Lake Vermilion Observation Tower Workshop & Rendezvous

Join us in America's heartland in the fall for a combination Raising, Rendezvous, and Compound Joinery Workshop to build an observation tower at a wildlife refuge.

This is our year for success in the Midwest! Following a successful project in the middle of Illinois, we journey to the Indiana border for a Workshop & Rendezvous that will initiate the unwary into membership in the Compound Joiners Club.

For this Guild event, you can enroll the first week (Sept. 21-27) in a formal, hands-on workshop in compound roof work. During the second week (Sept. 28-Oct. 4), you can participate in a more informal Guild Rendezvous, when professionals and enthusiastic volunteers come together for a community service building project. For this particular event, we will build a handicapped-accessible observation tower for a wildlife refuge outside of Danville, on the Indiana/Illinois border. The tower will be located on the north shore of Lake Vermilion and will be the centerpiece of a 950-foot floating boardwalk in a wetland area.

The Guild will provide professional training and leadership, materials, and much more. If you successfully complete the first week, you may register for the Rendezvous as a Pro (or our definition of one), because you will be one!

Classes of Participation:

1. Workshop Participant: September 21-27, inclusive
   $500 includes all meals (except Sunday) and on-site camping. Some cabin berths are available on a first-come first-serve basis (an obvious incentive to rapid registration).


Workshop participants (during the first week only) will receive hands-on instruction by two professional joiners with decades of experience in designing, building and teaching the mysteries of compound roofs. This workshop will feature the European Method, the oldest (and we think, most intuitive) of the options, and participants will learn the underlying principles of compound math work as they relate to timberframing.

The workshop crew will be responsible for developing all of the lengths, angles, layouts and cuts needed to put the roof on the Observation Tower. The Rendezvous crew will cut the tower's frame, and fix any mistakes the Compound team might have made! The two crews together will raise the structure (with the aid of a big crane).


2. Rendezvous Participant: September 29 - October 4, inclusive
   There are 3 levels of participation
   • Pro - upon acceptance of resumé, no charge
   • Rookie - $150
   • Full-Time Student - upon acceptance of resumé, no charge

Limited scholarship assistance is available to full-time participants of other craft-training programs. Contact Joel for details.

Am I a Pro or a Rookie?

The Guild prides itself on being able to find meaningful work for all participants. However, this second week of this event is a Rendezvous, not a Workshop. That means very little instruction will be provided. Those of you paying the Rookie tuition, and those registering as full-time students, are doing so to ensure that you will have enough supervision and leadership to make this a safe and rewarding experience.

Professionals will be expected to be able to lay out and/or cut with minimal oversight since the difficult joinery decisions will have been made before arrival. This is a big project and a crane raising, so we will need to work with good speed and determination.

Please make sure that your health insurance is up to date, and that you have rugged clothes and boots, ear, eye, and head protection. A modest tool list and maps will be sent to all registrants.

As always, we have a first-class leadership team:

• Wil Dancey
• Curtis Milton
• Rick Collins
• Joel McCarty will oversee the project

This is going to be a terrific event in a very hospitable part of the world. If you have always wanted to add hips and valleys to your professional portfolio, there is no better way than by attending this workshop. We believe that we can teach the material to anyone with the right attitude.

Travel & Accommodations

Lodging or camping is available at the Forest Glen Preserve, site of the workshop and most of the construction.

A map of Danville is available at the Mapquest website.

Call 603 835 2077 or write Joel McCarty if you have questions.