Sawdust on the Floor

From the number of woodworking articles, magazines and blogs, including this one, that feature articles about the nuances of woodworking, it is very obvious that there is a great desire for continuing woodworking education.

In my woodworking life, I have been fortunate enough to have been able to take a weekend class from a world renowned wood turner. But it was only by accident that I found a small article in one of the woodworking magazines detailing the class. The other factor was that the class was offered near my home, so travel costs weren’t that bad. While I don’t get to do as much woodturning as I would like to, the concepts I learned in the class were well worth the expense.

As I said, it was just by luck that I found the turning school, and that I think is the biggest problem facing woodworkers. Where to find information about woodworking classes that are being held in your area. Sure, finding a class that fits your schedule, your budget and is relevant to your individual skill levels are important. But we need to know about the class in the first place, before we can determine if it its even worth considering.

With all that said, we would like to open a new category on our woodworking site that lists links to woodworking schools and training programs. And we would like to invite you to send us listing of classes and training programs that you hear of. I don’t want to try to qualify the schools or training, hopefully you will do that and let the rest of us know how it really went for you. Did you learn anything, was it worth the time and money, and would you recommend it to a friend, or fellow woodworker.

To start the list off, here is a link the a woodworking school in the New York City Area.

http://www.3rdward.com/3rdwardclasses/category/woodworking

         • Tool Sharpening - learn to sharpen chisels, planer blades as well as many other hand tools using the “scary sharp” method of sharpening.
         • Intro to Woodworking – students gain a knowledge of power and hand tools, construct an end table and one other project.
         • Furniture Refinishing -  learn various refinishing methods while refinishing a small piece of your own furniture
         • Routermania! – various router techniques are taught as well as router safety and other topics while building a project of your own
         • Furniture Design & Construction -work with your instructor to design and build your own piece of furniture – tuition includes a 12 day shop pass so students can work in the shop outside of class time. Invaluable to those whose tool inventory is somewhat limited!
         • Custom Frame Shop - learn how to build custom frames from raw stock as well as how to cut mat board and glass to showcase your completed project
         • Jig It! – Jigs are invaluable in your workshop to duplicate complicated table saw and other tool setups
         • How to Make Crappy Stuff Awesome - rehab and repurpose that yard sale find with this course.

For pricing and additional information on each of the courses, click on the links above. I wished I lived closer as some of the classes look very interesting.