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Safety is no accident
Safety never takes a holiday
A wound neglected may be a wound infected.
The Rolling Acres wood shop is open Between 8AM and 4PM Monday Thru Saturday for sales of pre-made items.
The Brownwood Shop is open Between 8AM and 4PM  Monday, and also Wednesday thru Saturday.

Brownwood Shop is Closed Every Tuesday for New Member Certification

We welcome new members 

Brownwood Shop Parking Restricted - Painting Water Tower - Through Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Shop Operating Hours

Our shops operating hours are as follows:

Rolling Acres - Monday - Saturday 8:00AM to 4:00PM

Brownwood  - Monday - Saturday 8:00AM to 4:00PM, EXCEPT Tuesday when shop is closed for internal VWC training.

Both shops close to observe national holidays. 

 

New Members

Thinking of joining the Villages Woodworking Club? Come by either Shop during open hours (8:00 am -4:00pm). WE NO LONGER HAVE A WAITING LIST.

(The Brownwood Shop is Closed Tues. and Sun.)

Please remember to bring your Villages ID card, as only residents of The Villages can become club members. See This link for additional information:  /OurClub/GeneralInfo .

 

New Updated 2023 Toy Catalog

We have updated our March 15, 2023 catalog of toys that are made by the Toy Department for distribution to needy children in the Tri-County area.  Also, some of these toys may be available at the Villages Woodworkers Club booth at selected market nights.

You can view these toys at /Community/Toys/Toy-Catalog.

 

Welcome to Our Club!

The Rolling Acres villages woodshop is located at 704 Oak Street, The Villages, FL 32159. Please select this link to display a map and directions to the Rolling Acres shop. 

Our new Brownwood wood shop is located at 3601 Buena Vista Blvd.  Please click this link to display a map and directions to our Brownwood shop.  

After entering your starting location, use the Bicycle mode of transportation to view the directions for taking your golf cart to our shop.

Welcome to The Villages Woodworkers Club (affectionately known as VWC).  Let me give you a little history about how we came to be and to what we have evolved.

 A little more than a decade ago, some Villagers, who had brought some of their personal equipment with them when they moved here, gathered and came up with a plan to make some wooden toys for needy children for Christmas.  They set a goal to make 50 toys - cutting out the pieces in one garage, sanding them in another, assembling in a third place and coming together as the best of Christmas elves could.  Word of their work got out and soon they had requests from groups also looking to make a child’s Christmas nicer.  In the end they produced 142 toys that Christmas.

And so an idea was born –Recognizing that a woodworkers club would be ideal, the “elves” sought out the data to propose the idea of a club to The Villages.  They traveled to see other clubs, collected info on the equipment needed, estimated the number of residents that might be interested and the money needed to get it all started.  They then approached The Villages developer, Gary Morse, with the plan.  Obviously they’d done a good job because Mr. Morse accepted the plan, expanded it, identified a site, equipped the building and turned it over to the “founders” as a Villages Club.

The Club was established; the by-laws were written; the officers were identified; the procedures were decided and the doors were opened for Villagers to “make sawdust”!

A decade later, we are a vibrant, active part of The Villages and have expanded into two separate shops.  Today we have over 1600 members.  We are focused on three disciplines: 1) general woodworking which incorporates most common equipment and covers making everything from a small box to an entertainment center or a bedroom suite; 2) turning which involves work one of 11 lathes and covers making pens, bowls, salt and pepper mills, spindles etc.; and 3) carving which covers primitive carving, chip carving, caricatures, and birds so real they look as if they could fly away!  In each of those fields we have rank amateurs to masters of their art.

On the altruistic, civic side, we devote some of our time to giving back to the community in which we reside.  1) Back to the toys – the “elves” now working six days a week all year long, make approximately 9000 toys a year for needy children in the area. 2) The turners and carvers unite to create personalized Eagle Head canes for any Florida soldier wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan in thanks for his/her contribution to our country.  3) The general woodworking area builds burial urns for indigent veterans such that families who do not have the means to bury their son/daughter/father/mother can do so with dignity.  4) A small group devoted to “special efforts” accepts pieces that need fixing, such chairs, tables etc.  There is only a charge for the material.  Any donation towards the labor is appreciated.

To expand expertise and satisfy that need to learn, we have established classes to train members in the different disciplines.  The classes range from very elementary to levels of mastery.  All are taught by members and cost a mere $10 for the “education part” plus whatever the material costs.

Having mentioned “materials”, it is nice to know that the Club has established a climate-controlled wood shed supporting each of the shops, making most common woods and some exotics available for very reasonable cost.  Additionally, a member need not own any tools (unless he or she chooses to).  All tools are available within the Shop for use in the Shop.

Does it sound like a dream come true? Well, we know that we are prejudiced, but we think so!  Our one-time initiation fee is very reasonable and our yearly dues are ridiculously low!

Want to know more?  Stop by and see us at 704 Oak St, corner of Rolling Acres Rd, or our Brownwood Shop at 3601 Buena Vista Bl.  We’re pretty sure you’ll be impressed and just might want to join us all in “making VWC sawdust”!

Carvers' Video Series

We have a series of videos produced by VWC Members Carvers Group. The first of these videos, Carving Softballs by Steve Mendelsohn is now on the website.

 

Meet The Ringmaster

Tom Miller presents "Meet The Ringmaster", a video detailing the purpose and use of the ringmaster in turning bowls from a single board.  

This video has been added to our website and can be seen at /Groups/Turners/LatheAndTurning Videos/Meet the Ringmaster

 

Shop Monitor Information

The most recent Shop Monitor information and training dates are posted on this website.

Also, you can now view the Shop Monitor training video on this website.

Select this link to view: Shop Monitor Information