Tour our shop. Email us. Join our craft. Become a woodworker.

Woodworking, one of humankind's most ancient skills, remains to this day a source of great personal satisfaction and wealth. In many other modern jobs, automation has cut the value of human labor. Not from fine woodworking, however. No prefabricated product can match the luster and luxury of hand-crafted boats, custom homes, and original cabinets.

You can join this profession through the Wood Construction program at Seattle Central. Our teachers have worked in the industry, earned employers’ respect, and mastered the skills. Most important, they know how to make the craft real to you. 

Since our start as Gompers in 1936, we have trained the Northwest’s best woodworkers.

After an all-inclusive core training (safety, skills, tools, and materials), today’s full-time students can specialize in Cabinet Making, Carpentry, or Boat Building. Each specialty can give you job-winning credentials, too, either an Associate of Applied Science degree or certificate.

For hobbyists, convenient evening classes extend our expertise to you. We can boost a beginner’s confidence to tackle do-it-yourself jobs and guide an old hand toward new mastery.

Seldom have job prospects for skilled wood workers looked more promising. Cranes dot Seattle’s skyline. Puget Sound business booms. Buyers have the income and low interest rates to demand new homes, remodels and rehabs, fine cabinet work, and even that wooden boat of their dreams. Local employers respect and hire our students.

Tour Our Shop

You can visit the Wood Construction Center yourself.

See students in action. Meet our instructors. Hear who got what job. Check out our shop, our equipment. Watch as student projects take shape--Chriscraft rebuilds, dinghies, cabinets, and armoires.

Tours run at 12:30 p.m. any Wednesday while school is in session. Just stop by the facility at 23rd Avenue South and Lane - right off Jackson Street in Seattle.

For other times, phone (206) 587-5460 for an appointment, or email us.

Financial Aid

Employers want skilled workers. Governments want taxpayers. And both have money to help you get job skills.

You can qualify for state and federal grants and loans. Advice and help is available from the Financial Aid Office at Seattle Central Community College, phone (206) 587-3844. Its staff will guide you through the applications and alert you to key deadlines.

The need for skilled employees means industry supports scholarships. The Associated General Contractors Education Foundation offers tuition money. So do the Master Builders and the college foundation. Ask us how we can help you. Phone for an appointment, or email us.

When you become a student in the Wood Construction Center, you join Seattle Central Community College, one of America's top five community colleges. Known nationally for its innovative educational programs and services, Seattle Central serves about 10,000 students each quarter. It has full accreditation from the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges.

Associate of Applied Science Degree

The Wood Construction Associate of Applied Science Degree follows completion of the certificate requirements for the Cabinetry and Carpentry programs (104 or 86 credits), plus 18 credits of related instruction.

Related Instruction
Related Instruction can round out your knowledge and buff your job prospects.

Student may use 16 credits of Related Instruction toward their AAS degree.

Visit the supplemental site for Wood Construction for more in-depth information about our classes, programs.