September 5: Vermont Woodworking School in Pictures

This post is going to be done with Kevin.  We took a number of pictures out at the school so that we could give everyone a little of insight into the place.  The first 2 photos you have already seen, but we are repeating them so that you can get an overall feel for the school.  For those who are more interested in this stuff than Robin's quilting and our sightseeing, let us and we can alert you whenever we post anything about Kevin's work.

Here is Kevin by the front door of the school



The school is a renovated dairy barn.  They actually took the two silos and turned then into living spaces/rooms for the single students who decide they want to live at the school.  Each silo has three bedrooms in it.



The barn has three levels.  The first one is primarily for the new or first semester students.  The second is the returning students as well as several "artists in residence".  The third floor is the owner's personal shop area.  This photo is of the first floor bench room.  Each student has their own bench area where lectures and all hand work is done.  Kevin's bench is the third on the right with the black mat on the end.  In the back of the photo, you see a door and windows. That is the room where all projects get their finish applied. It has special ventilation as well as tables/shelves only used for finishing.



This is a close up of Kevin's bench.  Note the shelves on the wall.  Each student also gets several shelves to keep tools and equipment as well as store projects in progress.  At the bottom rear of the bench, you can see the end of the tool chest Kevin made to haul his hand tools from Minnesota to the school.




This is the hand tool sharpening area for initial sharpening of tools such as plane blades and chisels.  Once the initial grinding is done, the tools are taken back to the students' benches and sharpened and honed on waterstones by hand.  Although not in visible in this photo, also in this room is the down draft table and dust collecting system for sanding of projects.  You can also see several forms for wood bending in the background.




This is the power tool room which is part of the first floor.  The bench room is on the other side of the wall which you can see through the window.  This photo shows two of the four full size lathes at the school.  You can also see what looks like ventilation running throughout the room, but is actually ducting for the dust collection system that runs through the power tool room.



Standing by the lathes, but looking farther into the room, you see a 12" and 8" planner joiner on the right side, a Saw Stop table saw in the middle as well as more work benches.  You can't see it well, but behind the table saw in the background is the door to the steps that leads to the second floor of the building.  Note again the ducting for the dust collection system.



To the left of the large table saw, is an other smaller table saw, a 20" planer on the right side, as well as,a large router table and drill press on the left side of the photo.  The door leads back to a hall that goes back to the bench room.



This photo is a little out of order, but across from the lathes are mortising machines as well as several band saws.  Part of the largest lathe can be seen in the left front of the photo.



To the left of the large table saw is the lumber pit.  Use to be the manure pit when this was a dairy barn.  This is not your lumber from your local home improvement store (such as Lowe's).  This is very rough cut lumber that students purchase for projects and then flatten, edge and size for their various projects. This wood comes direct from various lumber mills.




This is the second floor bench room.




This is the power tool room on the second floor.  Not quite as many tools, but same type.  Table saw on left in front, planner/joiner in background, band saw on right and part of the dust collection system in the back on the right.  Students are allowed to use tools in either power tool room, once they have proven they can do so safely under the initial supervision of the instructors.




This is the library, drafting and design room on the second floor for use by all students.  Jamie will be happy to see that her dad is going to learn a whole lot more about Macs,



Threw this photo in, but it does not do the craftsmanship justice.  This table was made by Sam Norris (you can Google his website).  You are looking at a corner of a table, that has 3 different miters coming together to make a corner.  You may be able to see the 3 different angles required to make this complex woodworking joint.



Last photo and it should have been towards the front.  It is the first floor power tool room, looking the opposite direction the previous ones did.