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Woodworking isn’t all about tools and shop techniques. To make the most of your time in the shop, it helps to have a design worked out and good plan in place. Google SketchUp is the software we use here at Popular Woodworking, and if you’re signed up for this year’s Woodworking in America conference, you can take a class or attend a walk-in clinic to see why we’re so jazzed up about it, and how you can make the most of it.
This is a photo from last year’s conference, courtesy of Al Navas, who wrote about it on his blog. This year, I’ll be teaching both a beginning and an advanced class. Here’s the schedule:
Introduction to SketchUp will be offered on Friday at 8am and 2pm, Saturday at 8 am, and Sunday at 9am.
Advanced Sketchup will be offered on Friday and Saturday at 10am, and Sunday at 11am
These classes will be about an hour long, and you’ll be getting a lot of information at a fast pace. You might want to leave your laptop in it’s bag, and just take notes instead of trying to follow along. After each class, and each afternoon we will be having walk-in clinics where you can fire up your own machine and get your questions answered by me, or by one of our volunteers. Here are the clinic hours:
Friday: 9-10am, 11-12noon, 4-5pm
Saturday: 9-10am, 11-12noon, 3-4pm
Sunday: 9-10am, 11-12noon.
You can download the entire class schedule for Woodworking in America here
We also have other resources for learning how to use SketchUp. Visit our store for Shop Class videos, or my new digital book “Woodworker’s Guide to SketchUp”
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
