Conference 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 Pasadena 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.

Chuck Bender

Chuck Bender began woodworking at the age of 12. 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, Pa., 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.

Sessions:
10/12/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Dovetails from Philly to Bermuda    
10/12/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    String Inlay & Edgebanding    
10/13/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Dovetails from Philly to Bermuda    
10/13/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    Secret Compartments
 
Yeung Chan
Renowned furniture maker and woodworking teacher Yeung Chan now lives in California. He was born in China and immigrated to the United States in 1973. In 1997, he studied under James Krenov at the College of the Redwoods.
 
Learn more about Yeung, CLICK HERE
 
Adam Cherubini

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:
10/12/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    Moulding Planes    
10/12/2012 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm    18th-century Tricks of the Trade    
10/13/2012 10:00 am - 11:30 am    Moulding Planes    
10/13/2012 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm    18th-century Tricks of the Trade    
10/13/2012 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm    Stock Prep by Hand
 
Kirk DeHeer

Kirk DeHeer is a professional woodturner and long-time resident instructor at Craft Supplies USA in Provo, Utah. He has an extensive knowledge of woodturning tools, equipment and turning technique, and regularly demonstrates at woodworking shows and demonstrated and clubs throughout the country.
Drawing on his studies with some of the best woodturners in the world, Kirk has developed his own style of instruction and turning that will enhance any woodworker’s ability level.
Additionally, Kirk is considered one of the best woodturning tool sharpeners around and has produced a video on sharpening woodturning tools.

 
Sessions:
10/12/2012 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm    Sharpening for Woodturners    
10/13/2012 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm    Woodturning for "Flatboarders"

 
Glen D. Huey

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. After many years as a contributing editor, he joined the staff full time as a senior editor in 2006. In addition to building projects for the magazine, Glen headed up product testing and power-tool reviews.
Recently, Glen’s desires to be in the shop building period reproduction furniture got the better of him and he stepped down as a full-time member of the magazine crew to return to a role as contributing editor and to work on books, DVDs and commissioned pieces - all while improving his furniture-building techniques.
In today’s terminology, Glen considers himself a "hybrid woodworker" who leans heavily toward the power-tool side. He embraces corded and battery-powered tools, but understands and uses hand tools when appropriate. You can read his new blog at woodworkersedge.com.

Sessions:
10/12/2012 9:30 am - 11:00 am    Finishes That Pop    
10/12/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    The Mighty Dovetail    
10/13/2012 9:30 am - 11:00 am    Finishes That Pop    
10/14/2012 9:30 am - 11:00 am    The Mighty Dovetail    
10/14/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    Doors: Types, Tips & Techniques
 
Jim Ipekjian
Jim Ipekjian has been designing and building furniture in a variety of styles since the early 1970s. Additionally, Jim has overseen the restoration of several Greene & Greene houses. 
 
Learn more about Jim, CLICK HERE
 
Robert W. Lang

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:
10/12/2012 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm    SketchUp    
10/13/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    Arts & Crafts Details    
10/13/2012 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm    SketchUp    
10/14/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    SketchUp    
10/14/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    Arts & Crafts Details


 
David Marks
David Marks is recognized internationally as a master craftsman of fine furniture, as a turner and sculptor, and as host of the television show “Woodworks,” which aired on DIY and on the How To Channel in Australia. In 1981, he opened his own shop/studio and built one-of-a-kind furniture.
 
Learn more about David, CLICK HERE
 
Mary May
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:
10/12/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    Carving a Ball-and-Claw Foot    
10/12/2012 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm    Carving an Acanthus Leaf    
10/13/2012 10:00 am - 11:30 am    Carving a Ball-and-Claw Foot    
10/13/2012 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm    Carving an Acanthus Leaf

 
Gary Rogowski

Gary Rogowski has been a woodworker since 1974 when he found an old wooden handplane and a chunk of fir outside his house. Because pouring concrete wasn’t really a long-term career and the art and science of woodworking was intriguing to him, he taught himself how to design and build fine furniture. Gary started showing his work in galleries in the late '70s locally and then nationwide, building custom-made furniture for public and private commissions. His work was shown in the 1989 Biennial Art Festival at the PortlandArt Museum and his furniture graces the Oregon State Archives. Gary has been writing about woodworking since 1988 with dozens of articles, videos, and two books on joinery published. In 1991, he was awarded the Oregon Arts Commission fellowship in Crafts. He started teaching in 1980 working at schools in the Northwest and around the country. In 1997 he founded The Northwest Woodworking Studio, A School for Woodworkers, in Portland, Ore. For the past 15 years, the Studio has been the center for tradition based woodworking classes in the Pacific Northwest. As a teacher, Gary has always focused on no-nonsense solutions to common woodworking problems. His hobbies include walking the beagle Jimmy, gardening, writing, and – not least of all – woodworking. For more information on Gary, his school and his work, visit northwestwoodworking.com.

 
Sessions:
10/12/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am   Strategy for Building: Choosing Your Tools    
10/12/2012 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm    Router Madness: Mortising    
10/13/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am   Chisels, Planes & Scrapers: The Miracle of the Wedge   
10/13/2012 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm   Strategy for Building: Choosing Your Tools
 
Paul Schurch
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.
 
Learn more about Paul, CLICK HERE
 
Christopher Schwarz

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.
After college, Chris became a newspaper reporter and studied furnituremaking at night at the University of Kentucky. Despite his early experiences with hand tools on the farm, Chris remains an avid student and advocate of traditional hand techniques.
Chris writes about hand tools for Popular Woodworking Magazine and The Fine Tool Journal and uses them every day in his own work (though he also uses power tools when they’re the logical choice). He has journalism degrees from Northwestern University and The Ohio State University and has worked as a magazine and newspaper journalist since 1990. 
He is the host of many DVDs on traditional hand tools and the author of several books including “Hand Plane Essentials” (Popular Woodworking) “Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use” (Popular Woodworking). He teaches traditional hand work at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking and at The Woodwright’s School. He recently stepped down as editor to concentrate on his work at lostartpress.com.

Sessions:
10/12/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    Build a Sawbench in an Hour    
10/13/2012 9:30 am - 11:00 am    Introduction to Campaign Furniture    
10/13/2012 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm    The Furniture Style With No Name    
10/14/2012 9:30 am - 11:00 am    Build a Sawbench in an Hour    
10/14/2012 11:30 am - 1:00 pm    The Furniture Style With No Name
 
Steve Shanesy

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:
10/12/2012 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm    Finishing for the Frustrated    
10/14/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Finishing for the Frustrated    
10/14/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    Planning a Successful Project
 
Matthew Teague
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:
10/12/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    Furniture Proportioning Systems    
10/13/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    The Pegged Joint    
10/13/2012 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm    Why Measure?    
10/14/2012 9:00 am - 10:30 am    Furniture Proportioning Systems    
10/14/2012 11:00 am - 12:30 pm    Why Measure?
 
Roy Underhill

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.

Learn more about Roy, CLICK HERE