Before Yestermorrow students knew him as an instructor, Ken Burton came to campus as a student. In 1994, he enrolled in a straw bale building course and noticed the woodworking classes taking place in the basement of the chalet. He saw an opportunity to help build a stronger woodworking program, offered to develop new courses, and has been teaching at Yestermorrow almost every summer since.

Ken built his first box when he was five years old from scraps in his father's basement shop. It had leather hinges, a coat of shoe polish, and plenty of rough edges. His father, a shop teacher and furniture maker, gave him his first set of tools that same year. As Ken fondly remembers, "I cut myself with everything, even the hammer," but he kept learning. From then on, woodworking stayed with him.

That early start grew into a career of many forms. Ken taught high school woodworking for years, earned a graduate degree in furniture design, wrote and edited woodworking books, led Woodcraft Magazine as Editor-in-Chief, and continues to practice fine woodworking from his Windy Ridge studio in Pennsylvania.

Ask Ken why woodworking matters, and his answer has little to do with furniture.

In an age where our skilled trades people are statistically aging out, Ken serves as a bridge between new generations and old knowledge. His gentle and reassuring approach to teaching mixes well with his near encyclopedic understanding of woodworking, and students of his have said that he makes them feel like anything is possible in the woodshop. "I've been trying in my own little way to keep people self-reliant," says Ken. 

He believes people should know how to make things with their hands. In his classes students learn how wood behaves, how grain guides a cut, how careful work leads to better results, and how to fix mistakes when your concentration slips up. During lunch breaks, students learn how good a 60-something-year-old woodworker can be at ultimate frisbee or kickball. 

After more than 30 years of teaching at Yestermorrow, he still enjoys seeing former students continue to build, whether they're making furniture for their homes or pursuing woodworking as a craft. For Ken, the best part of teaching is watching people leave with the skills and confidence to keep making.

"It's such an amazing place," he says. "Everybody is very caring. They're interested in both learning and design. It keeps me coming back."

Ken has a handtool woodcarving course and two separate evening woodturning tutorials coming up in August. He’s also teaching two fine woodworking courses in October and November: Build a Maple Table and Chair Making.