Marc Adams' School of Woodworking Greene & Greene Class

Last week I finally realized one of my woodworking dreams—to attend a class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Whiteland, Indiana. I attended a Greene and Greene design class taught by world reknowned furniture maker Thomas Stangeland.

For those of you who don't know of Thomas, he is one of two furniture makers considered to be at the top of their game in the Greene and Greene design, the other being Darrel Peart (whom I met recently in April at a RWS meeting in Rochester, NY). Both Darrel and Tom have independent shops that are close to each other and are good friends. I hardly know where to begin, but I can say in a few words that Marc Adams and his staff are special people. All week they took care of us—from the special attention paid to all our needs, to the special touches added in, it was a truly wonderful experience.

Tom was a great teacher through the whole week, his excitement and willingness to share everything he knows with us was a significant factor in the class success. I also found it to be a key reason why I chose Marc Adams—year after year attract the best people to instruct courses.

All week we had a lot of fun times and many laughs. Tom is a very easy-to-like person—funny and friendly, very much a spirited person who gave a great deal of attention to all of us over the five days. My class mates also were all top notch—a wonderful group of people who often could be found pitching in helping each other in their projects when they needed a hand, a tool, or simply to help things along.

We all worked on different projects ranging from sofa styled tables to a variety of side tables and coffee tables. The course was not presented as a project focused class—it was given as a technique styled class, and Tom completed a long list of demonstration and methods to show how details are made and what process he uses to accomplish them all.

Mois

One aspect of class work also involved a great deal of focus on safety. On Monday Marc Adams took special time and care to walk us all through the safety of each type of machine we would be working with through the week. He focused on many aspects that were common failure modes that lead to accidents and also process in using machines to clearly lay out his expectations to enable us to work safely though the week.

The class assistants also watched over us as we worked on machines, stopping us and correcting us when needed if we breaking the three inch rule (no fingers closer than three inches to a blade). At first I found the eyes on me to be a little more than I wanted, but after awhile I found it gave confidence—no one before has watched me work in my woodworking and it was a welcome set of eyes that validate my process, a bonus class if you like. I was busted once. Yes, I reached into the band saw at one point to move a small piece of scrap just like that!

One special detail of Tom's teaching was that he spent the first day working with on design and having us all draw out our project at full scale from several views. I had never done this and I found it a struggle at first but after a short while I found it to be a real benefit in seeing my project. I took my drawing and pinned it to the wall, Tom came over and lowered it to the floor level as if the drawing were the actual table sitting on the floor (“Jim, your table will not be floating—will it??”), it enabled me to see my project in the correct perspective and position that it would be used in real life—how simple a change to even do just that.

Over the course of the week we also had evening events that made the experience all that much more enjoyable. We had a golf night, a slide show night (the three featured instructors for the week gave a short talk and presented some of their work), a bowling night, and finally an evening where the class took the teacher out for dinner.

With three classes going on at the same time it was also interesting to mingle with the other classes, I found myself slipping into Chris Schwarz's Coarse-Medium-Fine class a few times…

…or watching the turning going on in the Mike Mahoney class.

I challenged myself to not only learn how to make the traditional Greene and Greene furniture details but also to learn a few techniques I have long wanted to try. One of those new steps for me was to try veneering using a core and a vacuum bag process.

Tom also was not hung up on using biscuits to attach parts to each other. My table (his Anderson Server design) has a core main top with breadboards in solid wood, attached with biscuits. I was able to accomplish the basics in what I hoped to achieve, although I still have to make the three drawer fronts,

…install the brackets,

…and install the ebony details. Despite selecting curly cherry for my project (it is against the law to transport mahogany over the border), I know it will look great with the Greene and Greene details.

Many of the techniques Tom demonstrated through the week were simple and common sense, but until you have observed his process you might not grasp some of the concepts as simple. Tom also had us recite a few Tomisms:

• don't wobble (in handling a router)
• when looking at a cloud lift, it had to feel right (not measured)
• on doing things differently, “Oh, I'm from the West coast and we wear sandals in the shop!”

I wonder what Marc was thinking while Tom was describing an aspect of design here?

This style of class is a challenge for any instructor and Tom carried it off with style. Tom and the assistants all gave personal attention to each of us on our project work. I would like to say a special thanks to both Zane and Jeff. Their patience and support in teaching us was well appreciated!

Zane and Jeff

One of our class mates was David Thiel; at the time, Senior Editor at Popular Woodworking. David proved to all of us that he is more than just a tool guy, his project was a nice variation on a side table with great details.

Tom referred to David as “The Voice,” in acknowledgement of David's TV work on DIY network.

What a week—it all passed so quickly. I totally enjoyed myself, I had a great instructor, great classmates, and I am very inspired. I will continue to work on my project and post it when I have completed it.

I also made some good new friends, we shared a lot in each others work and learned a great deal together over the week—you were all great to meet and I enjoyed our time together.

If you have ever wondered if you wanted to attend a class at Marc Adams, all I can tell you is that I know I will be back again. A first class experience—I am totally inspired!

(Published August 2006. Event in Spring 2006.)