3/5
If you are an experienced woodworker, this place will be extremely frustrating. If you're a brand new woodworker, it will be an excellent place to learn.
The rules in the wood shop are onerous. When operating the router table, for example, you aren't allowed to raise or lower the bit (let alone change it). You need the shop tech to come over and move it for you. They are dogmatic about the number of inches your hand can be from a blade; I had my hand roughly 5 inches from the miter saw blade, and the shop tech came over and told me it needed to be to the lines on the saw (roughly 8").
At all moments I felt like I was being watched, and when you're operating a power tool, the last thing you need is your mind occupied with something other than your cut.
Again, if you're a beginner, this is an excellent space for you. Tools are high quality and well maintained.
Other reviewers have mentioned the orientation issues. They are staffed to the gills, and most of the time the woodworking techs are just sitting around or working on their own projects, but upon signing up, I couldn't get a wood shop orientation for nearly two weeks. And that orientation was $50, yet as I mentioned, something as basic as raising the router table bit was still permanently off limits.
You are also required to "book" your wood shop hours 24 hours in advance. If you've been woodworking a while, you know that sometimes you just need to bop in to mill an additional board, or do roundovers or sand a piece. But you can't do that - you need to book in advance, even while the shop is generally rather empty (there are often more wood shop staffers in the wood shop than members).
I get it. I came from a makerspace with arguably too few rules. People can get hurt or break equipment if they don't know what they're doing. But the rules here are too much. Teaching someone to use a router table means teaching them to raise and lower the bit on their own! There needs to be a Goldilocks solution, and Forge hasn't found it yet.
