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Fredericksburg Workshop

Summer of special Offerings

By Collette Caprara

Workshop founder, Tim Eggers, instructs a young woodworker on proper hand plane technique

To meet the spirit of the season as well as the special needs of the times, the folks at the Fredericksburg Workshop have launched a new campaign dubbed "The Summer of Making Things." The summer offerings include membership specials, and lumber discounts, as well as special summerthemed classes for experienced woodworkers and novices alike, each of which takes participants on a step-by-step creative venture that results in a keepsake of functional art, such as a breadboard or raised-bed planter for a deck garden, and one introductory class will climax with the creation of an Adirondack chair.

The Fredericksburg Workshop first opened its doors in 2017, with a goal of providing woodworkers in the area with a venue equipped with tools including band saws, table saws, miter saws, and lathes, as well as providing a hub for sharing ideas, tips, and inspiration among members of a like-minded community. Participation on a membership basis functions much as membership in a gym, where artisans can ply their skills on a drop-in bases, take classes, and purchase quality lumber. In addition, introductory classes are offered for those desiring to take their first venture into the fulfilling realm of woodworking.

"The majority of people come in to take an introductory class and we will teach them how to safely use the majority of the tools that they will ever need in woodworking. They will go from fear to a healthy respect for the equipment as they learn how to operate it correctly and how to process wood through a given machine," said Tim Eggers, co-founder of the Workshop and the Fredericksburg Area Woodworkers Guild.

All of the Workshop's offeringsand its very existence-were inspired by a sense of mission to revive what has become a steadily waning arena of handson creation and craftsmanship. "Throughout the pandemic, people have had time to slow down, and, as the busyness of life has decreased, a desire has emerged to experience the satisfaction of creating things with their own hands. But within the last few decades, many of those skills have been lost. We are trying to bring them back to life and share them with people. We have many extremely talented woodworkers in the area who are willing to share their skills and abilities and pass them on to a new generation."

In addition, Eggers notes that, as more people have transitioned to working from home, there has been a shortage of home-office furnishings, including desks. "You can order one on-line or get a storebought desk or get your hands dirty and create your own," he said. Eggers recounts the story of one woman who had asked him to make a desk for her daughter. Instead, he offered to teach her how to create one herself. "I told her that it would become an instant family heirloom and that her daughter will always treasure it and that if she one day gives it to her own daughter, it will have special meaning because Grandma's hands and heart went into making that piece." He says that he tells all those who take a dining-room table class, "The food you eat off the table that you made with your own hands is going to taste better." Eggers also notes that woodworking is an art where the medium itself is, in a sense, a work of art. "We are taking God's handiwork and exposing it to the world," he said. "We say we are finding the Beauty Behind the Bark."

"We hope people will enjoy the experience of taking something rough and turning it into something beautiful and functional with their own hands," he adds. "Today people spend a lot of time pushing buttons and punching keys, but there is so much more to life. I urge them to get out there and express their creativity and come up with something that is beautiful, unique, and singularly theirs."

Collette Caprara is a local artist and writer.

Fredericksburg Workshop Sales, Classes, Membership FredWorkshop.com 540 358-5 5418 1104 Summit Street, FXBG,, VA 22401.

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