Northwest Woodworking Studio – A School for Woodworkers

Making a High Angle
Wooden Block Plane

Join me at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking

Workshop Dates:
August 29, 2026 - August 30, 2026

Making a High Angle Wooden Block Plane
with Gary Rogowski

There are few things in the shop as satisfying as making your own tools.

This high angle block plane class will show you how to heat treat and temper your plane iron from O1 tool steel flat stock. We will also work through the steps to make a wooden body plane.

It’s a high angle tool so it will occupy a special place in your hand plane rack. Cutting at 60̊ it moves through curly grain and knotty wood with superb results.

Good fun and so great to have in your kit.

Make an Inlaid Siska Bookcase

Join me at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking

Workshop Dates:
August 24, 2026 - August 28, 2026

Make an Inlaid Siska Bookcase with Gary Rogowski

This small bookcase is a great project for those who want to increase their building and design skills. It can serve different needs while teaching a variety of techniques. A case this size can hold books or magazines, glassware, or art. It also provides an excellent opportunity for careful joinery, shaping, and inlay work.

Students will learn several methods for carcase construction that are both solid and decorative. Discover how to make a mortising template to rout through and stopped mortise and tenon joints, as well as hand tool mortising.

Students will use wedged tenons to help lock these joints in place. Once the joinery is complete, and before glue-up, students will shape the end boards using a band saw, spokeshave, and rasp.

Spokeshave and chisel texturing will also be demonstrated. Before glue-up, Gary will show how to carve and shape through tenon joints using careful chisel work.

Details make the difference. After the case is glued up, students will cut and fit a tapered sliding dovetail joint for the shelf using a simple technique with the router, router table, and a thin shim.

From there, students will learn inlay techniques that are beautiful, striking, and endlessly variable. Straight-line and curved inlay patterns will be demonstrated, as well as inlaying square plugs.

Setting Up Shop Series

Coming later this year. Stay tuned for dates. A video series on Zoom called Setting Up Shop.
11am-1pm every Saturday for twelve weeks. Two hrs. on Zoom with live and recorded lectures.
Setting Up Shop gives the novice, the newcomer and the practiced valuable information on how to set up a shop space to do any type of woodworking. Each lecture tackles a topic necessary for a smooth running shop. Then we view a demonstration of a project such as a curved laminated tool rack.
Office hours will be available before class to provide access to a Master Woodworker throughout the class.
Videos remain available as well as the Q&A session after each live class for one year for students.
12 lectures divided into 4 Chapters. Get the full set for 20% off, $495.
Projects are all shop related: bench hook, push sticks, file handles, sharpening station, router table, plane cabinet, clamp rack, and more.

In the Age of Manufacturing, Why Choose Handmade. A Craftsmanship.net conversation with Gary Rogowski.

Fine Woodworking Shop Talk Live Podcast

The Craftmanship Initative Podcast – Craft and the Art of Change with Gary Rogowski

In today’s automated world, why bother toiling with hand tools and sawdust? In his new book, Gary Rogowski—a master furniture maker in Portland, Oregon—ruminates about lessons he’s learned “at the bench,” and the quest for mastery and creative focus, no matter what your calling.

Online Mastery Program

Invest in your education

Andrew Teitelbaum Hall Table

What if you joined the Online Mastery Program?

This project is one that our third year students tackled this fall.

Furniture making is a craft and a skill and an antidote to the insanity of the world. What if you took the time to learn how to design and build great furniture? It would be something done for you but also for the others in your life. Learning a craft is life changing.

The OMP is a two year program that teaches woodworking and design skills. We do this by building nine Design pieces over this time as well as six Bench projects. We start with a focus on hand tools in Year One. We even make some hand tools as we learn to tune and use them. We continue in Year Two with challenging techniques like coopering, steam bending, chair making, and drawer systems.

Do you have the time and drive for this program but don’t have the money? Here’s a thought: get investors. Contact Gary at Studio@NorthwestWoodworking.com for information about the innovative Investors Program.

What would happen if you gathered 5 or 10 of your friends/ family and asked them to invest in your future? It has already worked for others. Find out more. Drop Gary a note before class starts again in October 2025.

Note to all the OMP grads:

Another OMP3 class is going to run this October 2025. Class will be called: Sit Yourself Down. The chair is everyone’s favorite piece to design and build in the program. Why not give it another try? For more info: please contact Gary.