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Just a note to thank you for an excellent course. Clear instructions, well-paced and meticulous within a relaxed environment. You have a great facility in an outstanding location.

I really enjoyed my time at the school; it certainly exceeded my expectations. Robert is an excellent teacher and his passion for fine work is evident throughout the courses. Every time the students showed an interest in a topic outside the confines of the course Robert was eager to share additional knowledge and responded enthusiastically to any questions we had. Both Michael and Cody were also excellent teachers and craftsman.

The classes were small enough that even when they were full there was still plenty of opportunity for individual instruction. The shop and the bench room were well laid out and equipped and the tools available for purchase at the school were top quality and well priced. Robert was also very generous with his own tools, so that students could try out a variety tools before deciding to purchase.

One of the biggest benefits of the classes were the presence of the craftsman students in the shop, they were a wealth of knowledge and it was a pleasure to watch them work, to discuss techniques and to see which tools they used. Yvonne was also exceptionally organized and kept the courses running smoothly. Everyone at the school was very open and friendly creating a great environment for learning.

I look forward to taking more courses at the school. Thanks again for your hospitality while I was in ‘the Creek’.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for a wonderful week in the Dovetails and Tool Making program (Inside Passage School of Fine Woodworking). You have shown me how to take a hobby, which I have always enjoyed, to a new level, to something that is now so much more. Your teaching was informative and your words inspirational. Please pass on my gratitude to everyone who had a part in creating such an extraordinary place.

I had the opportunity to spend 12 weeks in the winter of 2003 at a course Robert was teaching. I can easily say the experience would have paled in comparison had Robert not been the head instructor. His overall woodworking knowledge and unfaltering commitment to craftsmanship was unprecedented and infectious to all his students throughout the three months. I was excited to hear he had the good fortune to open his own school and look forward to taking a course as soon as I have a chance. I’m confident that as well as a fantastic school, Inside Passage will foster a “community” of craftsmen.

I have always been impressed by people who have been doing woodworking since they were kids. I thought that this was the only way to become a talented, successful cabinetmaker. I didn’t discover woodworking myself, however, until I moved to Canada in my early thirties. This paradigm kept me from developing a career as a furniture maker for quite some time. But the desire to become a cabinetmaker did not go away. As time went by, it was becoming more evident that enhancing the inherent beauty of wood was very fulfilling for me.

In 2003, I realized the time had come for me to face some of those old fears and circumstances led me to discover a course offered in Ontario where Robert Van Norman, as resident-instructor, was at that time the driving force behind a twelve-week intensive artisan cabinetmaking course.

Robert is able to translate his craftsmanship and passion into a thrilling experience for all students. He is an inspiring teacher and a warm person. He gave me confidence in my ability to accomplish fine work and helped me explore and discover my own personal sensitivity towards materials and form.

I have taken several classes from Robert and in each one I have been thoroughly impressed with the caliber of his teaching and his craftsmanship. Robert is a patient and competent instructor with a talent for understanding what his students want to know when they ask a question. Robert inspires me to put forth my best effort in my projects and not to settle for “good enough”. I very much look forward to taking classes from him in the future.

I can’t say enough good things about Robert Van Norman’s skill as a teacher. I never thought that I would have the patience or skill to hand-cut dovetails or hand plane surfaces and edges. As a matter of fact I would have considered myself a skeptic. I did know that there was something about woodwork done by Krenov students that just seemed “right”. This led me to a basic woodworking class taught by Robert. What a revelation! I still use all my machines, but then I can shut them off, open the doors, listen to music (or shavings) and really enjoy the wood.

Yes, I can make subtle edges and sweet surfaces. I can cut refined dovetails with a chisel. Robert’s skill with both wood and students of all abilities makes studying with him a true joy. He gives clear demonstrations, then gently cajoles his students into doing better work than they thought possible.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have studied with Robert over 12 weeks in 2003. Robert was a patient and insightful instructor teaching both basic and advanced techniques, helping to tie them together with the necessary philosophy, approach and attitude that inspire a desire for perfection. His own knowledge, personal skill and dedication were invaluable as a teacher and mentor. Robert went above and beyond to make the course an amazing personal experience. For anyone interested in fine woodworking, I highly recommend the chance to study with Robert and his team. You can enter with few skills but a wish to learn, and leave with a solid working foundation and ignited passion.

I spent two weeks in Robert Van Norman’s class‚ in Ontario 2003, and I am thrilled now to start making treks from Minnesota to the west coast. Robert’s depth of knowledge about furniture-building will benefit any woodworker who approaches tools and wood with curiosity and love. But what Robert can do with furniture and wood is only half of it. He is a natural teacher: attentive, patient, generous, and smiling. Robert treats his students with great respect. My questions were welcome every step of the way, even when they sounded suspiciously like the questions of the day before and the day before that. Robert meets his students exactly where they are and simultaneously pushes them forward. I would travel to Tierra del Fuego for the program offered at Inside Passage; I’m grateful it’s only to Roberts Creek! (Although South America would be nice, too.)