The school
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All fixed project classes are open to beginners (though we do not recommend the Hallway Bench class for total beginners). Beginners can easily start with a box class, which is a very pleasing project to take home. If the student is handy with crafts and handmade things, they will be successful with any of our project classes.
All beginning woodworkers and those who have been away from tools for a time are best to start with a Laminated Box , cutting board or Hallway Bench class. These typically run between 5 and 6 sessions (3.5 hours each). These provide a general introduction to tools and safe machine operation, both the theory and skills practice. Once a student has completed 3 class sets, they are free to arrange Coaching sessions for personal projects. These Drop-in sessions are purchased as 4 hour sets.
Woodworking skill development involves practice making more things, and it is hard to organize projects that suit everyone’s tastes. The intermediate courses we offer are the shop stool, intermediate hand tools and chairmaking. Alternatively we invite aspiring furniture makers to take our Coaching series with an instructor for weekly supervised sessions building projects of their own choosing. In this manner we can help individual students tailor their specific areas of growth and introduce more advanced project works.
All evening Coaching is by prior arrangements. We offer small group classes (group coaching) during the weekday. For any of these private sessions please email Bruce directly to book. foursquarewood@gmail.com.
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Our shop is located upstairs in unit #260 of the artistically eclectic Mergatroid Buildling at 975 Vernon Drive in East Vancouver, British Columbia.
Parking: There is plenty of parking in front of the building and across the street. (signs on front of buildling saying “unauthorized vehicles will be towed” can be ignored for students).
Public Transit: The #22 bus comes within 1 block of the building near the corner of Clark and Venables. We are about a 7 minute walk from Hastings and Clark which serves many bus routes, and a 20 minute walk from the Commercial SkyTrain station.
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Edge City boasts a large collection of traditional handtools of all vintage, from your grandfathers’ old Stanley plane to freshly tuned Lie Nielsen products.
We also have a full set of quality and well maintained machines including a Sawstop tablesaw, General tablesaw and jointer, Laguna bandsaw, and Powermatic planer, among others. We make sure that all of our equipment is in tip-top shape to make woodworking safe and enjoyable for all students.
We also encourage students who haven’t yet to start acquiring their own set of handtools from quality suppliers, such as Lee Valley or Lie Nielsen, and we are glad to help students sharpen their new steel in our shop.
Instructors
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Bruce Inglis is the owner and director of Edge City Woodworking School. Bringing several decades of experience in woodworking, including public school teaching.
Bruce’s career in woodworking began as an apprentice carpenter and cabinetmaker and includes house building and fine home finishing. He entered teacher's training in 1984 and attended the British Columbia Institute of Technology for 2 years in Industrial Arts Education.
After a 33-year career in BC public education at all school levels, he now teaches woodworking to adults. As a skilled high school shop teacher, he brings a wealth of experiences teaching youth woodwork and technical skills.
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Aaron is a skilled woodworker with an interest in hand tools and traditional methods. He especially loves building chairs, stools, tool chests, and furniture projects that involve hand-cut joinery.
Aaron has been a professional educator for over 15 years teaching music and leading outdoor education programs for all ages.
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Craig grew up on the North Shore and worked in residential construction and renovations for more than 15 years. Craig previously taught woodworking at the Roundhouse Community Centre, where he met Bruce.
Craig is an avid woodturner and reclaims wood from locally fallen trees for green woodturning. When time permits, he can be found at Miller Goodwood Co-op turning all sizes of bowls and vessels, some of which he sells.
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F.A.Q.’s
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Many of our students are beginners and yes, any of the Mitred Box or Cutting Board classes teach you the basic woodworking skills. These class are all open to beginners.
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Yes we have limited children and youth programs in the summer. Check our class offerings to see when these might be available. From time to time we do teach teen youth age 16 or older in regular classes. It depends on each individual physical strength and size. Most machines are built for adult heights so standing and reaching over them is the issue. At present there are no scheduled classes specifically for teens.
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If you have previously taken a beginner type class then we suggest you take the Hallway Bench class or introduction to handtools.
The basic skills equivalent classes are either the Mitred Box class or the cutting board class. Both are open to anyone with or without experience.
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The available classes for the next few weeks is shown at the top of our classes page.
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Many of the classes sell out early as there are only 5 spots. Spaces do not usually open up. However, just in case, you can contact us and we will keep your name on a wait list.
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We are typically closed on holidays. You can always check the handout for your course, or the calendar on the site to make sure.
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Your credit card statement will show either the name “Stripe” or “Four Square Woodworking”. The school is operated by Four Square Woodworking Inc. and we use Stripe to manage our payments, so one of these names will be indicated on your credit card statement for your purchase.
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No, we are a furniture crafts school. Carpentry is the term for construction trade for building and doing home repairs. The closest thing we have is are DIY (do-it-yourself) classes.