

Partnering with friend Patrick Hughley, McLean began acquiring wood from tree services and municipal mulch sites. They’re often happy to hand over large tree trunks because, “A: they don’t necessarily have the home that they used to for the mulch and B: the big stuff is what breaks their equipment,” McLean says. Some material is dropped off at the Storm Trees warehouse, “but I’ve said that I’m like an Uber driver for logs,” he adds. “I’ll get a ping, ‘We’ve got a tree coming down, can you be here in, like, 30 minutes?'”

For all this material, Storm Trees tracks data. “We track every board foot that we produce, and then we quantify the carbon sequestration characteristics of those board feet,” McLean says. “Wood is a natural carbon sequestration vehicle. Every city, a lot of companies, all have carbon reduction plans.” They’re tracking granular data, including species – varying wood densities store different levels of carbon – and asking what people want to know.

Capturing Footprints

“Would you like to know where it goes? Would you like to know does it come out as a live edge piece? Is it an 8/4? Our end game is to be able to capture the actual carbon footprint of every board foot,” McLean says. He used a live edge table destined for an IT company as an example. “I know that this tree was taken seven miles from the place where it’s going to be used as a table. I know that I drove it here in a truck on a trailer, I know that it ran through a sawmill. All those things layered together can help us capture the carbon footprint as opposed to just the carbon sequestration.”

McLean and Hughley build simple projects, but their focus is on lumber. “It’s time-consuming to pick up and mill trees, dry wood,” McLean says. Currently, they sell to furniture manufacturers, cabinetmakers and craftspeople, plus supply a school district’s woodshop.

Passing the Smell Test

Some contacts came from a Minnesota Woodworkers Guild Expo. “One of my bigger fears as we started this whole operation, was, ‘Is it going to pass the smell test?'” McLean says. “It’s like I’m saying, ‘I got this tree, it’s essentially been defined as somebody else’s garbage, and now you’re going to use it for your expert level project.'”

He also has conversations in the field, where people might reminisce about family sawmills. He says, “It’s actually shockingly moving when you’re sitting there running a skid steer and a sawmill and you’re covered in dirt and, all of a sudden, you’re having a deep conversation with somebody.”

Part of the appeal, Hughley says, is “[We’re] doing some good with business, and people want to see that succeed.”

The limiting factor, McLean adds, “is our ability to process and the sheer volume. If somebody opened up shop doing the exact same thing across the street, we’d be fine. There’s no shortage of desire, demand, or supply.”

For more information, please visit stormtrees.com, call 612-979-5193 or follow @stormtreeslumber on Instagram.

A version of this article originally appeared at eplocalnews.org.

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What’s the secret to the Guild’s success? Current president Charlie LeGrand says, “The mission is what has set us apart.” The Guild’s three-part mission statement focuses on educating members, educating the public about woodworking as an art and charitable works. For LeGrand, “Educating our members and charity work are the two most important aspects of the Guild,” with the two mission goals often completed in tandem.

“We’re not a shop for hire, and we try to emphasize that to people as they consider joining,” LeGrand says. “We are a community of like-minded individuals who share an interest in a hobby.”

The now-required pre-membership meetings for those who are thinking about joining emphasize the equality and responsibility among Guild members. There are no paid employees, and “if you break something, you need to fix it. If there’s dirt on the floor, you need to sweep it up. Don’t just come in here and use the shop and leave; we expect you to participate,” LeGrand says.

The ethos of everyone pitching in was evident in the acquisition of the current shop building, which the Guild has been operating out of since 2011. The former retail site was acquired with a monetary donation from member Bobby Hartness; for construction renovations, members not only contributed financially but also put in 6,500 labor-hours in 907 work sessions with 252 volunteers, according to Going with the Grain, a book charting the Guild’s history, written by member Aubrey Rogers.

Big Shop, Big Names

Now, the building includes a machine room with power tools that include a 5hp SawStop table saw, 10″ and 12″ Grizzly table saws, 16″ Oliver jointer/planer and 25″ planer, Festool Kapex miter saw, Laguna 16″ band saw, two CNC machines, a laser engraver and more. In addition to two lathes in the main shop, there’s a dedicated lathe training room with six more JET lathes, plus even more lathes in a youth program room.

“We have an assembly area; we have an enclosed sanding booth; we have a pretty good-sized hand tool room which right now doubles as a finishing room. So it’s a big place,” LeGrand says. Additionally, the building houses a woodworking library, conference room, lumber room and auditorium. An outbuilding stores extra wood.

The 300-seat auditorium is the current site for visiting lecturers, but that program predates today’s shop. Sam Maloof built a chair in a member’s garage shop in the 1980s; Ian Kirby spoke on design; Frank Klausz did a session on dovetails. More recent speakers have included Roy Underhill, woodcarver Mary May, Alf Sharp on marquetry, David Finck, and Tom McLaughlin of Epic Woodworking, whose all-day presentation last year “covered everything” about the tables he was building, LeGrand says. “He did it right here on the stage, veneering a curved piece to shaping a table leg while we watched.”

Presenters will also do hands-on seminars of varying lengths. Finck, currently a luthier who studied with James Krenov, “had us making Krenov-style hand planes,” LeGrand says, while a four-day session “had 10 students learning to carve from Mary May in our bench room.”

Charitable Projects

The educational aspect of the Guild also ties into its charity work. For instance, a Guild team of toymakers meets weekly from April through November to create playthings for children’s charities — 1,532 were delivered in 2023. “You might be on the John Deere tractor team, or somebody else might be on the airplane team,” LeGrand says. “If anybody comes in and they’re new or they’re nervous about, let’s say, using a router table, by the time you make 65 John Deere tractors and round over the edges, you’re probably pretty good at it at that point.”

Guild member and retired professional woodworker Jon Rauschenbach is currently leading charitable cabinetmaking projects for the Guild. “He’s educating our members at the same time that they’re completing these charity projects,” LeGrand says.

Additional charitable builds of the Greenville Woodworkers Guild include lidded bowls for medical care recipients to collect Beads of Courage, Urns for Veterans to encase cremains in veterans’ cemeteries and numerous projects for the Meyer Center, a Greenville organization focused on empowering children with disabilities, among many others.

The Guild has been building projects for the Meyer Center since shortly after its founding, which occurred on June 1, 1981. Art Welling, one of the five founding members, had seen another woodworker’s business card that proclaimed him a member of the New England Woodworkers Guild and thought such a membership sounded like it would enhance his credibility as he worked to establish a high-end furniture business. The Guild itself, however, has always existed “for charitable, educational and artistic purposes only.”

A current educational aspect is the youth program. Offered on weekdays during the school year, its enrollees are mostly homeschoolers. “We’re not a trade school and don’t intend to be,” LeGrand says. “You’re teaching woodworking, but really what you’re doing is using woodworking to develop their brains” through math calculations, project planning, wood knowledge, finishing and more. “It’s a good hobby and develops their brains, just like it keeps old folks’ brains active.”

Many of the retirees currently active in the Guild are former Michelin engineers. In addition to the tire company, BMW and General Electric are major employers in the area. LeGrand thinks many in the profession turn to woodworking as a hobby because “it can satisfy their need for precision in measurement.”

Lumber Program

Membership isn’t for everyone, though. In addition to the nonprofit Guild not allowing its shop to be used to make items for sale, they also don’t allow the use of reclaimed wood, pallet boards or Southern yellow pine on their machinery. “The resin gums up the blades and it clogs up the dust collection system,” LeGrand explains. “Anything that could damage the machinery” is not allowed, “but anything else you’re free to bring in — or use what we have,” he says.

The lumber available for members’ use and purchase includes species such as Eastern white pine, poplar, cherry, red and white oak, walnut, padauk, purpleheart, Spanish cedar, sapele and canarywood.

The Guild’s lumber program, like a mentorship program that pairs more experienced woodworkers with those with less experience, has been an ongoing part of Guild activities for several years. The mentorship program began decades ago in each other’s home shops, prior to the Guild having its own building that operates throughout the week. An earlier 1,000-square-ft shop operated from 2003 to 2011 out of an industrial building Hartness leased to the group.

While members do still work in their own shops, the Guild tracked about 40,000 hours of work in its current shop in 2021, which includes both time dedicated to Guild charity work and personal projects. “Other guilds — this is not a criticism of them — but other places, you pay for and reserve shop time,” LeGrand says. That’s not how the Greenville Woodworkers Guild, whose current annual dues are $150, operates.

Instead, “The mission is what has set us apart,” LeGrand says. “For 42 years, it’s set us apart.”

For more information, visit greenvillewoodworkers.com.

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Understanding Origin

So what is a Shaper Origin? “Think of it as a router with a super accurate GPS system,” Jake says. It is essentially a handheld CNC machine.

Shaper Origin locates itself within a workspace created by the user via strips of domino-looking adhesive tape placed on the workpiece. The user can then place a “digital template” onto the workspace, and Shaper Origin machines it by reading the programming. The user steers the tool along a path shown on its touch screen on top. Shaper Origin adjusts its cutting position instantly to correct for minor user errors.

The programming is easy to make on the machine or by using Shaper Studio, and there are also hundreds of designs available at Shaper Hub, including the programming for the clock you see here. That’s one of the best things about the Shaper Origin system. When you buy a Shaper, you get access to all sorts of programming — from plans to hardware installation to templates. There are accessories that add functionality to the tool, too. Learn more by visiting Rockler or at shapertools.com.

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“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring our new GRR-RIPPER 2GO technology to the newest entrants to the craft who are learning the fundamentals of working with wood and creating with their hands,” said CEO Bruce Wang. “We’re grateful these young learners are expressing interest, and we hope to provide a safe foundation for a fruitful journey with wood.”

The GRR-RIPPER 2GO, introduced in February, is the first-ever patented color-coded push block. It is designed to allow users to cut thin pieces safely and accurately with no bare-hand feeding, providing enhanced safety and control on table saws, router tables, band saws and jointers. The color-coded design of the GRR-RIPPER 2GO can make it more intuitive for students to use and adhere to proper safety protocols.

With this donation program, MICROJIG is making a significant investment in personal safety for public schools across the United States and contributing to the overall goal of ending table saw injuries.

Middle schools can visit microjig.com to apply for the donation. Additionally, as part of the initiative, MICROJIG will offer a 25 percent discount to all public schools interested in adding other MICROJIG products or additional GRR-RIPPERS to their woodworking spaces.

MICROJIG was founded in 2001 by woodworking hobbyist Henry Wang in his Orlando, Florida, garage. The company has since grown and now offers a total of nine product categories, all aimed at providing innovative solutions for woodworkers to work safely and efficiently. Their flagship product, the GRR-RIPPER, was created to replace traditional push sticks with a safer and more advanced woodworking technology.

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This exhibition featured the U.S. premier of Swedish artist Claes Larsson, known as ClaesKamp, whose expressive woodcarvings reflect his punk rock roots and respond to contemporary issues facing the world.

Primarily creating sculptures out of wood, Claes explores the border between traditional woodwork and the foundational experiences of his younger years with street art and punk. His techniques are surprising and in many ways topple the traditional rules of wood slöjd (handcraft eduction) in pursuit of the next generation of the art form. They invite visitors to reconsider the notion that handcraft is primarily a functional art form or an art of survival and at the same time underscore handcraft’s longstanding tradition as a medium for exchanging ideas.

“As a kid I used to have ‘painting Fridays’ with my dad. He got a beer and I got something with a lot of sugar, we listened to rock n’ roll and painted all night. Never with any demands of certain results or progress, but for the fun of it. That’s where I found art,” Claes says.

Alongside Claes, artwork by local artist Liesl Chatman was on display. Liesl employs kolrosing (fine line surface decoration in wood) and carving as means to process and reflect on lived experience. Among other works by Liesl, visitors were able to view a special spoon-carving project she launched in 2020.

Part of the ASI campus is the Turnblad Mansion, an amazing 1908 structure with a rich history. Within this exhibit were a series of carefully selected hand-carved objects from the historic mansion, which is itself a masterpiece in woodcarving. Throughout the galleries, visitors encountered tools of necessity made and used by some of Minnesota’s earliest settlers as well as sentimental objects brought by Nordic immigrants and passed on through generations. Although separated by time and place, these objects represent the lived experiences of each of their makers and invite visitors to consider how handcraft has evolved over time.

“Leaving Your Mark” coincides with the 100th anniversary of Sätergläntan, one of Sweden’s oldest and most cherished centers for learning and preserving handcraft. Students from all over the world travel to learn from master artisans at this boundary- breaking meeting place and knowledge center in the Swedish region of Dalarna.

Exhibit visitors also were able to view a selection of ASI’s collection of Scandinavian flat-plane figure carvings by Swedish artist Herman Rosell (1893-1969) alongside excerpts from “As It Was Before,” a new publication about Swedish immigration to America.

The American Swedish Institute

The American Swedish Institute (ASI) is a gathering place for all people to explore diverse experiences of migration, identity, belonging and the environment through arts and culture, informed by enduring links to Sweden. Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, ASI has been a leading cultural institution in the Twin Cities area. ASI is open to the public. Learn more at their website.

All photos are by Claes Larsson PC Rights reserved

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Rockler’s contribution of speaker kits and other tools to the Southside school support Simeon Academy’s carpentry program and inspire students to pursue careers or lifelong hobbies in carpentry and woodworking.

“For many of us, shop class is where our woodworking skills begin and end, but our hope is that through donations like this, we can help young people continue to build on their skills and extend their love of the craft that so many people enjoy,” says Steve Singer, Rockler’s CEO.

Inspiring Futures

Simeon Academy carpentry students worked on the wooden speaker kits as a year-end project, led by instructor Isiah Rowsey.

“It’s always exciting to see students improve on their woodworking skills throughout the school year, and the Rockler Bluetooth speakers served as a fun project to give the students an opportunity to show off what they’ve learned this year,” says Rowsey.

“America needs young carpenters and woodworkers, and our school was fortunate to receive this important donation to give students quality tools and projects to help inspire their futures.”

In addition to the Bluetooth speaker kits, Rockler donated important tools and equipment to the school including high-quality walnut and maple to build out the speakers, dowels, doweling jigs and drill bits needed for assembly.

“I loved working on the Bluetooth speaker project and having the opportunity to learn with quality tools,” says Simeon student Jalen Brown. “I’m really excited to pursue woodworking and carpentry and improve my skills through my classes at Simeon.”

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Within this alliance, Bosch AMPShare-branded 18-volt batteries will power Bosch tools along with select tools made by FEIN Power Tools US, Rothenberger USA and 12 other brands. Those include HONSEL, Ledlenser, Mato, Medmix Cox and MK, Orgapack and Signode, PerfectPro, Steinel, Bosch Rexroth Corp, Titan and Wagner.

This AMPShare platform launched in the EU in 2022.

Bosch explains that AMPShare — Powered by Bosch batteries are rebranded CORE18V batteries that deliver optimal power-to-weight ratio, high-power performance and COOLPACK 2.0 heat management technology. It’s a platform that has proven itself among professional power tool users for a number of years.

Many Tools, One Battery

Alliance partner brands will be developing their cordless tools to use AMPShare batteries and chargers. Current Bosch power tool batteries and alliance products are compatible with the AMPShare battery, as well as future Bosch power tools.

As a couple of examples, the AMPShare battery system is compatible with FEIN MULTIMASTER 500 and 700 oscillating multitools to start, with additional FEIN tools coming soon. The third founding partner, Rothenberger, will off er AMPShare compatibility on select battery-powered products including its press tool, bending tool and vacuum pump in 2024.

While many of these alliance brands are trade-specific, and hobbyist woodworkers might not immediately benefit from AMPShare — Powered by Bosch initiatives, the effort to shift the cordless tool industry away from proprietary batteries and chargers, as well as a willingness to foster compatibility across brands, is commendable. It will be interesting to see if and how these developments influence other major power tool brands in the years to come.

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Drawing from their expertise in designing dust collection systems for large manufacturers, in 1993 Witter and Fedrigon embarked on a mission to create the best possible system for smaller woodworking shops. They focused on a scientific approach using airflow principles, cyclone separators and industrial filter media in correct proportion. Oneida Air’s first offering was a cyclone separator, which drastically improved collection effectiveness for bagged dust collectors.

Within two years, they launched their first motorized cyclonic collector and ductwork design plans for individual workshops. Shortly thereafter, the company came out with the first open-pleated cartridge filters that are the industry standard today. Innovation continued to propel Oneida Air forward, with the ensuing years being filled with groundbreaking inventions. From the revolutionary Dust Deputy cyclone pre-separator for wet/dry vacuums to their highly-awarded Supercell dust collector, Oneida Air continues to spur industry advancement for the betterment of woodworkers the world over. Today the company holds over 59 pending and active patents, with products sold in nearly 50 countries.

Oneida Air has thrived as a U.S. manufacturer of American- made products when many competitors have moved their operations overseas. The company has built a reputation for high-quality dust collection systems, the expert knowledge of its in-house technical sales and support team, and its commitment to helping woodworkers achieve the cleanest shops possible.

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Even though Festool’s new tool releases have been stymied during the pandemic due to supply chain interruptions and computer chip shortages, there are some interesting new offerings, and here are a few of the standouts.

CSC SYS 50 Cordless Table Saw

I finally had the chance to lay hands on this much-rumored cordless table saw, which has been out in Germany for some time. I was not disappointed, and in my mind the CSC SYS 50 was tied for the best in show. Running on two 18-volt batteries, this lightweight, portable table saw features electronic blade tilt and height control. It’s an elegant, well-thought-out new saw that would be at home at any construction site or small shop.

TSV 60 Track Saw

The second ground-breaking new tool tied for best in show is the TSV 60 Counter Scoring Corded Track Saw. High-end table saws have long sported a small counter-scoring blade ahead of the main blade. It turns in the opposite direction of the main blade and cuts a shallow (about a 1/32″-deep) groove, which then allows the main blade to cut through without any tearing of wood grain or chipping of laminate. The TSV 60 is so configured. As with table saws, the scoring blade on this track saw may be retracted for conventional cutting.

CTC MIDI 1 and SYS 1 Dust Extractors

Festool’s current line of industrial HEPA tool-triggered dust extractors only work with corded tools. For cordless models, the existing plug-in dust extractors require manual starting and stopping. The new cordless CTC MIDI 1 and the CTC SYS 1 Cordless Systainer Dust Extractor (which has been on the market for a while) overcome this problem by way of Bluetooth connection to the tool for the stop and start function. It’s a helpful innovation for today’s battery-driven Festool lineup.

KSC 60 Cordless Sliding Compound Miter Saw

Festool’s Kapex KSC 60 Cordless Sliding Compound Miter Saw isn’t brand new, but it was nice to give it a test drive. It worked with the same functionality as my plug-in Kapex 120 miter saw, which I have used for a decade. The KSC 60’s rolling (dolly-like) cart makes for easy transfer from a truck to a work location. Extension tables alongside the saw help ensure fully supported workpieces. For a jobsite where power has yet to be brought in, this saw’s cordless feature will be welcomed.

RCS 18 Recip Saw

Reciprocating saws are in most carpenter’s kits, and the new RSC 18 provided some useful innovations. First is dust collection, and the second is a gyroscopic vibration control system that enables the saw to cut more smoothly and transmit much less vibration to the user than other recip saws I’ve used.

GHS 25 Ear Buds

Festool now offers GHS 25 Ear Protection Buds for safer work in noisy environments. I tried a pair on and found them both effective and comfortable, mainly due to a wide range of rubber adapter plugs that should accommodate any ear canal. According to the folks at Festool, these earbuds offer a 25 dB noise reduction and allow Bluetooth connection to your smart phone for music or calls.

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