Woodworking FUNdamentals

In this two day class we will explore the basics of machine and hand tool woodworking through three simple, functional, and engaging projects. Each student will make a serving/cutting board, a decorative bowl, and a spoon which will introduce them to basic milling, turning, and knife work.

This class is perfect for beginners looking to dip their toes into woodworking and find their favorite way to work with wood. Whether you are looking to work with machines like jointers, planers, table saws, and lathes or if splitting and carving with gouges and a slöjd knife are more your style, we will do it all and more in this class!

For this project we will go over selecting and milling wood for a glue-up. We will go over the safe use of chop saws, jointers, planers, and table saws. We will touch on wood movement and grain direction as we prepare for glueing up our boards. Once the glue has dried, we will go over getting our boards to finished dimensions before shaping, sanding, and finishing them.

For this project students will be introduced to bowl turning. We will start with the preparation of the bowl blank and how to attach it to the headstock of the lathe using a lead screw in a chuck. Then students will be shown how to use a bowl gouge to create the silhouette and foot profile for the outside of their bowl. We will go over sanding and finishing before removing the bowl from the lead screw and fitting the chuck into the foot of the bowl to turn the inside of the dish. Once the bowl has been shaped, we will sand and paint, if desired, before finishing it.

For the spoon carving part of this class we will go over the splitting of green wood from a log and then start with shaping our blanks with our desired silhouettes. We will go over the use of a drawknife and shavehorse to remove excess material from our spoon blanks before using gouges and hook knives to hollow out the bowl of the spoon. Lastly we will go over the use of a slöjd knife to smooth the surface and finish shaping the spoons.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Woodworking School at Pine Croft, 1865 Big Hill Road, Berea, United States