Shaker Tray
With Megan Fitzpatrick
October 14 & 15, 2023
Shaker Tray
Make a classic Shaker silverware tray in this introduction to hand-cut dovetails and gentle curves. Continued below…
Class Description:
Make a classic Shaker silverware tray in this introduction to hand-cut dovetails and gentle curves.
In this two-day class, you’ll learn:
- Dovetail layout with dividers
- How to cut the joints, aiming to “fit off the saw”
- How to wield a coping or fret saw
- How to pare and chop to a line with a chisel
- Strategies for transferring the tails to the pin board
- Techniques for fitting the joint
- How to lay out then cut and fair the handles (both the hand holds and the curved top edge)
- How to smooth-plane your surfaces
- How to use cut nails (to secure the bottom board…if you wish – but there’s an argument for leaving it loose)
- And of course, how to put it all together (and why I recommend liquid hide glue).
Tool List:
- Cutting/Marking Gauge (FWIW, I prefer a wheel marking gauge, such as the Tite-Mark)
- Dividers (two pair if you have ‘em)
- Marking knife (Ideally, one that has one flat side, but any will do)
- Dovetail template/marking gauge or bevel gauge
- Dovetail saw
- Coping saw or fretsaw
- Bevel-edge chisels (ideally 1/4”, 3/8” – but bring whatever you have)
- Chisel Mallet
- Rasp (11 or 13-grain)
- Files and/or sandpaper (#80 through #180-grit)
- Spokeshave (optional)
- Block plane
- Smooth plane
- Double square (a.k.a. diemaker’s square or machinist’s square) or 6” square
0.5mm mechanical pencil (yes, really – a 0.5!)
Lunches provided.
(…..and bring that 0.5mm pencil)
Poynor Side Chair
With Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland
February 26 - March 2, 2024
$1,675
Poynor Side Chair
During this six day class students will build a traditional ladderback side chair based on the iconic chairs of Richard Poynor and his family. Parts will be split from a freshly felled log, shaped using drawknives and spokeshaves, and joined through a combination of traditional and modern techniques. Throughout this process students will gain in depth, hands-on experience understanding and working with wood’s natural structure and movement to maximize its strength and flexibility, and will gain perspective on designing and building objects without the need for straight, flat, or square reference surfaces. While most work will be done using a small set of hand tools, Robell and Charlie will discuss options for working with floor standing power tools, and demonstrate processes for using standard, kiln dried lumber for times when whole logs are either unavailable or impractical. Seat weaving with paper cord will be demonstrated at the end of class, and students are welcome to bring their own weaving material, but we prefer to focus on the core skills, techniques, and tools of chair construction while in class together. No previous experience is necessary, students of all skill levels are encouraged to join us. Continued below…
Class Description:
During this six day class students will build a traditional ladderback side chair based on the iconic chairs of Richard Poynor and his family. Parts will be split from a freshly felled log, shaped using drawknives and spokeshaves, and joined through a combination of traditional and modern techniques. Throughout this process students will gain in depth, hands-on experience understanding and working with wood’s natural structure and movement to maximize its strength and flexibility, and will gain perspective on designing and building objects without the need for straight, flat, or square reference surfaces. While most work will be done using a small set of hand tools, Robell and Charlie will discuss options for working with floor standing power tools, and demonstrate processes for using standard, kiln dried lumber for times when whole logs are either unavailable or impractical. Seat weaving with paper cord will be demonstrated at the end of class, and students are welcome to bring their own weaving material, but we prefer to focus on the core skills, techniques, and tools of chair construction while in class together. No previous experience is necessary, students of all skill levels are encouraged to join us.
Tool List:
All tools will be provided for students during the course. If you do have tools of your own that you would like to bring, please see the list below. And if you are interested in purchasing your own, we encourage you to come to the class, try what is available there, and discuss options throughout the week.
Personal Tool List:
- Drawknife
- Spokeshaves (metal bodied, flat and round bottom)
- Folding rule with extension
- Handsaw
- 3/16” mortise chisel
- Card scraper
- Handsaw
- Eye protection
- Ear protection
- Grippy gloves
- Pencils/pens
Lunches provided.
Dovetailed Candle Box
With Kelly Mehler
Dates Pending
$525
Dovetailed Candle Box
Candle boxes are simple, eye-catching, and useful. You can easily incorporate this box into many household uses. With only six parts, you will fully construct and finish this project during this two day class. The candle box is a great project for incorporating a variety of woodworking skills. The box displays bookmatched parts, hand-cut dovetails, and a hinged top. The skills that you learn while making this project will be used again and again in other projects large and small. Continued below…
Class Description:
Candle boxes are simple, eye-catching, and useful. You can easily incorporate this box into many household uses. With only six parts, you will fully construct and finish this project during this two day class. The candle box is a great project for incorporating a variety of woodworking skills. The box displays bookmatched parts, hand-cut dovetails, and a hinged top. The skills that you learn while making this project will be used again and again in other projects large and small.
The materials, including the hardware, will be provided for you.
You will learn to:
- re-saw the rough pieces from a block of wood to obtain a beautiful wood match.
- layout through-dovetails.
- hand saw and chisel dovetails.
- cut and fit the dovetails.
- install hinges.
By the end of the class sessions you will gain helpful foundational skills to reinforce your woodworking repertoire.
Tool List:
Tools and supplies to bring IF you have them: (There will be extra tools on hand for you to try or use and can recommend sources if you need help.)
- Dovetail saw
- Dovetail marker or a bevel gauge
- Cutting Gauge (The wheel type work the best.)
- Dead Blow Hammer (12-16 oz) NOT a rubber mallet
- 2” or 3” steel square
- 6” or smaller combination square
- Tape measure (smaller is better)
- Pencils
- 6” Rule
- Mallet for striking chisels (A round carver’s type works well.)
- Sharp basic chisel set (We are set up for some sharpening.)
- Safety Gear: safety glasses, dust mask, hearing protection
All power tools and consumable supplies will be supplied.
Lunches provided.
People Collection Stools
With Rob Spiece and Katie Bister
Spring 2025
$625
People Stools
The People Collection Stools are made in the Student Craft woodshop by its staff of students. Berea College is one of about 10 work colleges in the country. Students get free tuition to attend, but commit to working 10 hours per week somewhere on campus to offset tuition costs.
The process of making these stools is designed for production. Shop made jigs and fixtures allow us to produce multiples. We’ll usually try to make 30 per production run. We are by no means a furniture factory, but we do aim to be efficient to keep costs down. Continued below…
Class Description:
The People Collection Stools are made in the Student Craft woodshop by its staff of students. Berea College is one of about 10 work colleges in the country. Students get free tuition to attend, but commit to working 10 hours per week somewhere on campus to offset tuition costs.
The process of making these stools is designed for production. Shop made jigs and fixtures allow us to produce multiples. We’ll usually try to make 30 per production run. We are by no means a furniture factory, but we do aim to be efficient to keep costs down.
You probably won’t operate your home shop as a factory either, but I think you’ll appreciate the efficiency of this approach—and I think it will impact your productivity at home. The act of woodworking is as much, if not more, about developing a process as it is about putting a tool to a piece of wood.
There are many ways to accomplish any of the tasks we’ll be working on through the weekend. I encourage you to inquire about different ways to make tenons, or drill mortises, or shape seats. We can look at these methods as a class and take the path that suits us.
To get a sense of this production mode, over three days we’ll each make two stools. You can see how we make ours and determine how to adapt that process to your home shop.
We’ll use tools that are common to the home shop: Routers, the tablesaw, the band saw, the drill press and the lathe all play a part along the way.
Lunches provided.
Erik Curtis
Box Making
August 7 – 11, 2023
$1,575
Course description: Everything is a box. Really. Look around. Kitchen cabinets? Simple boxes. Built-in library? Boxes with an open side. Chest of drawers? Small boxes in a big box. Everything is a box. And still the box has not yet been fully explored.
In this class we will cover the basics of box design, from proportioning a simple lidded box to the tactile experience of the end user, as well as a variety of techniques used to create boxes of all shapes and sizes. Techniques may include dovetails, pinned rabbets, carving, steam bending, laminating, hand tool sharpening, hardware installation, and more. Students will be introduced to a variety of forms for inspiration, experience a guided design process, and be tasked with building a box of their own design using a combination of machine and hand tool techniques. Where you take your box is entirely up to you! Whether you are new to box making or a seasoned woodworker, this class will help you to break free of simple cubical forms–to think outside the box, as it were.
Suggest Tool List:
- A good set of chisels
- mallet
- hand plane
- block plane
- handful of carving gouges (if desired)
- combo square
- marking knife
- marking/slicing gauge
Lunches provided.
Foundations of Furniture Making
Rob Spiece
August 21 – 26, 2023
$1,675
Foundations in Furniture Making
In this course, we’ll dive deeply into the techniques and fundamentals of solid wood furniture making. We’ll use all the tooling available in the modern home shop and the hand tools that have been used in woodworking forever. I don’t ascribe much to the concept of being a “hand tool woodworker” or a “power tool woodworker”. I’ll use the best option at hand to produce the finished results I’m looking for. The reality is those decisions are often made by what tooling is available to you – or sometimes the mood that strikes you. You’ll be working in a well-equipped shop, but we won’t rely on high priced equipment exclusively. There are many ways to cut a mortise – we’ll take you through the process of laying out and chopping by hand, using a plunge router, a mortiser, a drill press, and a domino. It’s my goal that when you leave this course, you can adapt what you’ve learned to your own shop. We’ll spend a lot of time on the table saw, with routers, jointers & planers, an array of hand-held power tools and then we’ll fine tune joinery at the bench with hand tools.
From Scratch
No parts will be prepped for you in this course. We’ll begin with rough sawn material and finish with a completed piece of furniture. Learning the craft of woodworking is far more than fancy tools and techniques. A deep knowledge of the material is at the core of this class. Hundreds of decisions are made throughout the initial phases of material selection and milling that have a direct impact on the finished quality of the work and you won’t miss out on any of it. You’ll start the week with a pile of rough sawn boards and end it with a piece ready for finish.
Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced
Whether you are an absolute beginner or even an advanced woodworker, you’ll leave this course with a renewed sense of ability and inspiration. For those just starting, you can learn how to safely and efficiently operate woodworking machinery and design furniture built upon traditional joinery techniques. For advanced woodworkers, a week spent with a professional furniture maker will boost your efficiency, productivity, and bag of tricks – allowing you to make a greater impact in the limited time you may have in your home shops. There will be plenty of one-on-one time in this course, and we’re happy to tailor the experience to you.
The Project
The project pictured is a Shaker-inspired riff on the hall table. While we’ll all be working on a hall table, the design is up to you. We’ll give you several options, but I’ll also encourage you to bring some of yourself to the table. We’ll discuss what makes a successful design and why, then help you to realize your own ideas. This project is an ideal piece for a thorough grounding in furniture making techniques.
Required:
- Safety glasses
- Hearing protection
- Tape measure
- Sharpie
- Pencils
Optional:
- Shoulder/rabbet plane
- Block plane
- 3/8, ½ chisels
- Random orbit sander
Lunches provided.
Foundations of Furniture Making
With Rob Spiece
March 25 - March 30, 2024
$1,475
Foundations of Furniture Making
In this course, we’ll dive deeply into the techniques and fundamentals of solid wood furniture making. We’ll use all the tooling available in the modern home shop and the hand tools that have been used in woodworking forever. I don’t ascribe much to the concept of being a “hand tool woodworker” or a “power tool woodworker”. I’ll use the best option at hand to produce the finished results I’m looking for. The reality is those decisions are often made by what tooling is available to you – or sometimes the mood that strikes you. You’ll be working in a well-equipped shop, but we won’t rely on high priced equipment exclusively. There are many ways to cut a mortise – we’ll take you through the process of laying out and chopping by hand, using a plunge router, a mortiser, a drill press, and a domino. It’s my goal that when you leave this course, you can adapt what you’ve learned to your own shop. We’ll spend a lot of time on the table saw, with routers, jointers & planers, an array of hand-held power tools and then we’ll fine tune joinery at the bench with hand tools. Continued below…
Foundations in Furniture Making
In this course, we’ll dive deeply into the techniques and fundamentals of solid wood furniture making. We’ll use all the tooling available in the modern home shop and the hand tools that have been used in woodworking forever. I don’t ascribe much to the concept of being a “hand tool woodworker” or a “power tool woodworker”. I’ll use the best option at hand to produce the finished results I’m looking for. The reality is those decisions are often made by what tooling is available to you – or sometimes the mood that strikes you. You’ll be working in a well-equipped shop, but we won’t rely on high priced equipment exclusively. There are many ways to cut a mortise – we’ll take you through the process of laying out and chopping by hand, using a plunge router, a mortiser, a drill press, and a domino. It’s my goal that when you leave this course, you can adapt what you’ve learned to your own shop. We’ll spend a lot of time on the table saw, with routers, jointers & planers, an array of hand-held power tools and then we’ll fine tune joinery at the bench with hand tools.
From Scratch
No parts will be prepped for you in this course. We’ll begin with rough sawn material and finish with a completed piece of furniture. Learning the craft of woodworking is far more than fancy tools and techniques. A deep knowledge of the material is at the core of this class. Hundreds of decisions are made throughout the initial phases of material selection and milling that have a direct impact on the finished quality of the work and you won’t miss out on any of it. You’ll start the week with a pile of rough sawn boards and end it with a piece ready for finish.
Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced
Whether you are an absolute beginner or even an advanced woodworker, you’ll leave this course with a renewed sense of ability and inspiration. For those just starting, you can learn how to safely and efficiently operate woodworking machinery and design furniture built upon traditional joinery techniques. For advanced woodworkers, a week spent with a professional furniture maker will boost your efficiency, productivity, and bag of tricks – allowing you to make a greater impact in the limited time you may have in your home shops. There will be plenty of one-on-one time in this course, and we’re happy to tailor the experience to you.
The Project
The project pictured is a Shaker-inspired riff on the hall table. While we’ll all be working on a hall table, the design is up to you. We’ll give you several options, but I’ll also encourage you to bring some of yourself to the table. We’ll discuss what makes a successful design and why, then help you to realize your own ideas. This project is an ideal piece for a thorough grounding in furniture making techniques.
Required:
- Safety glasses
- Hearing protection
- Tape measure
- Sharpie
- Pencils
Optional:
- Shoulder/rabbet plane
- Block plane
- 3/8, ½ chisels
- Random orbit sander
All Lunches Provided at Pine Croft
Tambour Tea Cabinet
With Larissa Huff
Dates Pending
$1,675
Tambour Tea Cabinet
In this weeklong class, we will dive into cabinetmaking and demystifying tambour doors.
Students will learn the specific techniques necessary for designing a cabinet with tambour
doors. Continued below…
Class Description:
In this weeklong class, we will dive into cabinetmaking and demystifying tambour doors.
Students will learn the specific techniques necessary for designing a cabinet with tambour
doors. We will tackle carcase joinery, create the track, assemble solid wood tambours, make
jigs, install interior walls to allow for storage, and learn tactics necessary make it all come
together. Each student will craft their own wall-hanging cabinet ready to store tea (or anything
else)! This class will be jam packed with strategies and tricks so you can include these
satisfying sliding doors into your future projects.
All lunches are provided at Pine Croft.
*Dawson’s coming for a second session of utensil carving after the first class filled. We hope you’ll join Dawson in Berea, KY for three days of carving.
Dates: June 20, 21, & 22, 2023
Instructor: Dawson Moore
Cost: $485
Class Description:
This class is oriented to beginner and intermediate carvers. We’ll make sure everyone gets comfortable with the basic knife grips while also having time to explore more advanced approaches to carving like steam bending blanks and using a spoon mule. Similar to a shavehorse, a spoon mule is a foot powered clamping device that frees both hands to use powerful and efficient tools like drawknives, long-handled hook knives, and spokeshaves. Spoon mules can help relieve some of the strains of typical hand carving, and can also add speed and efficiency to your work. We’ll be learning drawknife carving techniques on both shavehorses and spoon mules. We’ll work through successive projects building skills at each stage. We’ll move from practice sticks to butter spreaders, spatulas, and finally to spoons. Time and skill level permitting, there will be opportunity to also work on chopsticks and forks.
In this class we will:
- Work with green wood fresh from a log
- Focus on gaining proficiency with a drawknife and Sloyd knife
- Get to try spokeshaves and hook knives at the spoon mule
- Learn how to read wood grain and understand its effects on how our tools engage with it
- Discuss wood species suitable for spoon carving
- Discuss spoon & utensil design
- Watch and discuss how to sharpen a drawknife & other tools
- Discuss various finish options for completed utensils
- Watch a steam bending demo and get to perform a bend
- Carve several utensils, potentially including a full eating set, dependant on skill level
Tool List: The instructor will be providing all needed tools for this class. They will be sharp and of professional quality. In addition, students are welcome to bring their own tools whether for personal use or just to learn more about them.
Provided by Instructor:
- Sloyd Carving Knives
- Hook Knives
- Drawknives
- Spokeshaves
- Spoon Mules
- Shaving Horses
- Utensil Templates
- Sharpies/Pencils
