Want to start woodworking? Or you've already started and now have a bunch of questions. This set of courses is designed to build your knowledge and give you the confidence to explore further. The safe use of tools will be a major part of the classes - we have all our fingers and we want you to keep yours!
Most of these classes take place on weekends - we're trying out a couple of midweek classes in April.
Take the whole series or just the classes you need.
New Classes in April:
We'll be adding more classes later in the year.
Please feel free to let us know if there are classes you'd like to see us offering.
Introduction to Woodworking
An overview of woodworking concepts, techniques and tools. No experience? No problem!
This two-day class takes the mystery out of woodworking. In a mixture of presentations, demonstrations, hands-on sessions plus a couple of locals visits -- our goal in this class is to give you a solid background and good understanding of the practise of woodworking.
We introduce you to the principles and vocabulary of woodworking. This will help you understand books, videos, blogs and magazine articles. We explain wood as a material and you'll get to experience the differences between types of wood as you work with saws and planes. We also introduce you to the small hand power tools that are commonly used around the house and shop.
Day 1
- Introduction to Wood and Woodworking
- At the Lumberyard - includes a visit to Edensaw
- Visit to local woodworker's shop
Day 2
- Handtools - a quick introduction
- Wood as a material
- Joinery
- Hand Power tools
Class size: 15
Cost: $240
Working with Power Tools / Setting up a Workshop
A visit to a woodworking store can be overwhelming. Which tools do what, and which do it best? Which tools are necessary, and which are only window dressing? In this class we'll explore the basic operations of the small shop, and the machines that perform them. We'll discuss size, capacity, portability, quality and cost.
After addressing the tools, we'll look at what's actually involved in setting up a home shop, including planning for safety, work flow, sound mitigation and dust collection. Bring your own shop plans or dreams, and we'll brainstorm various designs and ideas.
Day 1
- Safety in the shop
- Working with Stationary Tools (tablesaws, jointers, planers etc)
- Working Small Power Tools (Circular saws, jigsaws, sanders, power planer, drills etc)
Day 2
- Setting up a Home Shop (Presentation)
- Setting up workstations
- Workflow in the shop
- Dust Collection
- Discussion
Class size: 15
Cost: $240
Basic Finishing
Are you finished with the finishing yet?
There are a myriad of different finishes out there. We’ll help you sort through the the options and how to apply the different finishes. We’ll cover the preparation of the wood surface prior to applying finish. You'll plane a flat surface on a board and sand a second board. - you'll get to compare how they finish.
We look at hand applied finishes - oil, varnishes, oil varnish mixtures, and the various polyurethane finishes. We’ll also introduce you to shellac finishes – primarily as a sealant but also as an introduction to building a thicker finish. The finishes we’ll work with are generally low toxicity and low VOC.
We’ll address safety during the finishing process and emphasize the management and safe disposal of finishing rags, solvents and old finishes.
Class size: 15
Cost: $120
Quick Machine Joinery
Woodworking machinery has come a long way since the industrial revolution. Using modern machines, the small shop woodworker can produce solid, accurate, and sophisticated joinery that would leave our ancestors breathless with envy.
This course teaches the basics of casework (the core of making cabinets) we show you how to use a biscuit joiner and pocket hole jig to quickly make boxes and face frames. We also explore dowelling, loose tenon joinery (using router jigs and the Festool Domino).
We'll show you how to use dovetailing jigs, dowelling jigs so that you can understand which will best for your projects.
You'll get to make a small (we do mean small) cabinet in the practical part of this class.
Class size: 10
Cost: $260
Materials Charge $25
Router Basics, Jigs and Fixtures
The router revolutionized home shop woodworking, providing a fast, accurate hand held tool system for shaping and profiling.
Got a new router or a router that has been lingering in its box? Bring it along and we'll check it out with you and show you how to tune it up. If you have some router bits bring them along too and we'll assess them and show you how to use them.
On the first day we'll teach you the correct (and safe) techniques for day to day routing. We'll go into depth on maintenance, bit selection, bit maintenance and sharpening (or when not to sharpen!). We'll demonstrate clamping, dust collection and how to use the basic attachments that come with most new routers.
On the second day of the course we'll cover how to extend the basic capabilities of the router through commercial and shop made jigs and fixtures.
We'll show you how to makes template for pattern routing. How to make a router compass - we'll compare this with some commercial jigs.
We'll show how to make jigs to cut consistent loose mortise and tenon joints - plus you'll leave the class with a basic morticing jig.
We'll demonstrate techniques for making matching sides of curved joints; how to make sliding dovetails using jigs; how to use the router to surface (flatten) large boards.
Finally we'll show you how to build and use a low cost router table.
If you have an easily portable jig or fixture that you don't fully understand; feel free to bring it along and we'll help you figure it out.
You'll need to bring safety gear - Ear defenders, Safety goggles or over glasses and a dust mask.
Class size: 10
Cost: $260
Materials Charge: $20
Handcut Dovetails
Handcut dovetails are considered the mark of a craftsman. In this two day class we'll introduce you to the techniques and sequences of steps to cut dovetails by hand.
In this class you'll learn:
- Make through and half blind dovetails
- How to layout out dovetails
- How to saw to a line
- How to sharpen and maintain a chisel
- How to pare and chop to a line with a chisel
- The art of fitting dovetails
- Build a small drawer
Learning sharpening is best done working on your own chisel - please bring a 1/2" chisel. Irwin (formerly Marples) blue handled chisels are very reasonable - about $13 from Woodcraft but also available locally at Edensaw.
Class size: 10
Cost: $260
Materials Charge: $20
Bookcase in a weekend
Learn some of the techniques of basic cabinetmaking by building a small solid wood bookcase (36" x 32" x 10") with a face frame and back panel. The bookcase is designed to be free standing.
This class brings together many of the elements taught in the earlier classes and adds the disciplines of project planning, assembly and glue ups. Great fun plus you get to go home with a bookcase!
Taught by John Marckworth
Class size: 10
Cost: $260
Materials Charge: $75
New: April Classes (In Progress)
Bending and Lamination Workshop (Wed-Thur)
In this mid week two day workshop we'll explore some of the techniques for bending and laminating wood.
When making any curved work, laying out the curves and creating the forms is a key part of the process. We'll look at the differences between forms for vacuum clamping (bagging), cold lamination and steam bending. We'll spend a good part of the first day making series of forms that we'll use create the bent pieces.
We'll discuss the properities of different woods that are key to how they respond to the bending process. We'll also look at the preparation of wood for bending or lamination and compare techniques for creating laminae on tablesaw and using a jointer / band saw combination.
On the second day we'll look at and experiment with steam bending, stack lamination, tapered lamination and coopering.
Please be sure to bring:
Prerequisites: Some experience with large power tools (bandsaws, tablesaws, jointers and planers) is useful. If you don't have that experience we'll pair you with another more experienced woodworker.
Class size: 15
Cost: $240
Materials Charge: $30
At the Lumberyard (Friday)
Going to the lumberyard for the first time can be challenging. What woods are available? What would work for your project. What sizes does it come in? Can it be milled to size?
We'll take you on a geography trip through the sources and processing of the various hardwoods, softwoods and exotics.
We'll teach you to work from your material list to assess how much raw lumber to buy - to guarantee you won't have to make a return trip. We'll show you how to work through a pallet, sort and assess boards. We talk about reading the grain and how boards can vary in colour and why, sometimes, it might be good to buy more than you need!
There is a large variety of sheet goods (plywood, MDF etc) available now - what's the difference? Which type or types would be best for your project. Again we'll help you through the maze of choices.
In conjunction with our good friends at Edensaw we'll give you a behind the scenes tour of their warehouses, milling operation and present you with the range of services they offer.
We meet at Edensaw at 9:00am.
You can find Edensaw at 211 Seton Road, Port Townsend, WA 98368 Map
What to bring:
You’ll need to bring a packed lunch and a beverage to this course.
You should bring a notebook and a pen or pencil. Feel free to bring a camera.
Dress warmly in layers - it can get chilly in the warehouse.
Class size: 15
Cost: $60 (We'll donate 25% of the class fee to the Edensaw Community Cancer Foundation)
Sharpening Workshop
Sharpening is an essential skill for any woodworker. Creating and maintaining sharp edges on your tools is key to accuracy and safety.
In this one-day work shop we'll teach you to sharpen chisels, planes blades, card scrapers or any straight bladed hand tool. We will not cover carving tools but we will cover curved blades like scrub plane blades and cambering smoothing plane blades.
We' ll teach you to sharpen using a combination of sandpaper and waterstones.
You should bring a plane blade, a one-inch chisel, a 1/4 inch chisel and a card scraper:
- The plane blade can be from an old plane or a new plane (bring the rest of the plane along).
- The chisels can be old chisels or a new chisels. If you are going to buy new chisels we recommend the Irwin Chisels (formerly the Marples blue handled chisels).
- The card scraper should not be too stiff - you should be able to bend it into a significant arc without undue strain. We recommend a 0.4mm card scraper; 0.6mm or thicker are too stiff. You can buy card scrapers at most hardware stores and lumberyards for around $6 each.
Sharpening gear:
- If you have waterstones (any or all of 1000, 4000 and 8000 grits) bring them along too.
- Plus if you have a sharpening jig bring that along too. If you are planning to be serious about sharpening we very strongly recommend buying the Lee Valley / Veritas Mk II Honing Jig
Cheat Sheet for graduates (password protected) - you get the password if you attend the course.
Class size: 12
Cost: $95
Materials Charge: $5
Setting up a workshop
Setting up a workshop is a demanding task. Planning the layout of your tools, benches and storage is layered on to making decisions about the size of the power supply, number of outlets and how to incorporate dust collection. Not to mention lighting, workflow and overall safety considerations.
If there is a workshop in your future or you're thinking about how to change the layout of your workshop? Then this is your forum.
Feel free to bring plans, pictures of your shop (in an album or on a thumb drive) and we'll review them with you. These sessions are a lot of fun - you'll not only get get ideas from the teachers but other students bring great ideas as well.
The day will look something like:
- Setting up a Home Shop (Presentation)
- Choosing a workbench
- Tool Storage
- Setting up workstations
- Workflow in the shop
- Dust Collection
- Discussion
Class size: 20
Cost: $75
