Speakers

Popular Woodworking Magazine has gathered some of the best woodworkers in the country to help you perfect your hand- and power-tool skills. You’ll get up-close-and-personal with these legends of woodworking during dozens of educational sessions at our 2012 woodworking conference at the Nothern Kentucky Convention Center. Click on the "description" links next to each speaker's name to find about more about him or her, and for a brief description of the woodworking classes he or she will be leading.

Marc Adams [Description]
Marc Adams has been woodworking professionally for more than 28 years. In 1991, he became a technical consultant to the WWPA, SFPA, AHEC, and the U.S. government, representing the United States on International Quality of Furniture Making.

Learn more about Marc, CLICK HERE 
 
Chuck Bender [Description]

Chuck began woodworking at the age of 12, and in his teens, he studied under a German Master who taught him the value and proper use of hand tools. After his formal training, he worked with two Chester County, Pennsylvania master furniture makers. Throughout his apprenticeship Chuck studied period furniture design and construction. For more than 30 years, he’s created masterpieces for clients throughout the country. Since starting his own period-furniture business is 1991, Chuck has been recognized as one of America’s top traditional craftsmen. His work can be seen in private collections, museums and some of the best juried craft shows in the country. Chuck opened The Acanthus Workshop in 2007, a Philadelphia area-based school that provides woodworking instruction to students of all levels. Chuck also teaches classes online through http://www.acanthus.com/category/nobswoodworking/. Chuck has written several articles for Popular Woodworking Magazine, and is the host of several DVDs, including “Carve a Ball & Claw Foot,” “Cabriole Legs Simplified” and “Dovetail Mastery.”

Sessions:
11/03/2012 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Dovetails from Philly to Bermuda
11/04/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm String Inlay & Edgebanding
 
Curtis Buchanan [Description]
Curtis Buchanan builds Windsor chairs in much the same way they were made 200 years ago, and has been a full-time chairmaker since 1984. He works from a small one-man shop located in the heart of the Historic District in Jonesborough, Tenn. 
 
Learn more about Curtis, CLICK HERE
 
Keith Bundy [Description]
Keith has been turning wood for the past 20 years and is a mentor for the Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild. Keith has been an assistant instructor for professional turners Graeme Priddle and Dixie Biggs, and an instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School and the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. He has taught classes for the Cincinnati Woodcraft store and has been a demonstrator for various chapters of the American Association of Woodturners and for regional symposiums.
 
Sessions:
11/03/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Finials, Pulls, Knobs & Tool Handles    
11/03/2012 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm    Finials, Pulls, Knobs & Tool
 
Adam Cherubini [Description]

Adam Cherubini builds 18th-century style furniture using 18th-century tools and techniques; everything he builds is completely by hand. In addition to serving as contributing editor to Popular Woodworking Magazine, Adam is a professional cabinetmaker who has been twice recognized by Early American Life magazine as one of the best traditional artisans in the country. Adam makes replica hand tools in the 18th-century style, in addition to furniture from the period. His Arts & Mysteries column for Popular Woodworking Magazine (and he’s now back as its regular writer) is an enduring favorite, and you can find more on his building and design philosophy on his Arts & Mysteries Blog at popularwoodworking.com.

Sessions:
11/02/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    Moulding Planes    
11/02/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    18th-century Tricks of the Trade    
11/03/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Stock Prep by Hand    
11/03/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    Moulding Planes

 
Lowell Converse [Description]
Lowell has been an amateur and semi-professional woodturner for 45 years. After a career in the U.S. Air Force and then private industry, he has become a versatile practitioner of the art. His work has been featured in American Woodworker, American Woodturner and on the DIY network, and he has been a frequent demonstrator at various chapters of the American Association of Woodturners and at regional symposiums. He has conducted numerous classes at Woodcraft stores in Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus.
 
Sessions:
11/02/2012 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm    Turning Furniture Legs    
11/04/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Turning Furniture Legs
 
Megan Fitzpatrick [Description]
Megan Fitzpatrick is managing editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine, a position she’s held since the fall of 2005, when she began taking woodworking seriously, and soaked up everything she could from her fellow staff members. Megan considers herself a “hybrid” woodworker in that she uses both hand and power tools in the shop – but her (current) favorite tool is her router plane. In her spare time, she’s working on a Ph.D. in early modern drama (a.k.a. Shakespeare), and is working toward specializing in furniture from the same period.
 
Sessions:
11/02/2012 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm    Handplane Basics    
11/03/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    Workbenches 101

 
Ron Herman [Description]

Since taking over a nearly century-old extended family business in 1996, Ron Herman has continued the tradition as master house wright and carpenter for Antiquity Builders of Ohio. From his mill in Columbus, with its extensive inventory of period hand tools (and modern machinery), the trades are practiced to the highest levels. Whether felling trees or doing fine carpentry, hand tools play a vital role both in the mill and on the job site. Ron’s customer base continues to expand with those who want accurate, historical restoration – and a home to brag about. His company also does new builds.For the last decade he has worked with numerous historical societies and woodworking clubs to educate them in identification, care and proper use of 19th- and 20th-century woodworking hand tools.  

 
Sessions:
11/02/2012 9:00 am - 11:30 am    Wood ID    
11/02/2012 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm    Picking & Sharpening a Handsaw    
11/02/2012 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm    Hand & Power Tools Together    
11/03/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    Hand & Power Tools Together    
11/03/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    Picking & Sharpening a Handsaw    
11/03/2012 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm    Wood ID    
11/04/2012 9:30 am - 11:00 am    Picking & Sharpening a Handsaw
 
Glen D. Huey [Description]
Glen Huey is long-time professional furniture maker, author, DVD host and woodworking teacher who has been involved in the craft since he turned 14 - that's 38 years. His first major piece of fine furniture was a Sheraton bed that he has to this day. Glen’s first published project appeared in Popular Woodworking in November 1997. 
 
Learn more about Glen, CLICK HERE
 
Frank Klausz [Description]
In woodworking circles, the name Frank Klausz practically is synonymous with no-fuss, tight-fitting hand-cut dovetails, and he's taught countless woodworkers to cut joints of all sorts by hand through his videos, seminars and magazine articles. He's one of the most recognized craftsmen of our age – and rightfully so.
 
Learn more about Frank, CLICK HERE
 
Robert Lang [Description]
Bob is executive editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine and the author of "Woodworker's Guide to Google SketchUp" and five books of measured drawings of furniture and interiors of the Arts & Crafts movement of the early 20th century, including “Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture,” “Shop Drawings for Craftsman Inlays and Hardware” and “Shop Drawings for Greene & Greene Furniture,” to name a few. He is also the author of “The Complete Kitchen Cabinetmaker” and “Drafting & Design for Woodworkers.” In addition to his editorial duties, Bob designs and builds many of the magazines' projects and is responsible for many of the illustrations and measured drawings. Before joining the magazine in 2004, he spent more than 25 years designing and building custom cabinets and furniture, both in his own shops and in large commercial shops. During the last five years of this period, he served as project manager for a number of large commercial and residential projects, developing working drawings in AutoCAD, and planning and supervising the fabrication and installation of custom cabinets and millwork.
 
Sessions:
11/02/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    SketchUp    
11/02/2012 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm    Arts & Crafts    
11/04/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    SketchUp    
11/04/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    Arts & Crafts
 
Mary May [Description]
Mary May is a full-time professional woodcarver in Charleston, S.C. She has studied with a variety of European master carvers around the world, focusing on the designs and techniques that have been used for centuries. Mary is a member of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers and has written several woodcarving articles for their yearly journal. She has recently been a guest on the PBS TV series "The Woodwright's Shop" with Roy Underhill and is a woodcarving instructor at his school, The Woodwright's School. Mary also teaches at a variety of other schools and locations around the country, including Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking and a variety of Woodcraft Supply Stores. She has also created several instructional DVDs on carving details for period furniture, such as the ball-and-claw foot, acanthus leaf and concave and convex Newport shell. Her web site is marymaycarving.com.
 
Sessions:
11/02/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    Carving a Ball-and-Claw Foot    
11/02/2012 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm    Carving an Acanthus Leaf    
11/03/2012 10:00 am - 11:30 am    Carving a Ball-and-Claw Foot    
11/03/2012 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm    Carving an Acanthus Leaf
 
Jeff Miller [Description]
Jeff Miller started making furniture and musical instruments on a break from college in 1977. In 1983, after a career as a professional musician, he started his own furniture studio. He has been building furniture, writing, teaching, and making mounds of sawdust ever since. Jeff specializes in chairs and chair design, and wrote what has become the main book on building joined chairs, "Chairmaking and Design" (Linden Publishing). There is also a companion DVD, "Chairmaking Techniques" (Taunton). Jeff has also written "Beds" (Taunton), "Children’s Furniture" (Taunton), and the soon-to-be-released "Foundations of Better Woodworking" (Popular Woodworking Books). He is also a regular writer for both Popular Woodworking and Fine Woodworking magazines. Jeff’s award-winning work has been featured in juried and museum shows across the country, and is in the permanent collection of the Chicago History Museum.  Jeff teaches in his own studio (j. Miller Handcrafted Furniture) in Chicago, and has also taught classes and seminars at Marc Adams School of Woodworking, the Kelly Mehler School of Woodworking, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks and the Redrocks School of Fine Woodworking, among others. Jeff also presented two seminars at the AWFS conference in Las Vegas in 2011.
 
Sessions:
11/02/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Working Smarter    
11/02/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    Furniture Design    
11/03/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Furniture Design    
11/03/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    Working Smarter
 
Dale Miner [Description]
From his first exposure to a wood lathe, Dale Miner has been an aggressive student in the art. A lifelong history of working with and machining metal allowed for a quick grasp of the principles needed for proper tool presentation and technique. Even though Dale frequently does woodturning demonstrations and teaches, he feels that there is still much to learn. From an early age, a desire to build or create was present. That desire led Dale to become a self-taught potter in the 1970s, a venture that included building a kick wheel and several kilns. An appreciation for form developed during that period that remains to this day, and Dale finds wood lathe is the perfect tool to satisfy his need to create. In a short time, a nondescript piece of wood can be transformed into a functional bowl or a beautiful decorative item. In addition to an interest in woodturning, Dale has a wide variety of other interests that include antique steam traction engines, sawmills and metal spinning.
 
Sessions:
11/04/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    Bowls & Platters
 
Paul Schurch [Description]

Paul was born in Santa Barbara, Calif.,and from an early start, he was always interested in building things, and attending shop classes whenever possible. When he was 15, he moved to Switzerland where he studied piano building for a year then moving into a four-year Church Organ Building apprenticeship. After his graduation in 1977, he eventually returned to the United States to open up his own shop, and continued returning to specialty trade shops in Europe to get further educated in the art of furniture restoration in Switzerland, veneering and marquetry in northern Italy, stone marquetry in Florence and traditional boatbuilding in England. This laid the foundation he needed to become the world-class master woodworker he is today. Paul currently owns a custom woodworking shop specializing in fine furniture producing between two and 30 pieces per year, winning many awards in competitions such as Design in Wood, Veneertech Challenge and American Woodworker. Paul has been active as a teacher of woodworking, veneering and marquetry in many schools throughout the U.S. and abroad. He has produced books, DVDs and written many articles on a variety woodworking subjects in many magazines, and was recently featured on "Rough-Cut with Tommy Mac," a national TV show on PBS. See schurchwoodwork.com for more details.

Sessions:
11/02/2012 9:30 am - 11:00 am    Marquetry for Furniture    
11/02/2012 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm    Veneering Successfully    
11/03/2012 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm    Veneering Successfully    
11/03/2012 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm    Marquetry for Furniture

 
Christopher Schwarz [Description]
Christopher Schwarz is the former editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine and is now a contributing editor.  A long-time amateur furniture maker and hand-tool enthusiast, he began working with wood at age 8 when his family members built their first home on their farm outside Hackett, Ark., using hand tools because there was no electricity.
 
Learn more about Chris, CLICK HERE
 
Steve Shanesy [Description]

Steve Shanesy is now Senior Editor for Popular Woodworking Magazine, after stepping down from his role as Publisher and Editorial Director. Steve joined the magazine in 1994 as Editor, a position he held for several years. Prior to joining Popular Woodworking Magazine, Steve worked in the furniture and cabinetmaking industry for 13 years. In the trade, he was a cabinetmaker and also managed small - to medium-sized custom furniture and cabinetmaking shops in Los Angeles and Cincinnati. Steve graduated from Ohio University with a journalism degree and learned woodworking fundamentals at Los Angeles Trade Technical College.

Steve is primarily a power-tool woodworker. He has extensive experience in wood finishing.  His favorite furniture style is contemporary. In 2005 he took up turning and especially enjoys spending time at lathe these days.
Sessions:
11/02/2012 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm    Finishing for the Frustrated    
11/03/2012 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm    Planning a Successful Project
 
Matthew Teague [Description]
Matthew is editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine. After working for five years as a literary editor at The Oxford American magazine, he joined the staff at Fine Woodworking where he spent seven years, and rose to the position of managing editor. For the last several years, until joining the staff at Popular Woodworking Magazine, Matthew operated his own successful furniture-making business, and his designs have been exhibited at the Tennessee State Museum and the Knoxville Museum of Art, and one of his pieces is also part of the permanent collection at the National Museums of Northern Ireland. Matthew is the author of "Getting Started in Woodworking: Projects for Your Shop," "Woodworking 101," and numerous magazine articles ranging on everything from John Wilkes Booth to concrete reinforcement and, of course, furniture making.
 
Sessions:
11/03/2012 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm    The Pegged Joint    
11/04/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Furniture Proportioning Systems    
11/04/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    The Pegged Joints

 
Roy Underhill [Description]

Roy Underhill, a former master craftsman at Colonial Williamsburg (and the living history museum’s first master housewright), is the host of the PBS show “The Woodwright’s Shop,” which is in its 32nd season - that makes it the longest-running how-to show on television.
Since the show’s inception, Roy has championed the use of traditional hand tools and techniques and has featured guests ranging from well-known woodworkers including Michael Dunbar, Steve Latta and Frank Klausz, to specialist artisans in blacksmithing cooperage and more.
He’s also written a number of books on traditional craft and shop practices, including “The Woodwright’s Shop: A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft” (UNC Press), “The Woodwright’s Apprentice: Twenty Favorite Projects from The Woodwright’s Shop” (UNC Press) and “The Woodwight’s Guide to Working with Wedge & Edge” (UNC Press).
Several years ago, Roy founded The Woodwright’s School, a small woodworking school in Pittsboro, N.C., that’s a step back in time – students must leave tape measures and cell phones at the door as they learn with the tools and techniques of the early 20th Century.
Through his books, show, classes and live presentations, Roy has introduced thousands of people to traditional hand-tool woodworking. Roy is a member of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers and the Early American Industries Association.

Sessions:
11/02/2012 9:30 am - 11:00 am    The Rake's Progress    
11/02/2012 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm    Old Time Sash by Hand    
11/03/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    Old Time Sash by Hand    
11/03/2012 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm    The Rake's Progress
 
Don Williams [Description]

Don Williams is a Maryland and Virginia-based conservator, educator, author and finisher, and has over the past 40 years worked on preserving and restoring some of the most interesting objects in our nation’s public and private collections. He has written and taught on an array of subjects related to artifact conservation, woodworking and historical wood finishing.  In his spare time he passionately pursues varied interests, including economics, metal casting and homesteading.

His current projects include the almost-finished relocation/reconstruction of a 19th-century timber frame barn as a studio/classroom/command center at his remote mountain retreat (complete with its own micro-hydropower system), replicating the chairs of Samuel Gragg, building a japanned Queen Anne highboy, fabricating a classical style marquetry chevalet and the requisite collection of historically inspired workbenches, and publishing the annotated translation of J.A. Roubo's 1765 masterpiece "L'Art du Menuisier" and an exquisitely illustrated book on the H. O. Studley tool cabinet and workbench.
 
Sessions:
11/03/2012 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm    Secrets of Period Finishing