2011 Woodworking Classes
April
Hand Cutting Dovetails
The Epitome of Craftsmanship
Instructor: Ernie Conover Prerequisites: None. (DVD: Disk I & Disk II Recommended) Max Enrollment: 8 Price: $150 (includes all instruction time, materials & lunch) Date Offered: (Sunday) April 10, 2011
Hand cut dovetails are considered the epitome of craftsmanship because they can take forms and spacing impossible with a router. Many fear tackling dovetails, but they are really fun (even relaxing) to cut. After
taking this one day class, the ease at which you will be able to layout and cut dovetails will amaze you.
In this hands-on one day workshop, Ernie Conover will guide you through the pitfalls and tricks of creating through and half-blind dovetails. This will allow you to make carcasses, drawers and jewelry boxes that invite close inspection. Ernie believes that layout and technique are the keys to speed and efficiency so teaches you foolproof methods.
This class is now restricted to those also taking Handtool Joinery. If you are enrolling in Handtool Joinery please call our office to also get in this class.
Handtool Joinery
The equivalent of an old style European apprenticeship in one week.
Instructor: Ernie Conover & Scott Butler Prerequisites: Handplane Basics and Hand Cut Dovetails or equivalent experience (DVD:Disk I Recommended) Max Enrollment: 8 Price: $775 (includes all instruction time, materials & lunch) Date Offered: (Monday-Friday) April 11- 15, 2011
In this course you will learn authentic joinery from the time when furniture
was built to last. The good news is that this joinery is just just as
applicable today as it was in the 18th century. In Handtool Joinery
participants receive a thorough grounding in hand tools by making a
small cupboard out of walnut (measuring 12” wide x 31” high x 6” deep).
The cupboard has one drawer below the panel door. In the building
process you will learn to hand cut dovetails, mortise and tenons, grooves
and dadoes.
The proper use of hand planes will be demystified and these indispensable tools will be stalwart old friends by the time you leave for home. Carcass construction (the main body and drawer) is taught employing two types of dovetail joints, through and half-blind. Mortise and tenon joints will be employed in the face frame and haunched tenons in the panel door. The two shelves for the cabinet are adjustable via a time honored, all wood set of notched racks.
These construction details will give you complete familiarity and confidence in the back saw, bevel chisels and mortise chisels. This foundation course is a must for any aspiring woodworker. No prior experience is necessary but it is strongly recommended that participants attend the "Handplane Basics" and "Hand Cutting Dovetails" seminars being offered the weekend prior to the course.
View Tool List for this class.
Enroll in Handtool Joinery Now!
May
Basic Bowl Turning
Learn Face Plate Turning and come away with some nice bowls.
Instructor: Ernie Conover Prerequisites: None. (DVD: Disk I & Disk II Recommended) Max Enrollment: 8 Price: $350 (includes all instruction time, materials & lunch) Date Offered: (Saturday & Sunday) May 7 - 8, 2011
In this two day course you learn the fundamentals of face plate turning through
the turning of some green wood bowls and a dry wood platter . The course will explore lathes, tools,
techniques and wood. Starting off with an explanation of wood technology and how to
select the proper wood for bowls the group goes on to properly sharpen all of the face plate tools. You leave with the knowledge and ability to keep these tools
sharp for this is the biggest stumbling block to face plate proficiency. In the process of learning technique
you will turn a few open form bowls from nice hardwoods such as cherry and maple. View Tool List for Basic
Bowl Turning.
Skills learned
- Wood technology and the selection of proper wood
- Safe and proper chucking with both simple home made and commercial chucks
- Proper sharpening of all face plate tools
- Home made scrapers that out perform expensive commercial models.
- Proper turning techniques that yield fast and pleasing results
- Safety
- Proper sanding techniques
Enroll in Basic Bowl Turning Now!
Mastering Spindle Turning in Five Days
From bead and cove to cabriole legs.
Instructor: Ernie Conover & King Heiple Prerequisites: None. (DVD: Disk I & Disk II Recommended) Max Enrollment: 8 Price: $775 (includes all instruction time, materials & lunch) Date Offered: (Monday-Friday) May 9 - 13, 2011
This new course is aimed at those who want to master spindle
turning. In five days you get to really explore this medium in
depth, leaving with some nice projects and the knowledge to
tackle any spindle with speed and confidence.
Ernie Conover and King Heiple believe that complete control of the spindle gouge is the key to mastering spindle turning so this is the starting point. After learning how to sharpen this tool correctly (they never come from the factory correctly sharpened) you go on to gain complete control of this and all the other spindle turning tools. Here are some of the techniques you will learn in this course.
- Sharpening, how to do it quickly and efficiently and the ability to duplicate these results once home.
- Mastery of the spindle gouge.
- Why the roughing out gouge is a necessary tool.
- "Secrets" of the skew, its sharpening and making it your friend.
- The beading and parting tool and why you will reach for it often.
- Proficiency in beads and coves.
- Learning to duplicate with skill.
- Tapers, Ogees and Reveals
- Pommel, square to round with ease and crispness.
- Harmonics in spindle work, causes and control. (learning to manage by hand and tool control, as well >as with steady rests)
- Hollowing with the spindle gouge
- Spirals both closed and open.
- Sanding, hand and power.
- Handling curly and blistered woods with out chipping out.
- Chatter work
- Chucks, homemade and commercial.
Learning these skills entails turning a lot of projects, like:
- Windsor chair legs and stretchers. (From dry wood then riven green wood)
- Table legs.
- Rolling pin
- Knob and Pulls that set your furniture apart from the pack.
- Converging axis cabriole leg.
- Stemmed Goblet (Intro to hollowing)
- Candlesticks. (You have the option of doing spirals here)
- Boxes, lidded and un-lidded. (You will further explore hollowing and employ chatter work)
- Miniatures by turning a set of earrings.
You do a lot of turning in this week, always under the watchful eyes of Ernie and King. You have time to really practice newly learned skills thereby having them become habit. You leave with some really nice projects to wow the folks at home, but most importantly you will be able to tackle any spindle. View Tool List for this course.
Enroll in Mastering Spindle Turning in Five Days Now!
Fundamentals of Spindle Turning
Nothing dresses up a piece of furniture like a turning or two
Instructor: Ernie Conover Prerequisites: None; however, Sharpening DVD-I & DVD-II are suggested Max Enrollment: 8 Price: $350 (includes all instruction time, materials & lunch) Date Offered: (Saturday & Sunday) May 14 - 15, 2011
This is a hands-on course which
emphasizes turning furniture
parts with speed and
confidence. You will actually
turn a variety of common
furniture parts under the
tutelage of Ernie Conover, who
is author of the book and
companion video entitled
Turning for Furniture. The
course will begin with a primer
on spindle turning with special
attention on how to duplicate
parts quickly and easily. You will
learn furniture turning skills by
actually turning two different
chair stretchers, some Windsor
chair legs (dry and green), table
legs and grain matching knobs
that will really set your furniture
off from the pack. Ernie gives
frequent demonstrations of advanced techniques such as converging axis cabriole legs, hollow forms and
chatter work. Mixed with all this will be a plethora of tricks, such as how to make form scrapers, how to use
both a commercial and home made steady rest for long turning, power and hand sanding techniques, how
to finish in the lathe and a host of nifty chucks. A complete set of turning tools is available for rent at a fee of
$45. View Tool List for this class course.
Enroll in Fundamentals of Spindle Turning Now!
Bowls from A to Z
Everything you wanted to know about bowls but were afraid to ask
Instructor: Ernie Conover & King Heiple Prerequisites: None; however, Sharpening DVD-I & DVD-II are suggested Max Enrollment: 8 Price: $775 (includes all instruction time, materials & lunch) Date Offered: (Monday -Friday) May 16 - 20, 2011
Bowl turning is fun and easy and they make great gifts. This class is a based on Ernie Conover’s book Turn
a Bowl with Ernie Conover—Getting great results the first time around. Like the book the class covers all
aspects of bowl turning from tools, equipment and wood gathering, to the actual turning. Instructors Ernie
Conover and King Heiple share years of knowledge and experience.
You will learn how to turn dry and green wood as well as how to glue small blocks of wood together (often of contrasting colors) in a process called tiling. A variety of turning methods will be taught with both home made and commercial chucks. You will learn how to correctly sharpen your tools and how to keep them sharp once home. King and Ernie will also share many home made tools that they have devised such as how to build a bowl scraper for $20 that is better than commercial examples, how to build your own grinding jig for pennies, how to make a tool that judges wall thickness for no money at all and how to build you own depth gage from scrap wood.
Sanding to a mirror surface and application of a variety of finishes will be demystified. The class will explore a variety of interesting advanced techniques such as natural edge bowls, carving and texturing. Finally there will be a demonstration of pewter spinning by Ernie Conover. A complete set of turning tools is available for rental at a fee of $45 per course. View Tool List for this course.
Enroll in Bowls from A to Z Now!