Weekend Woodworking Courses
Meet Your Instructors
LUKE BARNETT
WINDSOR CHAIRMAKER & PRESIDENT
SPECILIZATIONS
Green Woodworking
Windsor Chairs
Fine Furniture
Luke Barnett is a woodworker that specializes in traditional American Windsor chairs. Luke has sold Windsor chairs since 2011 and has been a full-time chairmaker since December 2013. Barnett won “Top craftsman in North America” from the Directory of Traditional American Crafts and Early American Life Magazine in 2015, 2016, and 2017. He won “Best project” in the seating category through Popular Woodworking Magazine in 2016 and 2017. Barnett also had one of his handmade Birdcage Rocking Chairs selected to be a part of a traveling Smithsonian Exhibit in 2016. Mr. Barnett is a member of the Adrian Noon Rotary Club and was awarded “Rotarian of the Year 2020” and “Outstanding Honors 2018-2019” for his devotion to the Woodworking for Warriors Program. He was also selected to be a guest speaker at the International Woodworking Fair in 2018 and 2020. Barnett spoke at the 2018 International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta, Georgia. His speech titled “Be the Spark” focused on engaging students at younger ages through community outreach.
Barnett is also an Accredited Skills Evaluator (ASE) through the Woodworking Career Alliance of North America. Currently, Barnett is a Finalist for “Top Young Woodworking Professional in the World” through The Woodworking Network for 2021 and was recently awarded a honoree of the Woodworking Network “40 Under 40 Awards" Class of 2020.
LOGAN BALIS
ARITST IN RESIDENCE
SPECIALIZATIONS
Fine Furniture
Spoon Carving
Logan Balis is a recent graduate of the Wood Design program from Greenville, Michigan. He currently resides in his van here just south of Adrian in Fairfield with a family that has adopted him while he was in school. They influenced his life to be responsible and patient, which therefore influenced his work ethic in the shop. When he was 13, he started a small lawn/light landscaping business as the “Backyard Barber.” He began this business with a $50 push mower. After 7 years, the business grew and eventually Logan owned a full set up with all of the modern day equipment. With a few years of doing odd jobs with lawns and landscapes, he gained a deep interest in gardens but specifically sustainable gardens and agriculture. After graduating high school in 2022, Logan took a gap year. During that time, he found the Wood Design program and enrolled immediately after a visit. He is a curious student seeking hand skills and knowledge in all crafts fields.
ARMANDO COVARRUBIAS JR
CO-LEAD INSTRUCTOR
SPECIALIZATIONS
Fine Furniture
Custom Leatherwork
Armando Covarrubias Jr is a furniture maker originally from Arrey, New Mexico. After many years working in the food science and agriculture industry with his family, he made the decision to change careers and attend the Wood Design: Furniture Making program at Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute. He builds custom-made furniture by combining hand tools, craftsmanship, and modern machinery. He has always loved working with his hands. He spent most of his life working on his family farm in the chili fields or building and welding farm equipment for their manufacturing facilities. This lifestyle naturally accommodated to a strong sense of community, and Armando developed patience to watch a seed grow into a fully matured crop. An organic career transition for him was furniture making with a lot of the same principles he has always been so drawn towards. Moving forward, he aspires to design and build commission furniture.
ZACK FEALK
FURNITURE MAKER & CO-LEAD INSTRUCTOR
SPECIALIZATIONS
Fine Furniture
Historic Home Remodels
Zack is from Detroit, Michigan and graduated from MSU with a BS in Natural Resource Management. He is also a graduate of the Wood Design: Furniture Making program at the SBWI. Outside of the woodshop, he facilitates historic home remodels in the city of Detroit and builds custom furniture pieces in his woodworking practice Friendo Furniture. Zack is dedicated to learning other woodworking disciplines, including traditional timber framing, chairmaking, and advanced joinery skills. Zack’s goal is to push himself through design and building techniques that will allow him to prosper as a maker. Woodworking is a constant learning process, and he is eager to be a lifelong student. He is the Lead Instructor of the Wood Design program and teaches several specialty courses at SBWI. Zack was recently awarded a honoree of the Woodworking Network “40 Under 40 Awards" Class of 2024.
View Zack’ s Work at Friendo Furniture
MATT HARBER
WOODTURNER
SPECIALIZATIONS
Finial Turning
Live Edge Bowl Turning
Lidded Turned Bowls
Goblets
Decorations
Matt has had a lifelong fascination with wood and wood art. He began feeding this obsession in 2003 when he began to learn the skills and art of woodturning on a lathe. He has lived most of my life in Southeastern Michigan, surrounded by trees, and is delighted in being able to bring out and shape the natural beauty inside the wonderful woods that are all around us. He finds serenity and joy in the creative process, as a piece unfolds and reveals itself through his hand. He is always seeking new textures, shapes, and techniques to apply to his work on his journey of exploration. He creates distinctive, unique, one-of-a-kind wood (usually) items that are hand turned on a lathe and hand finished. Some pieces are then hand painted, burned (pyrographed), carved, painted, or otherwise embellished. These pieces include but are not limited to bowls, vases, goblets, platters/plates, hollow forms, and many creative variations of these. He specializes in Celtic and Native American motif art decorations via pyrography (wood burning), painting, and/or carving, but can adapt most any appropriate design to the pieces. He has been woodturning approximately 18 years and has created a number of requested custom pieces. Learn more about Matt Harber at Facebook.com/infinite.thread
STEVEN MCCARROLL
WOODWORKING WARRIOR
SPECIALIZATIONS
End Grain Butcher Block Cutting Boards
CNC Creations
Laser Engraving
Chili
Steve is a SBWI Alumni and woodworking hobbyist, who has always had an interest in woodworking. It wasn't until about three years ago that he truly decided to jump into the craft after serving in the US Army for the previous 24 years. Since then, he has created McCarroll Custom Cutting Boards where he enjoys designing unique patterns with a mix of domestic and exotic wood species. In 2022 Steve joined the Wood Design: Furniture Making program, and graduated on June 4th, 2023 with a 4.0 GPA.
He is an avid sports fan who vigorously roots for all Detroit teams and the University of Michigan. He's a glutton for punishment! He also enjoys hunting, fishing, and outings with his fellow veterans.
Steve is a member of Woodworking for Warriors and his proudest moment in the wood shop is when his Woodworking Warrior peers voted him as both the Best Teacher and Most Helpful in 2021.
TOM NEHIL
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
SPECIALIZATIONS
Preservation and Reuse of Historic Buildings
Wood Identification
Timber Frame Design
Traditional Stone Masonry
Tom Nehil is a structural engineer in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he specializes in evaluation, preservation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. Tom is a member of the Timber Framers Guild and Timber Frame Engineering Council and chairs the Timber Grading Training Committee. He is a member of the Association for Preservation Technology, the Michigan Barn Preservation Network and the Michigan Historic Preservation Network along with other professional organizations. He is a regular instructor at Tillers International in Kalamazoo where he teaches wood identification, timber frame design, and traditional stone masonry.
Tom’s interest in wood goes back to his days as a young professional carpenter prior to starting his engineering career. He is a woodworker, wood turner, and timber framer in his spare time.
CAROLYN RACINE
VICE PRESIDENT OF CONTINUING EDUCATION
SPECIALIZATIONS
Women’s Woodworking Classes
Fine Furniture
Upholstery
Carolyn grew up 20 minutes from SBWI and studied Creative Writing at The University of Michigan. After college, she moved to California and spent the next 11 years doing stand up and sketch comedy, writing for shows at UCB and The Pack Theater, and managing a very busy restaurant in Los Angeles. Sometime after the pandemic she found herself pretty burnt out and took a few woodworking classes for fun at Allied Woodshop. She immediately fell in love with being in a wood shop and making things. Carolyn's mom told her about SBWI's diploma program and, after touring the school, she was eager to pack up her Honda Fit, drive back home and be a student of the trade while living close to family. Carolyn also operates a small upholstery business and teaches continuing education courses at the SBWI.
STEVEN SKORNICKA
WOODWORKER
SPECIALIZATIONS
Band Saw Boxes
Safety Classes
Fixing Everything
Steven J Skornicka, 70, married for 50 years to his wife. He has two children Nick age 37 and Anne age 29. Steve has worked mostly in the automotive industry for the majority of his career. He worked heavily in engineering and project/operations management. He has extensive experience with the Lean Manufacturing principle and has brought those processes and ideas to the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute to help us create an orderly, organized, and well-sustained management program for shop functionality. In his free time, Steve loves to do woodworking at home and use the knowledge he’s gained from his career and classes at SBWI to work on his own creations. He also enjoys spending lots of time with his wife, friends, and family. He also is the owner & operator of the woodworking business “What Knots”.
BOB VOGEL
RETIRED PRESIDENT HMI
SPECIALIZATIONS
Wood Grading
Lumber Industry
Bob Vogel has been involved in the woodworking field of education and industry his entire adult life. Bob graduated from the building trades course at the Lenawee County VoTech School (Now CTE). He attended Western Michigan University where he majored in Industrial Education. He recently retired as the CEO/President of Hardwoods of Michigan. In 2010 Bob was named as one of North Americas 50 most influential people in the hardwood lumber Industry. Bob serves as the Chairman of the Board for the SBWI, and teaches Lumber Grading and The Truth About Trees Youth Class at the Great Lakes Woodworking Festival.
GARY ZIMNICKI
LUTHIER
SPECIALIZATIONS
Guitar Making
Watching the grandkids
Over the last 30 years, I’ve built my fair share of instruments. Each instrument has given me an opportunity to hone my craft and expand my skillset. Building completely unique instruments without any set models or guidelines has been challenging, but it has allowed me to offer something that most other manufacturers cannot: complete control over your instrument.
Learn more about Gary Zimnicki at www.zimnicki.com