Why the Port Townsend School of Woodworking?
Learn woodworking, have fun and keep the rest of the family happy!

A Great Learning Environment:

  • Personal Instruction
    Because personal instruction
    is important, we offer small classes (8 to 12 students) with at least 2 professional woodworkers as teachers. We believe that there is no such thing as a dumb question. We work to build your confidence at your pace.
  • A  Professional Workbench equipped with High Quality Tools
    You will work at your own professional-grade Swedish cabinetmaker’s workbench. Each bench is equipped with a set of premium quality hand tools from Lee Valley Tools. No need to go out and purchase tools and then lug them along. Try out our tools and then decide what you want to buy.
  • Great Workspace
    The shop space is warm, illuminated with a balanced mixture of artificial and natural light, and located in a forested campus setting.

 Location, Location, Location

  • The School is situated in the middle of Fort Worden State Park
    Fort Worden is Washington’s premier State Park. There is a wide range of accommodation on the campus: from the Officer's Quarters family homes, through dorms to beach-side campsites. You can even arrive by boat and  moor at buoys in front of the fort.

  • Fun at all levels:
    Let the rest of the family enjoy world-class art and music performances with Centrum's full schedule of music festivals, writers workshops and art events. Catch up on the after hours jams, poetry blasts and fun.
  • Fun for the Kids
    There's plenty for the kids to do at the Fort and in Port Townsend. The Marine Science Center has an engaging and educational  series of programs for children. The Wooden Boat Foundation has an extensive summer program on and off the water.

  • Chill out:
    After class relax on the beach; walk round Artillery Hill and watch the sun set over Vancouver Island; enjoy a drink in the Commons Local Goods Cafe.

  • Stroll to Downtown Port Townsend
    By foot, transit, bike or car it is a quick journey to historic downtown Port Townsend, one of only three intact Victorian-era seaports in the United States. If you're bored in Port Townsend its because you want to be! There is a full year round calendar of cultural, arts, crafts, music and sheer lunacy (of the best kind).

And more on Woodworking:

  • Evening Lecture Series
    From cottages to treehouses, handplanes to duck decoys. Year round lecture series on a wide variety of wood related topics.

What to expect in class:

  • Read more here <soon>
     


The Facility

 

We're located in Building 315 in Fort Worden.

The Building 315 used to be the Power Plant for Fort Worden. It is a big reinforced concrete building that was completed in 1907. Orignially it housed the boilers, generators and the control room. You see images of the original building here.

We will have two rooms:

  • Room B - The Old Generator Room
    This is our class room / bench room. It is about 1300 sq ft. We've retrofitted it with a insulated dropped ceiling, new lighting, and new power circuits. We've installed eight professional cabinet makers benches and will add a further four benches in the future. See what it looks like.
  • Room A - The Old Control Room
    This will be our machine room. This space was handed over to us in late April 2008. We're upgrading it and will equip it during June 2008 and we're adding instruction on the used of stationary machines (as opposed to hand tools) to our curriculum starting in late June 2008..

In February 2008 we had a bunch of volunteers help us get the building cleaned up. See the pictures from the workparty here.

 Port Townsend School of Woodworking LLC | c/o 200 Battery Way | Fort Worden
Port Townsend, WA 98368 | (360) 344-4455 |  email