Introduction to wood working
In this course you shall be introduced to the basic wood working skills of marking out and cutting basic wood working joints.
We shall cover several key aspects of traditional hand cut Joinery, their applications and the tools required to make them. You will leave at the end of the day having made 4 basic wood working joints and shall have them to take home with you so you can simply just admire your handy work or use them for future reference. Whilst we shall be paying serious attention to tool safety and accuracy this course is designed with the beginner in mind to learn new skills in a relaxed environment.
I hear you say "What if I make a mistake? I'm not sure if I will be able to do it!"
And to this I say that any new skill requires practice and the more you practice the further you progress. I belive that starting out with a good understanding of the fundamental aspects of any given process is the key to laying the foundation on which to build your skills upon.
A wood worker will and should always strive for perfection and accuracy as I'll fitting Joinery can have a detrimental effect on the overall aesthetics and strength of a piece of furniture, however what is a mistake if not a opportunity to adapt and learn how to use the tools you have and how the timber behaves under them to rectify said mistake.as we will be keeping courses to small numbers of 2 to 4 people I shall be there to guide you and help you identify where common mistakes appear and the disciplines and processes involved with eliminating them.
What you will learn from the course
- We shall discuss the different joints and their applications and limitations.
- Safe use of tools including chisels, tenon saw, hand router and hand plane.
- Understanding the importance of sharp tools, recognising when they become dull and the impact that has on their accuracy and use.
- The importance of accurate marking using a square and marking knife.
- Dimensioning of stock, checking for square and rectifying and inaccuracies with a hand plane.
- Use of mortice gauges and marking gauges.
- Paring with a chisel.
- Cutting to a line using a hand saw accurately.
- The different types of hand saws and their uses.
- Using a hand router.
- Marking out half lap, dado joints and pegged mortice and tenon joints.
- And finally the cutting of these joints with the use of a tenon saw, chisel, mallet and router plane.
You will also learn to make a joint using dowel Joinery this will be the only exception to the prime focus on hand tool work as you shall be using a drill press and hand drill to create the holes and make your own dowels using a dowel jig.
Everything you need for the course will be supplied by us but you may want to bring a note pad!