Tuesday, April 1st, 7:00pm
Mount Vernon Christian School
820 W Blackburn Rd, Mt Vernon, WA 98273

“Why buy it when you can build it yourself,” has been Bob Barnard’s motto for the last 50 years. From houses to guitars, he has found it much more interesting and fun to figure out how to make things than buy them off the shelf. When they were looking for an alternative to tent camping a few years ago and they went looking for travel trailers.

When you look closely at modern trailers, they’re cheap shlock and not pleasant to be in. Vintage trailers are also cheap schlock, but they have a charm and utility that are hard to resist. Since they don’t make them anymore, “why not build it yourself?“ Sadly, the corollary “why do it right when you can do it yourself” can also hold true, but we tend to have a poor memory for that kind of thing.

Bob Barnard will show and tell his custom, home built travel trailer. Unique, and truly custom. Built from the ground up, this trailer is a work of art. Beautifully built and customized, the trailer will be on site as well for all to tour, and to “kick the tires”. It should be a fun evening.

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.

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.

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.