woodworking with handtools class

[Zahid Naqvi]

I have a bunch of vacation time coming up, and what better to do than hone some of my woodworking skills. I cohabit the Arkieland and as such am distanced from the civilized world in all directions. The closest big city is Dallas. So are their any shops or schools around Dallas which have one day classes on hand tool use. I have seen some at woodcraft, and really like the one by David Marks. Any other places I should be looking at.

[Ernie Hobbs]

If you are willing to travel to NC, you might want to check out www.hobbsfurniture.com (http://www.hobbsfurniture.com). In case you're wondering, this is my Dad's operation. I'm going to take the chest-of-drawers class in January because I want to brush up on my dovetail skills.

Ernie Hobbs
Madison, AL

[Teresa Jones]

If you can keep traveling south, Homestead Heritage in Elm Mott, Texas offers excellent classes in handtool use.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I second Teresa's Homestead Heritage (just north of Waco) recommendation, wonderful place. However, I don't think they have any one day classes.

Pam

[Zahid Naqvi]

I second Teresa's Homestead Heritage (just north of Waco) recommendation, wonderful place. However, I don't think they have any one day classes.

Pam

I have looked at the homestead website looks like an interesting site. They do have a one day class on basic handtool usage. How much of a drive is it from Dallas.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Zahid, its not even a hundred miles, all interstate.

[Teresa Jones]

Zahid,

The one day class they offer is NOT hands on. It is more a show and tell operation to get you to sign up for the more extensive classes. I don't know that I would make the trip for the one day class, but I highly recommend making the trip for the three day class. Cheap accommodations are available near by.

TJ

[Tom LaRussa]

I have a bunch of vacation time coming up, and what better to do than hone some of my woodworking skills. I cohabit the Arkieland and as such am distanced from the civilized world in all directions. The closest big city is Dallas. So are their any shops or schools around Dallas which have one day classes on hand tool use. I have seen some at woodcraft, and really like the one by David Marks. Any other places I should be looking at.
Zahid,

Here are a few things to try:

The Arkansas Arts Center Museum School has the largest, non-degree art instructional program in the state. The Museum School offers classes designed for art enthusiasts of every skill level - from those who have never exercised their creativity to seasoned veterans looking to expand their artistic horizons. The Museum School offers classes for children, teens and adults. Classes are offered on a quarterly basis with day, evening and weekend classes available to meet the demands of busy schedules.

Adult classes cover eight disciplines including:


Art Appreciation & Art History
Drawing
Jewelry
Painting
Photography
Pottery/Clay
Theatre
Woodworking
http://www.arkarts.com/museum_school/
This community college has some hand tool classes -- ask them about attending as a non-classified student.
National Park Community College All Rights Reserved.
101 College Drive, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, 71913
(501) 760-4222 or (800) 760-1825
http://www.npcc.edu/Academics/secondary_woodwork.htm


These folks teach some rather esoteric hand tool woodworking classes:
http://www.whiteriverartisans.com/

[Zahid Naqvi]

Here are a few things to try:


Tom you did a much better job of searching in my state than I could. Thanks, the Arts center is probably something I can manage.

[Wendell Wilkerson]

I've taken both the hands tools class offered by Woodcraft in Dallas and the one day class offered at Homestead Heritage. Both are good classes but they cover different material.
The Homestead class really only covers saws and chisels. Sharpening saws and chisels is only covered in a show and tell format. Planes are also introduced in a show and tell format. All of the hands-on part of the course is learning to layout, mark and cut dados, dovetails, and mortise and tenon joinery with saws and chisels. The layout part of this course is excellent and will help even if you plan to do a lot of this type of joinery with power tools.
The Woodcraft course at the Dallas store covered chisels, scrapers, planes, and saws. Sharpening and tuning tools is more of the focus in this course with some focus on layout marks and grain orientation in building. The goal of this course is to make a small saw vise to sharpen dovetail saws. First, you learn to sharpen a chisel on waterstones. You use the chisels to mortise some hinges for the jaws of the saw vise. Card scraper sharpening is next. The scraper are used to remove the layout marks on vise parts. Plane blade sharpening and plane fettling are after scrapers. After some planing exercises, the plane is used to chamfer part of saw vise jaws so that they'll close tightly. Once the saw vise is finished, sharpening a saw in rip profile is covered. After everyone sharpens their saw, the instructor goes through some sawing exercises. There was a lot of material to cover in one day, so you didn't get a lot of practice at any one thing.
Really, neither one of the classes is complete course in hand tools by itself. I am glad I took both courses.

Wendell