Chuck Bender - Woodworking

Make a Mid-Century Modern Coffee Table
2022-06-07 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-06-08 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-06-09 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-06-10 09:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Acanthus Workshop, 62 Indian Trail Rd., Jim Thorpe, PA, 18229, United States
The Mid-Century Modern Coffee Table class is perfect for the beginning furniture maker or the master. Historically, mid-century modern furniture tends to be simplistic, stiff, and boxy in appearance. It was, after all, factory-made. The tool and production limitations were the driving factors in most of the designs of the period. This rare gem of a design effectively balances form, function, and historically long-lived joinery techniques to create a visually balanced, well-constructed table.
Mid-Century Modern Coffee Table
Although this project looks complex, this coffee table is perfect for the budding furniture maker. Simple wedged, round-tenon joinery gives this table an elegant appearance without being ornate. The week begins with a full-scale drawing, then quickly moves into joinery and making all the tapered legs.

Connecticut Flat Top Highboy - Hands-on Class
2022-06-13 08:30 - 16:30, 2022-06-14 08:30 - 16:30, 2022-06-15 08:30 - 16:30, 2022-06-16 08:30 - 16:30, 2022-06-17 08:30 - 16:30 | Acanthus Workshop, 62 Indian Trail Rd., Jim Thorpe, PA, 18229, United States
To many woodworkers, the highboy (or tall chest) represents the pinnacle of furniture making. This is your chance to reach that summit. Join me for this 2-week class and build something extraordinary – a Connecticut-inspired Flat-top Highboy.
Flat-top Highboy
You’ll start the first week of the class at the top. That’s right, the upper case is where the project begins. We’ll dovetail the case, make and fit the fluted quarter columns, and even make the generous crown molding. Dovetailing and fitting the drawers is your homework before the next session.
Week two begins with lower-case construction. We’ll jump into making pad-footed cabriole legs, then roll through the mortise-and-tenon construction. The week finishes off with a bit of carving.

SAPFM Mid-Year Conference
2022-06-24 08:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-25 08:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-26 08:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-27 08:00 - 17:00 | Society of American Period Furniture Makers, United States

Make a Chapin Side Chair at CVSW
2022-07-11 09:00 - 17:00, 2022-07-12 09:00 - 17:00, 2022-07-13 09:00 - 17:00, 2022-07-14 09:00 - 17:00, 2022-07-15 09:00 - 17:00, 2022-07-16 09:00 - 17:00 | Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, 249 Spencer St, Manchester, CT, 06040, United States
The Chapin family is synonymous with Connecticut furniture. Eliphalet Chapin studied in Philadelphia, returned home to East Windsor, Connecticut, and began making furniture that blended both regions’ stylistic preferences and construction methods. His cousin, Aaron Chapin, studied with him and is responsible for the chair you’ll make in this six-day class. And the Make a Chapin Side Chair class takes place just down the road from the Chapins’ hometown in Manchester, Connecticut, at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking.

Chapin Side Chair
Trapezoidal-seat chairs remain some of the most challenging woodworking projects because they employ so many different disciplines. Most Chippendale chairs involve tremendous carving skills in addition to profoundly-honed joinery skills. This Aaron Chapin side chair is simple yet elegant and is an excellent choice for intermediate and advanced woodworkers alike. There is enough to challenge any woodworker without being overwhelming. It’s nearly perfect for a woodworker’s first chair.
The week begins with a trip to the Wadsworth Athenaeum to study the original chair made by Aaron Chapin. You’ll learn how to accurately measure an existing piece of furniture for reproduction. The class then moves into constructing the back, carving the crest and other elements, and finishes with forming and fitting the angled joinery.

Make a Newport Tea Table
2022-07-18 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-07-19 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-07-20 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-07-21 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-07-22 09:00 - 16:30 | Acanthus Workshop, 62 Indian Trail Rd., Jim Thorpe, PA, 18229, United States
The Newport tea table is one of the most sculptural 18th Century pieces. In this week-long class, you’ll make your own version of one of the most elegant tea tables in existence.

Newport Tea Table
The original table, upon which our copy is based, was made in 1765 for Nicholas Brown of Newport, RI. A masterpiece in its own right, this table class begins with a full-sized drawing. The joinery, sculptural aprons, and top follow. Rounding out the week is carving ball and claw feet with pierced talons.

Shieldback Chair – Hands-on Class
2022-07-25 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-07-26 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-07-27 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-07-28 09:00 - 16:30, 2022-07-29 09:00 - 16:30 | Acanthus Workshop, 62 Indian Trail Rd., Jim Thorpe, PA, 18229, United States
The ultimate test of your woodworking skills – the Hepplewhite Shieldback chair. The angled rear legs and shaped seat come together with compound angled mortise-and-tenon joints. Combine the joinery with inlaid and flared legs, a carved back splat, and a molded crest and you’ve got a woodworking project tour de force.

Wharton Esherick Coffee Table – Hands-on Class
2022-08-01 09:00 - 16:30 | Acanthus Workshop, 62 Indian Trail Rd., Jim Thorpe, PA, 18229, United States
Wharton Esherick is called the Dean of American Woodworkers. He was making what we call contemporary, or studio furniture long before those terms existed. This Wharton Esherick coffee table is an example of his eye for balance and design.

Wharton Esherick Coffee Table

We will be recreating this table during this five-day class. The curved legs pose a challenge with their through mortise and tenon joinery. Come see how traditional woodworking techniques can be applied to a table created by this woodworking pioneer in 1951.
