Rob Bodenschatz
03-19-2006, 6:40 PM
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.
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.