If you were going to take a beginners class???

[Jeff B Bennett]

Jeff, if you get in send me a PM and I’ll have you over for dinner one evening of your stay here. Good luck!

Well that’s an incredibly kind offer. Thank you.

[Mike Henderson]

When I started woodworking I took classes at my local community college. That was excellent because a class lasted the whole semester which gave you a lot more in-classroom and shop time. Also, they had a lot of different classes. There was the basic intro, advanced woodworking, hand tools, lathe turning, finishing, veneer, and classes targeted at a specific type of furniture - for example, there was a chair class. The instructors were very knowledgeable and helpful on an individual basis.

The problem with most of the classes that have been recommended is that they're too short.

I eventually learned a bit and went on to teach one-day classes in specific things, such as dovetails, box making, veneer, and carving. But I always wondered how many of the people who took my classes went on to use the skills I taught. When a student had problems, I'd do the task for him/her. There just wasn't time to work with that one student to help him/her master the technique. When you have a semester, and multiple hours of shop time, the student has time to work on their problems and master the technique.

It was also pretty inexpensive, especially compared to what you'll pay for those short courses.

Anyway, if there's a community college near you, look into it for woodworking classes.

Mike

[Here's a link to Cerritos College where I took classes. You can see the kind of things being taught.]

[Jeff B Bennett]

Not sure any of the schools here do any continuing Ed classes like that anymore. University of Memphis used to have an extensive program of that kind of stuff. It wasn’t semester length but they were multi week deals once a twice a week. I did both a photography class and a kayaking class 20+ years ago. I think ultimately they weren’t profitable and they channeled all those resources into non credit classes for business and technical certifications. Really a shame because they were a huge asset to the community.

[Megan Fitzpatrick]

Megan I'm on the waitlist!!! Know anybody that could pull strings and get me in? :-)

Ha. I might know someone...but I'm limited by the # of benches! There is one slot remaining in my class in Berea, I believe: https://pinecroftwoodschool.com/dutch-tool-chest/

[Edwin Santos]

I'd like to put in a pitch for Southwest School of Woodworking in Phoenix, in case travel to Arizona (especially in the winter months) might be of interest.

It's a much more intimate setting than the Marc Adams school and the classes cover a variety of skill levels from basic fundamentals to master classes with visiting teachers like Michael Fortune.

Have a look: https://sw-sw.org/

[Mark e Kessler]

Not sure what to recommend school/class wise but would be good to find a series of classes where you start with the basics of hand tools their use, setup and maintenance, then “graduating” to a small project that uses those tools like a mallet before moving on to a larger project involving machines. Or some sort of hybrid of this.

Of course this may be way more involved/commitment than what you are looking for but just something to consider when you are deciding.
to me when starting out it is uber important to learn the basic fundamentals of hand tools then move on to powertools, by no means am I saying one should be an expert or even proficient with hand tools.

I actually started out slightly backwards, I was enrolled in regular college classes after high school however for reasons I won’t disclose I lost all of my books on a Saturday night out with the boys instead of buying new books I transferred to all woodworking classes. These classes were more like - here is a project build it, instructor walked you through it and you used the tools they had…shaker step stool, hepplewhite side table…. But then found an advert in FWW for a school on the East Coast.

This is where my recommendation comes in, our first 6 months was all hand tools, design ect (there was also metalworking), our first project had to have a certain number of joinery features, we were given the rough lumber we spec’d for our design and an instructor checked your work along the way if you screwed up they resisted in giving you more wood, you were challenged to make it work by modifying the design or whatever.

Again this could be extreme and by no means would expect everyone to progress this way, there are PLENTY of woodworkers that did not take this path and are incredibly skilled at what they do but it did have (still does) lasting impressions on my work…

[Wayne Cannon]

Don't rule out classes taught at Woodcraft, Rockler, etc., stores.

Be selective. Talk to their staff about the instructors.

Our local store, for example, had Alan Batty teaching a great thread chasing class with lots of personal hands-on attention from him. I've learned a lot about woodturning (a great local commercial turner and instructor), sawing to a line, and hand planes for squaring, dimensioning, and smoothng from these local classes.

Some local instructors teach numerous classes on a variety of topics. I've been less impressed with some (not all) classes by such instructors.

What's missing is an overall syllabus for a recommended sequence of classes toward a goal.

Before they closed, the local Woodcraft also sponsored a woodcarving club which had many talented carvers willing to spend time teaching beginners (me) one-on-one solely for the kove of carving.