Fundamentals of Woodworking Class 2024
St Louis Woodworkers Guild
June 30, 2024
Instructors: Bill Schuchat, Bob Danner and Phil Morton
A new class is will begin on June 30, 2024. The Guild Safety Class is a prerequisite for this class. If you are not familiar with the power tools in the Guild Shop, you should take the “Beginners Woodworking Class” prior to this class. The next Beginners class is scheduled May 26.
You may be interested in this class simply by the title even though you do not know what the Fundamentals of Woodworking are. So before you begin, let me explain what this class will be. It will present information on wood characteristics, joinery, and tools and will lead you through two projects that sequentially build upon one another. We will begin by teaching how to sharpen tools and by machining a board “four square” so that you have reference surfaces to work from. Without reference surfaces, making pieces that will fit together to make a project difficult at best.
Some of you will be fast learners; others will experience more frustrations. Practice, practice, practice will become the watchword of the day. Woodworking skills develop over time and you will learn to be patient with yourself. Your instructor(s) will work with you to overcome your frustrations including extra sessions outside the structured class times if you want.
The classes will run from 12:30 PM until 3:30 PM. The first class will be at U-Pick Hardwoods. Subsequent classes will be at the Guild Shop in Faust Park.
What follows is some information that you may not be aware of that you should consider:
1. The class fee is $300, non-refundable. The class will run for 10 sessions. If students have difficulty finishing the second project by the end of class 10, we may extend the time for completion and the instructors will be available during Open Shop times to assist you in completing your project.
2. The first class will be at U-Pick Hardwood where you will learn about buying hardwood, some basics of reading plans and how to translate that into purchasing wood. You will be given an opportunity to try out two types of dovetail saws so you can decide which type to buy. Another tool that you need to buy is a mallet; there are a variety of styles in our shop; find one that feels comfortable to you. You will need to buy your tools and to buy wood for the first project before the second class.
3. The first project will be a Tool Tote. For the second project, you will build a Shaker table with tapered legs (shown in the Featured Image below). The skills you develop will apply to any the other furniture you may build in the future. You will be given an option to provide a design of your own choosing that is comparable in complexity to the table.
4. The second class will teach you how to sharpen tools and will include the first steps of creating your Tool Tote.
5. You will be expected to buy tools if you do not have them that will be needed for the class. The tool list is attached and can be a significant expense. The list is actually two lists: A Quality Tool list which totals approximately $500 of tools and an Economical Tool list which totals about one-third of that amount. See the link at the bottom of this post. So if you are sure that you are serious about woodworking, the Quality list will be the right one for you. Alternately, if you are not so sure, you may want to go with the Economical list and upgrade later if you decide woodworking is right for you. Of course, you can also buy a mix of tools from the two lists.
6. You will also have to pay for wood for your projects. This can vary depending on which woods you select, but may total several hundred dollars.
7. This class will be approximately twice per month for project one and approximately once every 3 or 4 weeks for the second project; see the exact schedule below. You will be expected to do homework and keep up with the schedule.
8. The emphasis of the class will be on developing craftsmanship that applies to both the use of hand tools and power tools. You will develop your woodworking skills by learning “hand skills” such as cutting dovetails and cutting mortise & tenon joints. You will also learn to make these joints with power tools. You will be furnished a text book, “Woodworking Basics” by Peter Korn, but the class sequence will vary from the order of chapters in the book. Learning how to make dovetails and mortise/tenon joints by hand are valuable lessons that also apply to the use of power tools. In addition to the text, you will be given handouts for the various techniques that you will be shown and YouTube links where you will be able to see, at home, other experienced woodworkers doing these tasks proficiently.
The schedule for the 10 classes is as follows:
Lesson
1 6/30/2024 Fundamentals 2024B1@Upick
2 7/14/2024 Fundamentals 2024B2 Sharpen-Square Up
3 7/28/2024 Fundamentals 2024B3 Saw Dovetails
4 8/11/2024 Fundamentals 2024B4 Dovetail Waste
5 8/25/2024 Fundamentals 2024B5 Dado & Rabbet
6 9/8/2024 Fundamentals 2024B6 Mortise
7 9/29/2024 Fundamentals 204AB7 Tenon
8 10/17/2024 Fundamentals 2024B8 Half Blind
9 11/10/2024 Fundamentals 2024B9 Finishing
10 12/8/2024 Fundamentals 2024B10 Design Issues
Bookings
Registrations are closed for this event.