# Woodworking - Furniture Making **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworking-furniture-making/211408 "2003-11-04T19:37:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KingLupid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/839c29/32.png) [@KingLupid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KingLupid)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworking-furniture-making/211408/1 "2003-11-04T19:37:58Z")
Maybe a long shot, but… I am very interested in making my own wood furniture but no little to nothing about this craft. Can anyone give suggestions on how to get started? ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworking-furniture-making/211408/2 "2003-11-04T19:48:55Z")
Find a class at a local community college. Better yet, find a furniture maker whose style you like who teaches classes, lots do this as a way of making a few exta bucks. Tage Frid has a series of books out as well as the Fine Woodworking series, both are good places to start. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworking-furniture-making/211408/3 "2003-11-04T20:06:55Z")
In addition to what **MikeG** said, take the skills you’ve studied and start off small, gradually building in complexity as you hone your craft. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworking-furniture-making/211408/4 "2003-11-04T21:08:30Z")
Want a great vacation? Spend a week at Mike Dunbar’s Windsor Institute in Hampton, NH (about an hour from Boston). You’ll learn to make a sack-back Windsor pretty much from scratch using only hand tools like drawknives, spoke shaves, and adzes (much as the Colonials would have done it 200 years ago). You need to bring very few tools and even less experience. I went there for work (writing an article on the place) and had a blast. All I had previously built was a ramshackle bookcase. ---
**Author:** ![Improvisor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/50afbb/32.png) [@Improvisor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improvisor)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworking-furniture-making/211408/5 "2003-11-04T21:11:42Z")
Not to pitch another message board or anything… but check out [http://www.woodworking.com/dcforum/dcboard.pl](http://www.woodworking.com/dcforum/dcboard.pl). Also a good place to start is to pick up a couple of intro books. I found it very hard to order books on this topic online because it’s hard to judge the skill level of the book without flipping through it. Most mega-bookstores (B&N and Borders) have a decent selection of woodworking books in the Crafts/Hobbies section. Even better would be to go to a store like Rockler if there is one near you (store finder at [www.Rockler.com](http://www.Rockler.com)). They’ll have a large selection of books that you can flip through to match your skill level. You can also walk around and check out all the equipment as well. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woodworking-furniture-making/211408/6 "2003-11-04T21:12:53Z")
> **[Welcome - The Windsor Institute](http://www.thewindsorinstitute.com/)** > > The Windsor Institute was founded by the internationally renowned chair maker Mike Dunbar and his wife Susanna. It was the only school in the world dedicated to teaching Windsor Chairmaking. The couple retired from teaching April 1, 2016. Mike is...