FVTC Woodworking Technology

It just keeps getting better! It’s so awesome making these connections with students and seeing how far they have come since the program!

What’s better than being in Atlanta for the International Woodworking fair?

Being at the International Woodworking fair and seeing successful alumni!!🤩

⭐️STUDENT SPOTLIGHT⭐️

Parker Grulke from West Bend, WI is getting ready for his first career post- graduation. Through his program, he found an incredible opportunity to showcase his talents.

“Prior to my schooling here, I had no experience with woodworking. Even in the first few months, I learned a lot.”

After taking the Woodworking Technology’s “Veneering, Finishing & Joinery Methods” course, Patrick found a passion!

Parker is looking forward to starting his career at Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation as a Veneering Technician working on the hardwood nosing on private jets.

“FVTC is a really good school that teaches you everything. The teachers are patient and always help you out along the way.”

Please help us congratulate Parker as he takes his next steps after his education at FVTC. 👏👏👏

*Featuring Parker using the veneer saw and the curved dresser he built!🤩*

We are so proud of Manny! It’s great to see our students getting the recognition they deserve for their hard work! 🤩

Tool and Machine Maintenance class on Thursday morning saw the class deconstructing our Northfield jointers to clean, lubricate, and reassemble then on to setting the knives to within .001". Hands-on learning, real-world problem solving, accomplishment...

Teamwork makes the dream work! Our students are hard at work making their work benches.

One of the cool things about our program is that students make their own bench to store their tools and materials during their program!

This June, we added a new machine to our shop. Introducing the sliding table panel saw! 🪚

This Altendorf machine analyzed thousands of different hands for extra safety with the Hand Guard technology!✋

As soon as a hand gets too close to the blade, the blade drops out to protect the operator.

Manny has completed his Mid-century style sapele table with a birch vein.

Bryce completed his king-sized bed with 6 drawers resident underneath. Sapele and sap yellow birch.

Christmas time usually brings on some creativity and this year was no different.

I have been remis about posting lately, just too busy so, I will do my best to catch up!
The pic is the set-up we had at the Germantown Chamber of Commerce career fair held in West Bend. We saw over 1100 high school students and many of them got to use our Shaper Origin, hand-held CNC router. Very good response to that.

Bryce has gotten through his cutting board, gasketed spoilboard exercise. Some creativity while learning about how to capture vacuum to hold work pieces. The darker board is Sapele and was decorated using the Lichtenberg process. Lichtenberg, or “fractal,” burning is a relatively new embellishing technique that uses high-voltage electrical current to produce patterns on wood resembling lightning flashes.

Part of the CNC Router course involves creating a gasketed spoilboard. This exercise involves making a breadboard with multiple tools and a variety of touch-off procedures. The processes are the challenge however...Bryce decided to kick it up a notch after some design discussions and he is creating a multiple veneer cut-through glue up. We hope his programming works as planned. The material is Birds-eye maple, with Tigerwood, maple, and dyed sycamore veneers.

Bryce is continuing to find out that adding angles to a project increases it's interest and complexity. Tongue and grooved pieces with a chamfer on all arrises.

Nate is getting after his drawered bench. The material is Lyptus.

Manny has completed his entertainment cabinet. The dark wood is African Sapele and the light wood is Karelian Birch donated by Gulfstream Aviation.

Bryce is working on his bed frame for his preparatory project and making some progress.

Recently, The Woodworking Technology program participated in the Manufacturing Trades Career Expo put on by the Germantown Chamber of Commerce. More than 1000 local middle/high school students were able to view many different trades related businesses as well as a couple of technical colleges. The students were awesome and enthusiastic about the opportunities presented to them. We brought our Shaper Origin portable CNC router and allowed students to program and operate the equipment by making a sign with their name engraved. The students did the programming and operation and it worked great.

https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/local-news/award-winning-fox-valley-technical-college-student-repays-grandparents-with-adirondack-chairs/

Award-winning Fox Valley Technical College student repays grandparents with Adirondack chairs OSHKOSH, Wis. (WFRV) – He won’t tell you it, but Pacey Berken is Wisconsin’s newest woodworking wiz. “I don’t claim to be an expert, but I’ve used every piece of equipment in here,” he said. …

https://fox11online.com/news/local/fox-valley-technical-college-intern-student-heartfelt-chair-design-earns-award-at-international-competition-fresh-wood-pacey-berken-appleton-oshkosh-wood-woodworking?fbclid=IwAR3TqntGjZMKIdmjd6woTB0ACp9-1PtqULVfqaAInqJeIxwJJkmugoVj8BY

Fox Valley Tech intern's heartfelt chair design earns award at international competition A chair design he created earned a second place award at a furniture competition, which included more than 140 students from the U.S. and Canada.

Here is a little article written about the program a while back. It has a couple small errors but, if you've ever given an interview, it is expected.

How Fox Valley Tech Preps Students for Woodworking Careers – Woodwork Career Alliance of North America How Fox Valley Tech Preps Students for Woodworking CareersMarch 6, 2023/0 Comments/in Frontpage Article, News Fox Valley Technical College, Wood Technology Program /by Richard ChristiansonMark Lorge, left, and Glenn Koerner are the instructors of Fox Valley Technical College’s Wood Manufacturing T...

Here is a little article written about the program a while back. It has a couple small errors but, if you've ever given an interview, it is expected.
https://woodworkcareer.org/2023/03/06/how-fox-valley-tech-preps-students-for-woodworking-caree

Here is one of a series of chairs made by Pacey Berken. He chose African Sapele for the material and stainless steel hardware. Pacey entered this chair in the Association of Woodworking and Furnishing Suppliers competition held in August in Las Vegas. Pacey's chair garnered a second place finish. The workmanship on this piece is second to none. Subsequently, Pacey has agreed to make a couple sets of these along with side tables for placement here at FVTC to encourage informal conversation and collaboration. Good job Pacey!

Bryce from Hortonville has finished his entertainment cabinet out of white oak.

Here is Becca with a couple tables that she made. Hickory tops and legs with Birds-eye maple rails. CNC router used to machine the rails and make a jig to machine the legs, mortise and tenon joinery throughout. Nice job, Becca!

Today we start the elegant trudgery of learning a new language. "G" language to be exact. The book shown below is 229 pages of G-language, offsets, feed rates, RouterCIM software, examples and exercises... We will be creating several items as the learning progresses and I will be posting the successes and maybe a challenge or two.

Here is an example of a table saw exercise that our students complete. It is all about cutting dados, rabbets, chamfers/miters, setting-up and operating a router and...doing it all to specification. It looks simple but, in order for it to be successful, each aspect must be done with precision.

This is a page that is dedicated to the Woodworking Technology program at Fox Valley Technical College. Student success stories, affiliated industry links, project pictures, program events...all the good stuff will be updated here fairly regularly so, visit often.