Discovering Green Woodworking

By Will Cowart 

My introduction to green woodworking was at The Woodwright’s School in Pittsboro, NC. I took an Introduction to Hand Tool Woodworking class with Roy Underhill where we started with a walnut log, split out a blank and proceeded to remove material until it resembled a pair of bench hooks. I had never worked with green wood before and was instantly impressed with how much easier it was to work with. This was the start of my adventure with “the other side” of woodworking.

Shortly after, my wife Ashley and I were invited to visit Cara O’Connell’s shop for a bark bucket class. We spent the day learning the proper methods for stripping bark off a poplar log. I was stunned when we removed the bark in one long sheet with no fancy tools and minimal effort.

Fast forward to 2022 when we attended a spoon carving class at an event Cara had put together called the Green Woodwrights Fest at Shakori Hills in Pittsboro. We both thoroughly enjoyed the class and were inspired to dive deeper. Most importantly, I left with a spoon that I still use today.

Learning from a seasoned professional in a controlled environment helped us get to the fun part quickly. Ashley and I gathered up a few carving tools over the next few months, and would sit on the porch and carve when the weather was nice. We’d even take these tools on vacation and carve in the mountains or at the beach. It’s amazing how fast time would fly when we were carving, likely due to how focused you need to be while carving to ensure safety stays top priority. 

Another person who’s had a great impact on my woodworking journey is Bart Moyers. Ashley and I took a fan bird class with Bart in his shop in North Durham. This was something I had never heard of prior to seeing the delicate birds hanging around Bart’s shop. It’s a form of greenwood folk-art that involves a hunk of green wood and a knife. He really made it simple, showing us that a sharp sloyd knife and some green wood can take you places. More recently, I took a shrink pot class from Bart at The Lumber District. We took a green maple branch, hollowed out the inside, and set a dry bottom piece in place while the log dried out over a few days, capturing the bottom in doing so. Basically magic.

The thing I like most about working green is how it forces you to form an understanding with wood as a medium. It typically requires minimal tooling and you don’t need any power, so you can do it just about anywhere.

There’s so much information on the internet about green woodworking. You can spend months absorbing information before you even put your hands on a log. My suggestion to anyone looking to get started, is to attend a green woodworking event. This is such a great opportunity to jumpstart your journey and ensure safe and effective techniques are being learned from the start.

In North Carolina, we’re lucky to have The GreenWood Wrights' fest in our backyard. The 2026 event takes place October 9-11 at The Plant in Pittsboro. Check out their website HERE for more information and to purchase tickets.

We hope to see you there!