Woodworking Community Build with Gabe Strand
Shave Horse + Spindle-BACK Bench
July 1 – 3 Shave Horse Workshop
July 4 – 5 Community Bench Build
July 6 – 7 Drop-in
Detroit Folk School and LeFevre Fine Art and Framing are excited to host woodworker Gabe Strand of Green Cove Craft for a weeklong furniture intensive focused on community, handcraft, and hands-on, immersive learning. The weeklong build will include shave horses and a spindle-back bench build using staked joinery.
Make your own shavehorse alongside Gabe. Come work collaboratively to build the spindle bench.
Drop in one day or stay all week! All are welcome. Questions? Contact Caleb LeFevre for more information.
Build a Shave Horse
The shave horse is an essential tool for greenwoodworkers, woodcarvers, basket weavers, and broommakers. It’s a mechanism that clamps the work in various ways, freeing the user to change positions quickly while shaping wood with hand tools. There are many styles of shavehorse; this version incorporates elements that make it portable and more versatile as students find new uses that fit their needs.
The build is designed to teach basic woodworking skills including mortise and tenon joinery, use of milling machines, band saw and drill press, and project layout and build sequencing. The build includes instructor demos, cooperative learning/building exercises, and additional information about how to further customize the shavehorse for more uses in a home workshop.
DETAILS
Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Cost: Suggested price: $50 + materials, sliding scale. Pay what you can, no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Wood stock can be purchased on site from our shop. Tools provided.
Date/Time: July 1 – 3; 9:30 am – 4 pm, mid-day break for lunch
Location: 22014 John R. Hazel Park, MI 48203
Spindle-Back Bench Community Build
Join Gabe Strand in the creation of a traditional spindle-back bench. Learn basic concepts and techniques behind staked joinery. Use a shave horse with drawknives to create spindles. Learn how to use hand drills. We will all work together to build one bench. Come watch, work, and learn!
DETAILS
Level: All Levels
Cost: Price included with Shave Horse Build fee. If you are not building a shave horse, and want to come to the bench build, suggested donation: $10-30. Pay what you can, no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. No tools required.
Date/Time: July 4 – 5; 9:30 am – 4 pm
Location: 22014 John R. Hazel Park, MI 48203
About Gabe Strand
Gabe Strand is a woodworker, writer, and teacher who is based in Grand Marais, MN. Through Green Cove Craft, he designs furniture, woodworking plans, and tools intended to support makers in the exploration of handcraft. His work engages people in making and thinking about handmade objects, how they shape us and our communities.
Green Cove Craft is a small furniture design shop and press focused on inspiring creativity and skill-building among craftspeople of all levels. GCC is founded on the belief that it’s possible for anyone to build functional and beautiful furniture that stands the test of time.
Location
SHOWDOG Gallery + LeFevre Fine Art and Framing
22014 John R
Hazel Park, MI 48203
Located between Pearl St and Jarvis St.
NO PARKING ON JARVIS. Easiest parking is on Pearl Street. From Pearl, walk to John R. Turn on John R and walk away from the highway. Look for a black block building with a yellow window frame, across the street from a Sunoco gas station.
22014 John R is a multi-use studio space developed by Brian DuBois (Cranbrook 3D 2011) and Caleb LeFevre (Cranbrook Print Media 2025). SHOWDOG is a gallery in the front of the building, with a framing and fabrication shop in the back. The studio is set up to be a teaching shop for wood and metal fabrication. LeFevre Fine Art and Framing shares the space with other long-term tenants as well as rotating artists-in-residence who use the shop as needed for individual projects.