Date/Time
Date(s) - 2022/05/01
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Location
U-Pick Hardwood Lumber
Categories
Fundamentals of Woodworking Class 2022
St Louis Woodworkers Guild
March 14, 2022
Instructors: Bill Schuchat and James Payne
A new class is will begin on May 1.
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 would be 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.
There appears to be sufficient interest to have both a Morning session (9 AM-12noon) and an Afternoon session (1 PM-4 PM). The first class at U-Pick Hardwoods will be a combined session and will begin at 10 AM.
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 a majority of the students have difficulty finishing the second project, we may extend the time for completion and have a final 11th class down the road.
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. 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; the second will be a Tool Chest. The skills you develop will apply to all the other furniture you may build in the future. You will be given an option to modify the Tool Chest design to make a night stand or small dresser, if you so choose.
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 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 $450 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.
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 every 2 weeks; 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. Learning how to do these tasks are valuable lessons that also apply to the use of power tools. In addition to being taught various skills, 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. You will also be shown how to use machinery in the guild’s shop to safely do some of the more tedious tasks such as sawing, jointing, and planing lumber.
The schedule for the 10 classes is as follows:
1 SUN 1-May Fundamentals 2022
2 SUN 29-May Fundamentals 2022
3 SAT 18-Jun Fundamentals 2022
4 SAT 10-Jul Fundamentals 2022
5 SAT 24-Jul Fundamentals 2022
6 SAT 7-Aug Fundamentals 2022
7 SUN 28-Aug Fundamentals 2022
8 SAT 10-Sep Fundamentals 2022
9 SUN 2-Oct Fundamentals 2022
10 SUN 23-Oct Fundamentals 2022
See this link for the Tool Lists (2 pages). Fundamentals Tool List
Bookings
This event is fully booked.