Woodworking schools

[Evon]

What are some of the better woodworking schools? I'm near retirement and would like to make furniture in my waning years.

[TWS]

Geez, if you are going from a job (no matter what it is - unless it's QA in a brothel) to woodworking how could you call it 'waning' years. Independent of what finish you intend to use I would definitely say it could be your 'waxing' years.

TWS

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Do you want a full time school that lasts for a semester or two, or do you want to take some classes that meet specific needs? How far are you willing to travel?

American Sycamore offers some very interesting classes.

've not been to any (yet) but have met Mike and his wife and I've seen that work they do. You spend the week there and take home a nice piece of furniture.

Some schools offer adult evening classes. They tend to be more basic and geared to the new woodworker. Some stores like Woodcraft offer evening or weekend classes.

[Todd Fatheree]

I've seen the Marc Adams school talked about here.

also have a pamplet here from American Sycamore and I just received in the mail information on Kelly Mehler's school have not attended any of them, but if I was so inclined, I'd probably check out the Marc Adams school.

todd

[Andy Dingley]

Better or more famous ? There's a lot of confusion over that.

How much do you know already ? A course with Krenov isn't going to be best appreciated if you're still working out which way the dovetail pins go.

How long have you got ? I'd like to go to North Bennet St (I just like Boston), but I don't think they do short courses.

What's "woodworking" ? Why assume this is furniture - maybe you've always fancied building a boat, or a guitar. There's a lot of variation, and many of the skills don't even overlap.

You can only talk about "woodworking" as a broad topic at either a pretty low level, or a very high "I want to know _everything_" one. For the first, then local, cheap and convenient is probably the major factor in a course, not studying under the greatest teacher ever -- and many of the best craftsman aren't the best teachers, or v.v.

If you don't know the difference between a joiner and a planer, then find a local course, evening classes or the like, where you can get hands-on with the machinery. Learn something, learn what the options are, learn the basics of benchwork so you can learn more quickly in the future, learn what you're interested in, learn what other makers are already producing or what historical techniques have been. Only _then_ take your pot of cash and blow it on the 3-month summer residence at the shack in Oregon.

A subscription to Fine Woodworking sounds like a good idea too. Read the small ads in the back for a whole range of courses.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

You bring up a good point here. You can attend the best school with the best teacher and walk away with nothing to show for it. Everyone learns at a different pace and getting the information from the brain to the hands can be difficult for some of us. Unless you have that flow going already take it slow, doing a step at a time.

[Ron]

North Bennet offers several workshops which range from 1 day to three months.

under workshops for the list of courses. They generally require that you take a fundamentals of fine woodworking introduction (10 days long) before taking some of the more advanced course. the three month intensive course includes this introduction but the next course which goes from the end of January to April already has a waiting list. The school has recently expanded its space and will be offering even more workshops in the future. I have taken several courses (and have signed up for the three month intensive) and found them to be very worthwhile. Quite a few fellow retirees have been in the classes.

[Andy Dingley]

Last year I did a short blacksmithing course with two of the UK's best known smiths. It was a great course, I enjoyed it a lot, but I'd have _learned_ more if I'd been starting from a higher level.

[Hock Tools]

For one-on-one personalized instruction, visit

and Harry are two of the most accomplished woodworkers I know and do an incredible job teaching you what you want to learn. Check it out.

Ron Hock

[J T]

Sat, Dec 4, 2004, 1:52pm (EST+5) [e-mail] (TWS) says: QA in a brothel)

I once applied for a job as test pilot for one. But they weren't hiring.

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