A Tribute to Phil Colson, a longtime employee at Highland Woodworking
Phil Colson moved to Atlanta from Mississippi in 1980 to come to work at Fernbank Gardens. His brand new wife Nella purchased from Highland Hardware one of the very first Inca tablesaws that we ever sold, to give to Phil as a wedding gift.
A third-generation woodworker, Phil built a lovely workshop at his home in Decatur where he did hand tool woodworking in the style of James Krenov.
In 1981 he became the founding president of the Woodworkers Guild of Georgia, an organization whose first meetings took place in Highland Hardware’s basement, and is still thriving today.
Phil came to work for Highland in 1985. Over the past 40 years, he has served in a wide variety of roles within the company.
In 1985 we moved the store across the street into a building that we renovated and expanded. After the first year there, Phil suggested building a small garden center next to our new building to sell plants and garden supplies.
We did, and he became our first garden shop manager.
Later he became one of our first woodturning instructors, and continues to teach bowl turning even after retiring from daily work at the store in 2025.
He was once in charge of Highland’s IT department for our earliest computer systems, which he helped bring online around 1987.
He served as our retail manager for a spell, and later took over merchandise receiving and order picking, all the while dispensing his decades of woodturning and woodworking wisdom to our customers on a daily basis.
In October 2025, Phil finally retired after serving our business and many thousands of customers continuously for over 40 years.
At his home in retirement, he is now in the process of upgrading the little garage workshop where he has turned many beautiful wooden bowls and other workpieces over the years.
Phil and Nella’s home in Lake Claire is surrounded by a lush and beautiful garden. At age 81, Phil still likes to sit in his backyard and meditate, which he does pretty much every day.
In 2019 Charles Brock filmed a delightful interview with Phil.
WATCH THE INTERVIEW
Little Woodchucks: Offerman Woodshop’s Guide to Tools and Tomfoolery by Nick Offerman and Lee Buchanan
Just published this October, Nick Offerman’s sixth book, Little Woodchucks, is sure to help spark your child’s creativity. This exceptional and highly readable introduction to woodworking includes
12 unique projects that are doable by young kids and offers a great opportunity for adults to bond with children while doing woodwork together.
The projects range from beginner offerings like a handmade box kite to more challenging structures like a garden planter.
This book makes a truly great idea for a fun and useful holiday gift.
MORE ABOUT THE BOOK
New York Times Article
In October 2025, the New York Times published an interesting article by Lizzy Goodman entitled “Nick Offerman Woodworked His Way to Playing the President”
READ THE NYT ARTICLE
Appalachian Rocking Chair Class
In October three woodworkers each built their own six-slat ladder back Appalachian rocking chair during a challenging six-day hands-on class at Highland Woodworking led by Jeff Wyatt. The main focus of the class was on the use of hand tools, with emphasis on mastering the tapered mortise and tenon joint, learning steam-bending techniques to produce curved components and assembling the chair using hide glue.
Jeff will be back at Highland in February to teach another challenging hands-on class in which five students will each build a Windsor fan back chair.
Other upcoming classes at Highland include Fundamentals of Woodworking with Sabiha Mujtaba, Hand Tool Sharpening with Jim Dillon and Bowl Turning with Phil Colson.
SEE DETAILS ABOUT UPCOMING CLASSES AT HIGHLAND
Designing and Building My Last Shop
Michael Smith of Mountain Park, GA had a long career as a high school shop teacher. He knows a thing or two about woodworking shops.
Here is the fourth of a 10-part series he wrote for Wood News on designing and building what he calls "My Last Shop".
Listen to Splinters - Gary Rogowski's Podcast
Listen to Gary's latest chat from our education partner, the Northwest Woodworking Studio.
