Ottawa City Woodshop

Spent the day volunteering and learning how to build library boxes for the community. The staff were amazingly patient with us and made the experience super enjoyable. Thanks to Rich, Martin and Jessie! You guys are fantastic!

I took two classes here and I loved both. Strongly recommend anyone to try this place out if you are interested in learning woodworking. The instructors are super helpful, encouraging, and apparently they LOVE working with wood and eager learners. I am very moved when I present an idea the instructor would encourage me to try my idea out (and teach me/find me tools to make it happen). I appreciate this place and all its instructors!

Great place to rid myself of hubs for a few hours. He took a course there to learn how to use the machines and has not come back with missing fingers. Good. The use of the shop is through membership and is well supervised. Great community feeling and sharing of knowledge.

I’ve taken two courses here now and both times it’s been a blast. The facility is excellent and has all the professional grade tools you can imagine. They actually just moved into a bigger facility a couple doors down. It’s a great value considering the hours of fun, education, and wooden product you get to take home. I took the hockey stick course taught by Mike and Matt and they were always super accommodating and knowledgeable. It’s a great way to spend the weekend or gift idea for someone!

This review is following a cutting board workshop of 2 days I took with my husband in April 2022. The instructor encouraged the participants to leave a review on Google, so here I am. I'll be completely transparent both for people considering taking a course and for the OCW as feedback for improvement. PROs: -The wood variety was decent, however it was awkward to try to grab some pieces of the darker wood as everyone wanted some. I do appreciate having access to it and I'm happy with the final result. - The instructor, Eric, was nice and tried to give everyone an equal chance to work with the equipment. It didn't feel rushed or careless, it showed that he wanted to give us a good experience. -The price, although appearing to be expensive, is very low for the amount of time spent at the workshop and the preparation of the wood that's been provided by Eric, as well as his time for the cleanup and overall supervision of the course participants. I totally see how there's not much profit to be had for them here and I appreciate that they chose to keep the cost low to allow others to learn the hobby. Thank you! CONs: (there are many, but may apply only to our workshop course experience, as I don't think it's like this all the time) -There was a lot of standing around which was expected since you work standing up, but standing while waiting for long periods or just listening is difficult for me and I felt rude when I fetched a stool to sit on when my back/legs needed a break. -Part of the waiting/standing around had to do with the table saw blade having issues and Eric tried to fix it for over 30 minutes, changing the blade, checking the machine, it was smoking. The table saw being such a common tool to use I'd have expected the machines/blades to be inspected more regularly for their condition and functionality before the workshop started. Maybe even have a backup table saw. The time that was wasted on this waiting around meant that I felt very rushed towards the end of the workshop and I didn't even get to put the beeswax on my board, only oil, before feeling like it was enough and had to leave it at that. -In terms of safety, this is the main issue I want to get across. Firstly, there are workshop rules that you're supposed to agree to which include wearing protective glasses, and never using a machine if you're not confident that you can do it safely. Also with the pandemic we had to wear masks and social distance as much as we could. There was no social distancing; masks were taken off at least once by the instructor and I think another participant; protective glasses were not used by the instructor and some participants; the instructor used machines too quickly and didn't use push sticks or push blocks the majority of the time despite stressing the safety rules and to never assume you're safe if you've done this hundreds of times, that's when you can get hurt. My husband and I witnessed multiple participants not using the pushing sticks and using their hands to hold the wood right next to the blade on the jointer and the table saw. Even though he was holding the wood on the other side of the machine, the instructor rarely reminded those people to use the stick or to back off. At some point we decided to just turn away because we couldn't stop wincing and were afraid of what could happen. Because of this, the workshop was very stressful for us during the parts that included other people using blades. -At one time I was using the table saw with the instructor's guidance and despite my safety glasses I got sawdust blown into my left eye and it was painful. I wish there would have been an eye rinsing station somewhere and not just a tiny dirty powder room. I'm not sure about you, but I value my eyes a lot.

Doing a workshop here to make canoe paddles. We've only just started but it's fun so far! Staff (who are the owners) are patient and accommodating.

Great place to “build” stuff! This place is “Woodworking for Dummies”. Literally anyone can build beautiful stuff with no prior experience in woodworking. Martin and his crew are great instructors and amazing at helping people build stuff... safely. I’ve already gone their thrice and going back their a fourth time! Every session leaves you with a great sense of accomplishment and a confidence to build better things!

Just completed the Toboggan course; it was great! Can’t wait to take the sled down some hills. The instructors were great and the course was really fun - the fact we learned how to hand build a sled at the same time as we had fun was awesome. 10/10 would recommend to friends!