On June 29,2019, I attended the San Diego County Fair held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds with my family as I have done annually for the past 20 years. One of my favorite exhibits is the fine woodworking exhibits, actually divided into two exhibits, one for hobbyists and professionals and one for students. For the first time, I picked up a pamphlet about the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association (SDFWA) and a flyer for the Cabinet and Furniture technology program at Palomar Community College.
The pamphlet described the new woodworking shop in San Diego, open for all woodworkers to join. The shop is a membership based, non-profit, all volunteer shop run by the SDFWA. I was able to interview Gary Anderson, Member Shop Chairman about the organization and its history.
Gary said, “The Association was started by Lynn Rybarczyk in 1981 after he had seen some beautiful custom furniture in the San Francisco Bay Area. At that time, woodworkers in San Diego had few opportunities to collaborate and had no way to show their work to the public. Lynn was motivated to present the idea of creating a fine woodworking exhibit at the San Diego County Fair to the exposition staff, who agreed to develop an exhibit as long as there was an active community woodworking organization to sponsor it.
Fortunately, San Diego’s first retail store selling woodworking supplies, tools, and materials opened about the same time —The Cutting Edge. The owner allowed Lynn to set up a card table at the store during the grand opening, and Lynn began to sign up the members of what became the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association.
During 1981, regular meetings were held at local public schools to attract members. The San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association (SDFWA) was organized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in early 1982, and by June of 1982, the first annual show, initially called The Southern California Expo Fine Woodworking Exhibit displayed 45 pieces selected from 95 entries, all submitted by SDFWA members. The show was such a success that Fine Woodworking Magazine gave it a multi-page spread.”
He added, “The exhibit at the Fair is now called the Design in Wood Exhibition, and has grown to display more than 300 entries. It has achieved national and international recognition and includes demonstrations by wood turners, scrollers, carvers, and model ship builders – all members of local organizations. A traditional woodworking shop at the exhibit produces red oak children’s chairs for donation to local social service organizations. More than 1,700 chairs have been donated over the past 34 years.”
In answer to my question about the growth of the association, Gary said, “Membership steadily increased and peaked at 1690 members in 1999. There are actually over 200 woodworking guilds/associations in the US., but San Diego’s is the largest with about 1200 members. As far as we know, only four have their own woodworking shop.”
I asked what the difference between a “guild” and “association,” and he said that the term “guild” is often used interchangeably with “association,” but guilds historically referred to individual craftsmen rather than company members.
He explained that most of their members are doing woodworking as a hobby, and only about 10% or less are professionals who make a living from woodworking.
Gary added, “Members have access to a variety of special interest groups that provide the opportunity to connect with experts in a variety of woodworking, such as carving, CNC machining, toy building, and women in woodworking.”
When I asked when the association opened the Member Shop, he replied, “We opened the shop in June 2017, and it is 4,000 sq. ft in size. Membership provides access to just about every kind of power and hand tool and equipment that a woodworker would need to complete a project, including, saws, router, sanders, lathes, etc. It also has an extensive library, design software, classes, and a 3D printer.”
He explained, “One of our reasons for opening the shop was that we were concerned about the diversity of membership, both with regards to age and ethnic diversity. Before we opened our Member Shop, we were an association of “old white men,” above the age of 60. We recognized that we needed to attract more diversity in age and ethnicity. Now, we have a lot of young people joining as members. When the shop opened, only about 3% were female and now 40% of our new members are female.”
The SDFWA pamphlet listed two levels of annual membership:
Silver at $250/year, which provides 15 slots (a slot is one visit to the shop for up to three hours
Gold at $395/year, which provides 50 slots
When I asked if they also have an hourly rate like a “makerspace, he said, “no, you have to be a member to use the facilities. We don’t have provision for using on an hourly rate.”
I told him that I had also picked up a flyer at the Fair for the Cabinet & Furniture Technology program at Palomar College and asked if the association has a relationship with the college
He replied, “We have an Informal, but students have to pay to be a member to use facilities. Some of their members have taken or are taking woodworking classes at Palomar to get more training on to expand on the member shop classes.”
When I asked if there are any other colleges in San Diego that have a similar program, he replied, “I don’t know of any other college that has a program as complete as Palomar, which is a nationally recognized program, but I did hear that SDSU has a small program as one of its instructors became a member.”
In answer to my question as to whether there are any high schools that have woodworking shop classes, he said that he heard that Oceanside High School has a program, but he didn’t know of any others. I told him that the San Diego Continuing Education Center on Oceanview Blvd. has a small woodworking shop and classes, and the MakerPlace on Morena Blvd. in San Diego also has a small woodworking shop and classes. After the interview, an internet search showed that Escondido High School also had a woodworking shop and classes
With regards to whether or not there are any local furniture manufacturers, he responded, “I don’t know of any furniture manufacturers in San Diego other than shops making cabinets. But, SDFWA President, Travis Good, recently visited a lumber supplier by the name of Bennett-Crone, and the vast amount of their business is with woodworking manufacturers in Mexico.
After doing search on the internet, I found seven furniture manufacturers listed in San Diego County, but three of the seven have addresses down in Otay Mesa, which is the industrial park on the U. S. side of the border with Mexico, and companies in this park usually have offices on the U. S. side and manufacturing plants on the other side of the border in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
There are two musical instrument companies that would utilize the woodworking skills of SDFWA members: Deering Banjo Company in Spring Valley, and Taylor Guitar Company in El Cajon. However, Taylor Guitar also has a plant in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico.
I thanked Gary for all of the information and arranged to visit the Member Shop soon. I enjoyed learning about the background of my favorite exhibit at the San Diego County Fair. If any furniture manufacturers doing business in China and other parts of Asia decide to return manufacturing to America, the San Diego region would have an abundance of skilled workers to staff their plants
Tags: American manufacturing, manufacturing skills, training
Hi My name is Robert Acton Jr and is currently in the process of liquidating some wood working equipment such as a Grizzly stroke Sander
Grizzly G5394 – 6″ x 186″ in excellent condition also a GS Compressor 15HP in good condition also have a Grizzly drum sander Grizzly G0449 – 37″ 10 HP good condition and a industrial dust collector with a Cincinnati 10 HP motor and pulsing system excellent condition. But I’m trying to get what is fair for what they are but one of those equipment liquidator companies offered me a joke of a amount for the dust collector and compressor. Maybe you know someone in the wood working industry that would be interested in buying one of my equipment. Or maybe you can point me in a better direction. Any help would be highly appreciated and grateful.
Sincerely Robert Acton Jr