Upcoming Handtool Woodworking Workshops

[willarda]

I have a couple of workshops coming up that I wanted you all to know about. The first one is at Woodcraft Store in Raleigh ; the others are at my shop (Edwards Mountain Woodworks).

Wallhung Shelf. Oct. 24-25.
This workshop is going to be conducted at the Woodcraft Store in Raleigh (919-781-1911, John Lord, program manager). We will make a two-shelf wall hung shelf (French cleat). All of the work in this workshop is with hand tools. All surfacing is done with smoothing and joining planes. The joinery (dado, rabbet) are cut with rabbet, shoulder and router planes. The back is beaded tongue and groove boards cut with a beading plane and a matched set of tongue and groove. The front edges of the shelves are shaped with a molding plane. The top of the cabinet has a crown molded pediment, which will be cut on a miter board. The wood will be poplar, and the project is meant to be finished with milk paint. Some experience with handtools is advisable, but the project is doable for a handtool beginner. Bring a sweat rag! I have attached a picture of the previous workshop on this subject.

Carving Cabriole Legs. Nov. 14-15.
Cabriole legs are the quintessential design element of Queen Ann and Chippendale furniture. Learn the techniques to design, layout and cut these elegant legs. We will also learn how to shape different foot styles, including pad, trifid and ball-and-claw, and to layout and carve sea-shell type decorative elements on the knees of these legs. The main focus of the workshop will be to make a simple cabriole leg and learn the shaping techniques and tools. We will take one leg to completion, but will also have three other blanks to rough out, suitable for a footstool, for example. For the more elaborate legs, we will focus on layout and design principles, and rough the leg out, but probably not finish it out in the workshop.

Advanced Dovetail Joinery. Nov. 21
This workshop is for those with previous experience in dovetailing (through and half blind). We will study a variety of examples of more elaborate dovetails, and work on laying out and cutting examples of these. Some of the dovetails include hounds tooth, mitered corner, blind miter, and carcase style dovetails. We will explore the types and the structure of dovetails; look at the various tools and jigs that are useful for these joints.

Advanced Mortise and Tenon Joinery. Nov. 22
This workshop is for those with previous experience in mortise and tenon joinery. Choose from through pinned or wedged, tusk tenon, mitered slip tenon, half lap tenon, coped rail and stile, etc. We will focus on two advanced joints, although we will study a number in detail.

Handcut Molding Techniques. Dec. 5-6
The focus of this workshop is to be able to make short lengths of moldings to apply decorative edging to workpieces using molding planes and specialty planes. These skills will allow you to reproduce any profiles you might desire, and to modify them to suit your purposes. We will look at deconstructing period moldings in order to determine how best to reproduce these. We will make molding with molding planes, block and rabbet planes, hollows and rounds, scratch stock or beading or hand routers, and also prepare stacked moldings. We will use miter shooting boards and boxes to learn how to make crowned molding on a cabinet.

I supply all of the tools necessary for the workshop, although participants are encouraged to bring their own tools. Lunch is provided (let me know about your dietary preferences!). There is also a comprehensive resource manual. The workshops have a materials fee that varies according to the wood used and the project. Workshop times are 9 am to 5 pm, although they often go a bit longer. Costs are $80 for one day and $160 for two day workshops. Discounts are available for members of TWA, MWTCA, EAIA, SAPFM, etc.