The DM Woodworkers toured Dobson Pipe Organ Builders in August of 2025.

The DM Woodworkers toured Dobson Pipe Organ Builders in August of 2025.

John Panning, right, owner of Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, provides a history of the company to about 30 club members and spouses.

John Panning, right, owner of Dobson Pipe Organ Builders, provides a history of the company to about 30 club members and spouses.

One half of an organ installation at a New York City cathedral.

One half of an organ installation at a New York City cathedral.

The other half of the NYC installation on the wall opposite the first.

The other half of the NYC installation on the wall opposite the first.

A concert hall installation at the University of Dubuque.

A concert hall installation at the University of Dubuque.

Another performance hall organ installation. The main console in the foreground can be moved offstage to create room for additional performers. The organist then uses the secondary console, pictured in the balcony behind the main console.

Another performance hall organ installation. The main console in the foreground can be moved offstage to create room for additional performers. The organist then uses the secondary console, pictured in the balcony behind the main console.

Pipes from a Dubuque installation awaiting repair. Some of these pipes may be 150 years old.

Pipes from a Dubuque installation awaiting repair. Some of these pipes may be 150 years old.

Owner John Panning showing the apparatus used for tuning pipes.

Owner John Panning showing the apparatus used for tuning pipes.

Shop craftsman Kent Brown showing the 18" Delta jointer in the Dobson Pipe Organ Builders' new shop.

Shop craftsman Kent Brown showing the 18" Delta jointer in the Dobson Pipe Organ Builders' new shop.

The 12" tablesaw with sliding table in the Dobson Pipe Organ Builders' shop.

The 12" tablesaw with sliding table in the Dobson Pipe Organ Builders' shop.

A CNC with outboard turning attachment.

A CNC with outboard turning attachment.

The finishing room at Dobson Pipe Organ Builders.

The finishing room at Dobson Pipe Organ Builders.

The 40'-high assembly room where organs are assembled and tested before being disassembled and packed for shipping and installation.

The 40'-high assembly room where organs are assembled and tested before being disassembled and packed for shipping and installation.

The only thing to survive the 2021 fire that destroyed the previous facility for Dobson Pipe Organ Builders: an anvil.

The only thing to survive the 2021 fire that destroyed the previous facility for Dobson Pipe Organ Builders: an anvil.

2025-04 Show & Tell

  • King size bed frame

  • Jointer bed extension

  • Knife box

  • Knife box

  • Hollow form bowl - Maple Burl

  • Cigar box guitar

  • Tea lights box

  • Turned Box - Ginko, Sapele, and Honey Locust

  • Power Carved Bowls

  • Cross for church

  • Church cross

  • Tea candle holders, Ring dish, and box

  • Game board

2025-03 Show & Tell

  • Rocking Chair restoration. Complete disassembly first upholstery project.

  • Disassembled Oak Rocking Chair

  • Cream can side tables. First time using router to cut circles. New place to put the TV remote and a cut of coffee.

  • Plant Stand - Cherry wood

  • Bandsaw box - gift for a friend in Louisiana.

  • Stool Cherry Laminate Bend

  • Special sanding block

  • 3-Legged Table - class project

2025-02 Show & Tell

  • Bookcase - My take on Mid-century Modern bookcase. Spalted Hackberry, Spalted Sycamore, and Red Oak

  • Picture frame and stand - Walnut, Maple and Cherry.

  • Phone stand - amplifier. Good Christmas gifts.

  • 3D Printer Cabinet - Cherry cabinet and used 3D printed tools during the build.

  • Stool - White Oak “Shop” stool.

2025-01 Show & Tell

  • Built for my granddaughter’s 1st birthday this weekend. Plans from WOOD magazine.

  • Urn for sister-in-law, she loved books so it seemed very fitting.

  • Low Chest of Drawers built for my son and daughter-in-law. Will serve as changing table for their first born. Made in quarter-sawn white oak. Drawers all hand-cut dovetails, Walnut knobs turned as sized per drawer size.

  • Scroll sawn turkey. Framed in barn boards.

  • Three legged chair

  • Buckminster Fuller Gravity & tension

  • Family Room Cabinets - Furniture designed to fit function and form in a family room.

  • Family Room Cabinets - Furniture designed to fit function and form in a family room.

  • Family Room Cabinets - Furniture designed to fit function and form in a family room.

  • Family Room Cabinets - Furniture designed to fit function and form in a family room.

2024-12 Show & Tell

  • Toy Train Cards - All parts fabricated by Randy W. Maple, walnut, cherry and birch wood.

  • Lidded box - Lidded ring box with display ring.

  • 911 Cross - Rubble traced from actual photos from tower.

  • Scroll Sawn Baskets - All layers scrolled sawn and stacked in alternate patterns.

  • Christmas Ornaments - White tree topper with companion ornaments. Bleached Sycamore wood.

  • Christmas Tree Cluster - Turned with iridescent paint.

  • OSB Bowl Stacked - Turned from scrap OSB material.

  • Description goes here time using Cherry wood and Odie’s oil finish.

  • Queen Anne Candel Stand - Small stand to display a candle of plant. Cherry wood.

  • Floating Box Shelf and Ice Cream Scoop - Floating shelf in red oak and box joints. Ice cream scoop in Ash (Woodcraft kit).

  • Jefferson Lap Desk and Parquet veneer box.

  • Locking Miter - Locking miter joint for making post and beam raps.

  • Picture Frames from different woods.

  • Gent saw - Custom 8” Gent saw. Hybrid tooth pattern, apple wood handle with mosail pin.

2024-11 Show & Tell

  • Chess Board - Walnut and hard maple from my own sawmill. First attempt and I've already started a new/better one.

  • Splatted walnut with figured maple top

  • Box - Walnut and Maple

  • Retired Des Moines parking-meter. Segmented turning covered with truck bed liner.

  • Scroll saw Pheasants

  • Christmas Tree Ornaments - Black walnut original pattern. Coping saw then resaw with bandsaw to get two alike

2024-10 Show & Tell

  • Scrollsaw Lantern - Panels cut as Iowa State Fair demo.

  • Desk Lamp - All made from materials on-hand and reclaimed.

  • Bandsaw Box - Black walnut with cherry sapwood accent and interior flocking.

  • Halloween Ghost - Bradford pear with shellac.

  • The five-know was an experiment of using spray paint and an acrylic backer.

  • Viking - Scrollsaw

  • Drill priss table & cabinet - Table & fence with attached removable cabinet drawers.

  • Memory Box - Walnut with cherry center.

  • Chess set - Scrollsaw

  • Turned vases

2024-09 Show & Tell

  • Piecrust table in mahogany

  • Walnut Live Edge side table. Live edge crotch with steel legs. Finished with Briwax

  • Kitchen Set - Cutting board and utensil cannister in Cherry and Alder

  • Pet Coffin - Spalted Hackberry and White Oak

  • Child changing table for 1st chink in Walnut

  • Log Cabin Box & Box Joint Jig - I mad this jig in one of our classes and used it to make the joints for the box. Box in Walnut and Birds-Eye Maple

  • Dave Grieve - Wood Duck
    Description goes here

  • Calico Cat - Carved and painted to represent our house cat. Whiskers are fishline.

  • Shop/Kitchen Stool - Made in club offered class in Walnut and Oak.

  • Ornaments - I make 1-2 each year for members of family

  • Bookcase - Made in club class in oak.

  • Scrollsaw portraits Train thru Forest with frame. Charle Dearing design cut with no 5 Olson blades. Took 35 hours to cut.

  • A Charles Dearing design cut by no 5 Olson blades. Total of 42.5 hours curring.

2024 July Field Trip

RCS

2024-05 Show & Tell

  • Pheasant
    Scroll saw

  • Couch Arm Tray

    Walnut with dovetailed corner

  • Supposed to be round table

    Iroko & Coffee tree

  • Curvy Side Table

  • Salvaged windows

  • Toddler Tower

    Built so my grandson can safely be at counter height to “help” Mom & Dad

  • A live-edge epoxy dining room table
    built out of black walnut salvaged from the Derecho and finished with Minwax clear gloss Polycrylic.

    A father-mother-daughter-son-in-law project running from July 30, 2023 to April 21, 2024.

  • Ring Box

2024-04 Show & Tell

  • Taboret Table

    Class woodworking project

  • Plant Stand

  • Mantle Clock
    Cherry

  • Cherry
    Finished with shellac and Wax.

  • Cedar
    Pencil Holders

  • Side Table Made in Phil H. March class. First try at mortise and tendon. Cherry and Gel topcoat.

  • Desk - Book Rack
    White Oak with ebony pegs
    Watched the class build and decided to try.

  • Wall - Quilt Holder
    Wedding Gift for son and daughter in law.

  • Child's Table
    My wife has her and her sister's child table and chairs. So, I made a child table for my sister-in-law and her grand children.

  • Splay leg table Walnut and Kumiko panel Class project taught by Logan W. First woodworking projects using hand and power tools.

  • Kumiko panel
    Made in Logan W. class

  • Cover Bridge
    Scroll saw

  • Splay leg table
    Black Walnut from my family's walnut grove. Used my own sawmill.

  • Welcome Plaque created in May CNC presentation.

  • Made mainly from ash harvested from a tree my dad planted 25 years ago. The grinder stand swings up for use, then down under the top for storage.

2024-03 Show & Tell

2024-02 Show & Tell

2020-01 Show & Tell

  • Class box