CedrusSchool of Fine Cabinetmaking Your bench
Privacy
← The hall
For members · opening soon

The School

One curriculum, taught from A to Z: a full path in fine cabinetmaking, from the foundations up to complex builds.

The courses open one at a time, starting with The Cabinet.

FoundationsStages 1–3
Members
01
The Cabinet
where it all begins
opens first
Members
02
The Box
spiralling upward
Members
03
The Table
an easy path through the forest
AdvancedStages 4–6
Members
04
The Cabinet on a Stand
the deep dive in the lake
Members
05
The Veneered Cabinet
the mountain
Members
06
The Chessboard
whales in the ocean
Membership

The doors open soon.

You're on the list, so you'll be invited first. Places are limited, and the first fifty members keep the founding price for life.

Until then, The Plane is open →
← The hall
For members · opening soon

The Essentials

Core lessons that stand on their own: sharpening, working a board by hand, and the machines, to the standard fine work asks for.

Open them at any point, whatever you're building.

Members
27:08
01
Sharpening and setting a plane blade

The sharpening method I learned from my teacher Robert, down to the details. So much rests on this step: without it, good and enjoyable work simply isn't possible.

Members
25:48
02
Dimensioning a board with hand tools only

One of the crowning skills of traditional woodworking: flat, parallel faces and edges at ninety degrees, by hand. It is how you come to understand the tools, the wood and the work.

Members
16:41
03
The jointer

One of the first and most important stations of every project: the first reference. One flat face, and a second, flat and square to it.

Members
11:54
04
The thickness planer

After the jointer, and only after. Quickly and easily, it gives faces that are flat and parallel to the references made on the jointer.

Members
25:57
05
The table saw

The dangerous friend.

Members
20:28
06
The bandsaw

If I had to keep only one machine, it would be this saw. Very versatile, and it does all the resawing efficiently, safely and precisely.

Membership

The doors open soon.

You're on the list, so you'll be invited first. Places are limited, and the first fifty members keep the founding price for life.

Until then, The Plane is open →
← The hall
Open

The Library

Things worth reading slowly, away from the bench.

An article

The hand tools worth owning

What's at my bench: the tools I love, where to find them, and what to make on your own.

Read it →

More articles are on the way.

← The hall
If you want a deep dive

A private half hour with me.

Thirty minutes on a video call, one to one: a piece you're stuck on, your workshop, whatever you need help with.

Choose a time and pay right here. Before the call I'll ask you a few short questions. They're there so I can prepare, and so we can spend the whole half hour on your work.

Book a private half hour · $150

I take four of these a week.

Rafael looking closely at a piece of work
← The hall
Yours

Your bench

How you appear saved

This is what other students see when you ask a question or show your work. Your email is never shown.

YouYours
Your question, or your photographs, appear here once I've answered.
First name
Your wood
Or a photograph

How the school looks saved

On this phone or computer.

Light or dark
Text size
The film in the hall

This device

This phone or computer is remembered, so the school opens without asking.

Leaving this device

Your questions and my answers stay under the films. To come back, press the button in my welcome email.