The Port Townsend School of Woodworking is offering two 12-week intensives each year starting in 2012.
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Woodworking Foundation Course
Running each Winter and Fall this full time course focuses on developing the basic skills of woodworking through the extensive use of hand tools.
The course starts with traditional techniques for riving (splitting from the log) and shaping wood to make basic furniture. The course then switches to teaching and developing craftsmanship with hand tools - this section will be co-taught by Jim Tolpin (author of The New Traditional Woodworker). Students make a series of bench tools (straight edges, winding sticks, tool totes etc) which build and hone their skills.
The middle part of the focuses on teaching solid wood joinery through building a tool tote and a small side table with a draw. In the latter part of this section we introduce you to the use of stationary tools for stock preparation.
In the final five weeks of the course you will work on a project or projects. These projects should challenge you to continue to build your skills. Students who travel by air to take the course may choose to make a series of small easily transportable items like jewellry boxes, wooden hand planes or a small tool chest. More local students may choose to make a small dresser, wine cabinet or chair. The school staff will mentor you fully through each stage of your project.
This class is suitable for beginning woodworkers. The school has a full set of tools for each student but we encourage students to acquire and tune their own tools.
The current class cost is $6700
Schedule:
- January 7 - March 29, 2013
- September 30 - December 20, 2013
- January 6 - March 28, 2014
Scholarships are available to young people (17-29 years old) and to Veterans up to 35 years old.
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Furniture Making Intensive
Our Historic Preservation program teaches students the skills to complete historically correct, and energy efficient, exterior renovations and restorations on buildings at Fort Worden State Park. A natural extension of the School’s Furniture Making program is to start creating furniture for buildings at the Fort.
We will be offering a three month Furniture Making Intensive in the Fall of 2015. This course will focus on the skills and materials needed to make robust, well designed and well made solid wood furniture. In the final part of the course the students will work in teams to make furniture for houses, program spaces (meeting rooms) or hospitality areas at Fort Worden.
Our goal is to challenge students to design and make furniture that combines the practicalities of making furniture in small production runs with details, added through the use of hand tools, that show the traditional values of craftsmanship. The duration of the course also provides a time constraint so students will have to be timely and pragmatic during all phases of the creation of the new furniture.
This is not a class for beginning woodworkers - a graduate of the Foundation Course or somebody with similar skills would be a perfect candidate.
Schedule: This Furniture Making Intensive course is scheduled for Fall 2015
- September 28 to December 18, 2015
We hope to have Scholarships available to young people (17-29 years old) and to Veterans up to 35 years old.
