2 Day course
Saturday, December 6, 2008 to Sunday, December 7, 2008   
(Code:ET081206)

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Getting a smooth surface on a squirrelly piece of wood with a plane or paring a joint to a perfect fit with a chisel becomes easy with a razor sharp blade. Working with truly sharp tools marks the transition of woodworker to the next level of proficiency.

You can work with greater precision, greater safety and much less effort.

On the first day of the course we’ll teach you to sharpen. We'll teach you how to sharpen using locally available materials and a commercially available jig. We’ll cover the sandpaper and waterstone methods of sharpening.

We’ll also teach you to tune up a simple bench plane. We'll also teach you how to tune up a hand plane using your own planes (if the plane is in reasonable condition). You should be able to leave the class with a big handful of fine shavings.

On the second day of the course we'll review the different types of handplanes and how they are used in fine joinery. We'll set up a series of practice joints and shaped work pieces so that you can get to try out the different planes.

We’ll show you how to flatten and thickness a board using handplanes.

Having shaved with your chisel blade you need to learn how to use them correctly. We'll teach you how to pare and chop with a chisel.

Finally we'll show you how to sharpen and maintain the burr on a card scraper. The card scraper is that wondrously simple tool that lets you clean up tear out and other dings in the middle of a board. The material charge covers the cost of the scraper and abrasives used in the course.

Cost: $230
Material charge: $10

Starts at: 9:00 AM
Class size: 8

What to bring:
You should bring a notebook and a pen or pencil. Feel free to bring a camera along to record setups and jigs that we use.

Please bring the following tools / equipment:

• Bring a 1” chisel – preferably one that is not too battered. If you do not own a reasonable 1” chisel we recommend buying an Irwin Marples 1” blue handled chisel. These can be bought at Edensaw and many hardware stores.
• If you have a small block plane or a #4 smoothing plane or similar feel free to bring it along and you'll we can show you how to tune it up. With luck you'll be able to take a fully functioning plane home.
  
• Feel free to bring along any old or unusual handplanes along with you and we’ll help you assess them and (hopefully) be able to explain how it is used.