On a late night at Legacy Woodworking and Design in Henderson, Jamie Yocono, a woodworking instructor of more than 30 years, brandishes a wry smile as she offers a crucial disclaimer.
“This is the class that has sent people to urgent care, so you have to be careful,” she tells a group of students before walking them through the process of carving out space to add hinges to their hardwood boxes.
It’s the final session in an inaugural series of night courses she and shop co-owner Ken Beck launched in October to teach their craft to those who have to work during the daytime courses Yocono regularly hosts at Woodcraft Supply in Las Vegas.
The program—made up of various workshops that cost anywhere from $300 to $400, plus the price of materials—has already seen enough interest to warrant more in 2026. As a bonus, anyone who completes their beginner course also gains access to Beck’s workshop for up to two Saturdays per month.
Between demonstrations, Yocono sat down with the Weekly to share some tips for aspiring woodworkers.
Invest in the right tools.
“I would assemble a solid combination of basic power and hand tools,” Yocono says. “You obviously need some sort of a saw, and you definitely need a sander and a drill.”
A good starter kit can also include a hammer or mallet, marking materials like a pencil and utility knife, a tape measure, a carpenter’s square, chisels and clamp sets.
Whenever possible, she recommends buying higher-quality products from the get-go.
Start small.
Yocono starts most beginners off with cutting boards.
“For a starter project, to just glue some wood together, trim it up and call it a cutting board. It’s really basic,” Yocono says. “But the big reveal with that is, even if they don’t realize it, if someone knows how to make a cutting board, then they know how to make a tabletop. A dining room table is just bigger.”
And while investing in your tool belt early can pay dividends, the same is not true for materials.
“You don’t want to waste money and time early on. Start by practicing your joints, gluing techniques. ... Once you feel like you’ve mastered those, then you can start investing in higher-quality woods to build your heirloom pieces,” Yocono says.
Find a community.
One can easily learn a thing or two from YouTube, but the social aspects of any hobby should not be underestimated.
“I’ve worked in isolated shops where you don’t see anybody all day, but it helps when you’re able to bounce ideas off people,” Yocono says.
That’s precisely why she formed the Sin City Woodworkers networking group in 2009, which hosts monthly meetings at Woodcraft Supply to help connect its 3,000 or so members with fellow hobbyists of all skill levels.
“Every time you come to a meeting, you’re going to learn something about woodworking. And people often have tools to share,” Yocono says.
Keep practicing.
Despite earning her degree in furniture making, Yocono admits she was just a novice teacher when she began offering lessons at the University of Akron in 1994.
“The janitor ended up kicking us out of the shop at like 2 a.m. because we were so far behind,” she recalls with a laugh. “But I got better and better and ended up teaching there for ten years.”
It took time to master both crafts.
“If woodworking was difficult, there wouldn’t be millions of carpenters out there,” Yocono says. “So, if you just keep practicing, you can do it.”
2026 COURSES
Floating shelves: January 7 & 14, 6-9:30 p.m., $300 including materials.
Picture frames: January 19 & 26, 6-9:30 p.m., $300 including materials.
Basic woodworking: February 4, 11, 18 & 25, 6-9:30 p.m., $550 including materials.
To register for classes, visit woodworkingclassesinlv.blogspot.com, email [email protected] or call 702-779-3454.
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