Fine Furniture Making

[Nathan Talbert]

There's a website called finefurnituremaking.com. Has anyone ever heard of this school? It's amzing actually. What do you more experienced woodworkers think of a school like this for a young person? Is it worth it?

[Joe Close]

There is a typo in the url. It should be finefurnituremaker.com

[Augusto Orosco]

There's a website called finefurnituremaking.com. Has anyone ever heard of this school? It's amzing actually. What do you more experienced woodworkers think of a school like this for a young person? Is it worth it?

I have no idea really, but some of the furniture looks very interesting (of course my opinion is worth squat given that I am by no means and "experienced woodworker".

What caught my eye was one of their links about hand tools (claims to contain unbiased reviews of hand tools). They mostly praise Lie Nielsen and Clifton tools, but they spell Lie-Nielsen incorrectly almost every single time ("Lee Nielson", "Lei Neilsen", "Lie Neilson", you name it). I think they got it right only two times out of maybe a dozen on mentions :rolleyes:

Not that Lie-Nielsen is easy to spell for me... I am always googling them to make sure I have it right.

[Sam Takeuchi]

Can you afford to go? 10 weeks course is £7,500 and a year course is 17,000 (that's about $25,000), and I guess living expense to top it off. If it was me, I would have to learn the hard way on my own. Can't cough up that sort of money...

I read the tool page, too, and I think contents were pretty decent, but writing was really bad.

P.S. Heh...out of many bad spellings, Nei Neilsen cracks me up.

[Jim Koepke]

Not that Lie-Nielsen is easy to spell for me... I am always googling them to make sure I have it right.


I have it bookmarked in a woodworking folder along the top of my browser. Quick look and it is right there.

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jim

[Bob Smalser]

Remember the traditional guild apprentice basically leaves school at age 15. The later "design" schools are largely hands-on and not academic.

His wood section is also rife with questionable statements as well as misspellings.

That doesn't mean he can't teach making high-end furniture however. His work has the look.

[Brian Ashton]

Over the many years that I was a professional furniture/cabinet maker I would say the best I have met never attended any schools of any kind. They were all driven by a passion for woodwork and as a result were self taught.

There is a mystique that often surrounds furniture making that the modern generation seems to think there is a need to attend classes to unlock the secrets of the by gone ages - which is completely false.

If you have a young one that seems to have a strong desire to chip away at wood I'd say the best thing is let them have as much access to tools as possible and let them develop their passion.

My story, in brief, is I started at 12 years old. After the first year the teachers allowed my to simply play with the tools and make what ever I wanted, unlike the other students that needed "baby sitting" I was simply absorbed by the woodwork and needed no "baby sitting" by the teachers. I think that's where the passion started because in the very beginning I didn't like woodwork but when I was allowed to explore and play the fire was ignited. 33 years later I'm still absorbed by woodwork and can't imagine life without it. The only difference now is I don't get paid anymore to make things - which has has caused that fire to flare up again.

[David Keller NC]

There's a website called finefurnituremaking.com. Has anyone ever heard of this school? It's amzing actually. What do you more experienced woodworkers think of a school like this for a young person? Is it worth it?

Nathan - David Savage (the owner of the site) has an international reputation in the field of one-off "modern" studio furniture design. He's regularly noted as an excellent teacher.

What I would say about "is it worth it" depends on your objective. If you intend to make furniture as a living, there are many really fine schools in the US (assuming you're in the US) that would be just as good and potentially a lot cheaper than living abroad. A few examples are Phil Lowe's school (The Furniture Insitute of Massachusetts), the North Bennet Street school in Boston, and the Center for Furniture Craftmanship in Maine.

If you're not intending to do this as a living, but still want instruction, I'd consider taking some courses from Marc Adam's school.

[David Gendron]

For $25,000.00, you can buy a lot of tools and lot of wood and do some mistaks but learn a lot on your own, espacialy with all the books, the internet and of course this forum! That's the route I decided to take a year ago and don't regret it!

[Keith Christopher]

He seemed very full of himself. And oddly enough the best woodworkers and woodworking instructors I know, I very humble. Just read Krenov or Maloof and you'll see what I mean. Opinionated but very humble regarding their craft. I tend to shy away from people who self advertise.

[Will Blick]

Is it worth it? Tough question.... some people think a $50k Rollex watch "is worth it"... Some think a $80k / yr university "is worth it", over a $20k university. It comes down to, whats your budget for this passion.

If the budget is tight, and a person has the ability and desire to self study, $25k goes a long way... with a min. of $22k going towards tools. While tools don't make the woodworker, not having tools is a handicap knowledge will not overcome...

OTOH, if the funds exist, I am sure it would be a worthwhile and enjoyable learning experience... Davids work is very unique.... if that type of work inspires you, that might be more reason to attend.

[Dewald van Lamp]

While tools don't make the woodworker, not having tools is a handicap knowledge will not overcome...

I should make this my siggy..!

:)

[Will Blick]

I should have been more careful with that statement, seems some will use it to justify the purchase of more tools... !!