These courses were developed to provide an introduction to the essential woodwokring skills. They provided two paths; either the two weekend courses – tool sharpening and maintenance and basic jointing, or the beginners four day course which covered similar ground. Following on from these you could extend your skills with the dovetailing weekend.
Back to woodwork courses.
Beginners Woodwork – Four day course
Four days, usually Friday – Monday
Many beginners to woodwork become frustrated because they lack the three essentials of the craft, really sharp tools, good technique and finally accuracy. This course is designed as an introduction to these essentials. You will learn how to get your planes and chisels exquisitely sharp, some basic woodworking techniques such as planing and sawing square and joint cutting, and in the process find out why precision is so critical. Once these elements are in place you can begin to enjoy the craft instead of struggling with the basics.
Tool sharpening and maintenance weekend.
This course expanded the sharpening element of the beginners four day course into a two day weekend. It dealt with the sharpening of edge tools such as chisels and planes, showng the different sharpening methods and media. It also went into detail on the fettling, adjustment and setting up of a bench plane.
Basic jointing weekend.
This course focused entirely on hand woodwork. We started by planing up rough sawn timber to dimension then went on to make a simple frame in four different woods and with four different joints, one at each corner. The emphasis was on establishing a discipline of care and accuracy in marking out and cutting.
Dovetailing weekend.
This course was an introduction to basic dovetailing. During the course we cut both through and lap dovetails both by hand and also using limited machine assistance. The aim was to show different ways of cutting the joint and also to develop the careful and accurate approach required to create the perfect dovetail.
