The Wood Workshop - Woodworking Courses

The courses are intended to be relaxed, happy and informal where you go at your own speed, there is no pressure or exam at the end, but I hope that you will complete your course with a sense of achievement and the desire and the skill to make more things from wood.

A basic tool kit and a dust coat will be provided for your use while you are with me and the course fee includes ear defenders that will be yours to keep at the end of the course.

Beginners

Project example: Bootjack

My aim is to give you the confidence and the knowledge to use basic hand tools and some of the more common power tools. This includes what to look for when you go shopping for tools, discuss the safe use of hand held power tools and also how to look after your tools, keeping them sharp and in a good usable state.

You will be able to pick from a list of projects before you arrive that I believe you can complete in 5 days or less so that you will go home with one of them and you can proudly say "I made that". (Don't worry if you finish early there will be other things to make and learn about.)

I cover the teaching of how to handle tools by getting you started on your project and, as you need to use a new piece of equipment, I show you how. This means that the instruction is fresh in your mind and you do the task there and then. There will only be a maximum of 4 at a time, this will mean that I will be available when you want help and advice.

Intermediate

You will ideally have done the beginner's course or have a good working knowledge of how to use hand tools and have used hand held power tools.

Project example: Coffe Table

The projects for you to pick from will be more complicated and will involve the use of the more sophisticated hand tools and hand held power tools and will include using some of the static power tools in the workshop. We will also be looking at buying timber with a visit to a local timber yard and making cutting lists and drawing plans.

The level of accuracy that is required to successfully complete the projects will be greater. There will still be a maximum of 4 per week so that I will be there to help when you need me.

The same timings as the beginners course will apply and you will find that I have run the beginners course and the intermediate course back to back so that if you want to you can do them both and have 2 weeks in the Lake District.

After this week I would hope that you will feel confident enough to tackle most of the woodworking projects that you will want to do and be able to buy wood with the confidence of knowing what you are talking about.

Advanced

To come on this course you will need to have done the beginners and the intermediate course and have used your skill at home on your own projects and be ready to take on something more difficult.

This time you pick the area of woodwork that you are interested in developing, it may be inlaying, cross banding, using burrs, making secret compartments or drawers. You may want to learn more about jigs and other devises to get more from your power tools and generally getting used to solving the problems that arise when you try to do something different. Or you may want to get some more experience using one type of machine, the lathe for example.

I will try to accommodate you in whatever aspect of woodwork that you want to pursue in this week. You will probably not be taking home a finished piece (this doesn't apply to the lathe, you will probably be taking home lots of different pieces) as the sort of projects you will now want to tackle will take far longer to complete than the ones you did on the basic and intermediate course, However the principle of inlaying a piece of burr into a small box will give you the knowledge to do it on bigger and better things.

This course is restricted to 3 so that I have more time to spend with each of you individually rather than as a group, as I am sure each one of you will want to do something different.

Course timings

The courses start at 9 o'clock on Monday morning. We will normally stop for tea at 10 o'clock (tea and coffee will be available whenever you want it but I like tea at 10) but that will not stop me talking as this is a good time to cover general information on woodworking and for you to ask questions of a more general nature. The same at lunch time and afternoon break.

There is a van that comes at lunch time where you can buy sandwiches, fruit and pies etc. We will finish the day at 5 o'clock. The rest of the week we will follow the same sort of timings although I am usually in the workshop by 8.30am and you will be able to get to your bench from then on. We will finish the week on Friday at 4 o'clock.

Richard and Margaret

Please visit www.woodworkshop.co.uk for more information and a booking form.