March 2025 Meeting – Kitchen Gadgets

Tuesday, March 4th, 7:00pm
Mount Vernon Christian School
820 W Blackburn Rd, Mt Vernon, WA 98273

The March NCWA meeting program is all about the kitchen. Club members are invited to present items they have made for their kitchen.

Your participation is important to the success of this program. Think of this program as an extended Bring and Brag focused on the kitchen with more time to explain why you decided to make your item, how you made it and what you learned. David Shull will be the Master of Ceremonies and help guide the discussion.

Your presentation does not require any significant preparation. Plan on bringing a sample of your item and, if needed, related parts or jigs to the meeting. During the program we will use our camera to display your item on our large screen.

Please sign up now so we can organize the program by sending an email to with a brief description of your item or items.

February 2025 Virtual Meeting – Jerry Couchman & Jim Bucknell

The in-person meeting has been cancelled, and a Zoom invite will be sent to members.

Our February meeting will feature Jim Bucknell talking about Wood Weaving and Jerry Couchman taking about Decorative Inlay Techniques.

Jim has made about 20 cutting boards and about 30 coasters using the wood weaving technique. Jim will illustrate the process he uses and share some of the do’s and don’ts he has discovered along the way.

Jerry will describe what he learned from a class taught by longtime Fine Woodworking contributor Garrett Hack. He took Garrett’s class at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking. Along with learning how to build and use a scratch stock, it involved techniques for creating decorative inlay for furniture and other projects. Jerry will describe the process for inlaying framed panels with borders, string inlay and fans. Pictured here are examples of some of Garrett’s inlay techniques.

January 2025 Meeting – Tom Dolese

Tuesday, January 7th, 7:00pm
Mount Vernon Christian School
820 W Blackburn Rd, Mt Vernon, WA 98273

Tom Dolese is a long-time respected furniture maker and designer, as well as an NCWA club member and advocate for the club, encouraging many woodworkers to join. Along with his wife Jennifer, he runs Terra Firma Designs, and has taught furniture building classes for years.

As a teacher, he is frequently surprised by the lack of student knowledge concerning initial wood preparation and processing. How a piece of rough sawn lumber is readied for the building process.

Tom will discuss his techniques of sizing, flattening, and truing up rough-milled lumber. His methods are tried and true, and are sure to be helpful to our less experienced, and newer woodworking members. Our more experienced members will hopefully find Tom’s techniques and reasoning on the subject a chance for good review.

This will be an excellent opportunity to interact with, and ask an expert a broad range of questions on woodworking principles.

December 2024 Meeting – Year-end Wrap Up

Tuesday, December 3rd, 7:00pm
Mount Vernon Christian School
820 W Blackburn Rd, Mt Vernon, WA 98273

President’s Recap!

Vote for 2025 Officers:

  • President — Barry Tonkin
  • Vice President — Earl Kessler
  • Secretary — Christi Brua
  • Treasurer — Al Ashley

…and, of course, much more!