Children and adults can express appreciation to their moms on Mother’s Day by giving them a handmade birdhouse.
Lessons in how to make a birdhouse from cedar wood will be taught at a free Woodworking 101 Class at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 12 at St. Mary’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church, 1010 12th St. in Ramona.
Ramona resident Michael Voorhes will teach the class to students over 8 years old. The class is geared toward beginning woodworkers and will start with a safety lesson.
The president of the Regular Cut-ups Scroll Saw Woodworking Club said this is the first birdhouse class the club has done in Ramona, although other woodworking classes are held throughout San Diego County.
The class introduces people to woodworking and encourages them to take an interest in the craft, whether as a hobby or for a career, Voorhes said. People can use the versatile skill to make indoor or outdoor furniture, gazebos, cupboards, musical instruments or a wide range of things, he said.
“Woodworking covers a broad spectrum and we’re trying to perpetuate the craft,” Voorhes said. “We’re trying to get more people involved in woodworking because it’s a dying art.”
The class will be held inside the church’s sanctuary but the tools and saws will be outside.
Ransom Brothers Lumber & Supply will provide all the materials for the birdhouses. Voorhes said the cedar being supplied is a rot-resistant wood so the birdhouses don’t need to be painted but students have the option to take them home and paint them.
The Regular Cut-ups Scroll Saw Woodworking Club was established about 40 years ago. The club holds most of their classes and meetings in Escondido.
As a nonprofit with roughly 50 , the woodworkers regularly make toys out of wood and donate them to charitable organizations such as Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, Ronald McDonald House, Operation Homefront and the Foundation for Women Warriors.
Last year, the club made more than 2,000 wooden cars for Operation Christmas Child, Voorhes said. Other items they’ve made include hungry hippo pull toys for children and hand mirrors for women.
The club’s creations can be seen each year at the San Diego County Fair’s Design in Wood exhibit in June. That is generally followed by a Scroll Saw 101 Class in August.
Voorhes said the birdhouse class is an opportunity to learn how to use measuring tapes, squares, clamps, saws and how to cut and glue boards together during National Woodworking Month in April.
“You can make a lot with a saw,” he said. “These will be cute little cedar wood birdhouses.”
For more information or to for the class, call Voorhes at 760-533-9941. Space is limited to 20 students.
