Alan Turner's Woodworking Machine Basics

[Rob Bodenschatz]

I attended Alan's course on woodworking machine basics class yesterday at his Philadelphia Furniture Workshop. Wow, what a great shop and what a great course. I know a bunch of you were at the open house last week so I won't go into the details but all I'll say is, it must be a dream to work there. Lots of space, lots of iron, lots of natural light. Beautiful.

As far as the class went, it was everything I expected, and more. I've used a table saw before but this was my first experience with a jointer and planer. I really wanted to come out of this course with a basic knowledge of all three machines with an emphasis on safety. You know Alan so I'm sure you're not surprised to hear he absolutely delivered on that. Alan covered a lot of stuff in the 7 1/2 hours. From wood characteristics to shop safety to measuring and layout, he patiently answered all of our newbie questions at a level we could all understand. We learned tips and tricks on how to get these machines to behave how we want them, and what jigs to use to operate them more safely. We learned about what the machines can do, and where to get good hardwood. Alan let us practice on the machines, keeping a vigilant eye on what we were doing, offering advice along the way. There was a ton of great information in a short timeframe.

I am very glad to have taken this course and I'd recommend it to any beginner-level woodworker.

[John Stevens]

I took Alan's course on hand tools before he opened his new shop. It was an outstanding class that I'd recommend to any woodworker who wants to avoid wasting time and money in learning how to choose and use hand tools. No doubt the class is even better if taught in Alan's shop.

[Jim Becker]

'Glad you enjoyed the course, Rob. Sometimes being shown how to use a tool effectively makes for a lot of satisfaction in your own shop a lot quicker!

[Dave Anderson NH]

I've not taken a course with Alan, so I can't comment on his teaching ability.:D :rolleyes: For those of you who don't know Alan or me, that's an inside joke since Alan is a very good friend of mine and I can't miss a chance to bust 'em a little. He is a fine woodworker with many years of teaching experience.

Now that the joking is out of the way, it's time for seriousness. My woodworking skills and ability to use both hand and power tools languished statically for several years without any real advancement as I tried to learn from books, Norm, and the occasional woodworking show. Once I joined our NH guild and had the opportunity to interact with other woodworkers and take some classes, my skills advanced quickly. Nothing will allow you to learn quite so quickly and SAFELY as a class taken with someone who knows their subject. People learn best and any subject matter is retained best when a person can see a demo and then practice the technique with someone there to correct their mistakes.

[Alan Turner]

Thanks so much for the nice comments, esp. those of Rob, my student. All the students were great.

Based upon comments at the end, I will restructure the course slightly next time, but this is a course I will be teaching often since learning the safe basics of the primary stationary machines is a prelude to most else that is not purely neander based. It will be renamed to a "Foundation" course.