Highland Woodworking

Chris and Sharon Bagby opened Highland Hardware at 1034 North Highland Avenue on 15 May 1978, as an ordinary hardware store in Atlanta. A seminar programme started in the basement in 1980 and brought in Tage Frid, Sam Maloof and Roy Underhill. The store crossed the road in 1984 to 1045 North Highland Avenue, where it still trades, and added eight thousand square feet in a 1995 renovation that made room for a classroom and a loading dock. The newsletter Wood News merged with the tool catalogue in 1992 and the catalogue is still printed. In 2006 the business dropped the hardware name and became Highland Woodworking. It remains a family business. Molly Bagby, daughter of the founders, edits Wood News Online and Highland Woodturner, and publishes reader submissions with store credit as the reward. Rough Draft Atlanta reported in 2017 that most sales come through the website and catalogue, while the Virginia-Highland shop works as the place customers visit when they are in town. The tool selection runs to Lie-Nielsen, Festool and SawStop, and the store is the exclusive American home of the Wood Slicer resaw bandsaw blade. Its most popular class builds a box over two days.