Blog for the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, including school updates, class offerings, and students writing about their experiences.
We're Rolling.....
From our latest email missive:
2009 has got off to a great start. The "Introduction to Woodworking" course was a lot of fun - we had great students and we lucked out on some great boards of cherry in a newly opened pallet at Edensaw. We learnt a lot about hand planing quartersawn curly cherry.
Here's some gentle encouragement to join us for a great time in the school's shop:
Plane and Simple - Feb 14-15 2009
"If you've ever been frustrated by a hand plane, you should seriously consider taking this highly focused course with Jim Tolpin. Over the two day weekend you will discover how proper sharpening and setup techniques make these tools work they way they are supposed to: removing wood quickly and smoothly with surprisingly little effort. You'll also get to explore the school's wide variety of specialty planes: learning what they can do, how they do it, and how you will probably not want to do woodworking without them!"
Do you need a new kitchen, entertainment center, or bathroom vanity? Do you flinch at the cost of custom cabinetry, and shy away from the questionable quality of big box store offerings? Are you intimidated by the reality of attempting to do cabinetry in your own shop? THEN FEAR NOT - you really can build it yourself at home!!
In this 5-day class we'll explore and demistify the art and science of building custom cabinetry in the small home shop. You'll learn the basics of cabinet design and construction, and how to safely and efficiently produce high quality work with a minimum of tools and space. During the class you'll actually build a simple cabinet, starting with layout and progressing through face frame, carcass, door and drawer construction. Work smarter, work smaller!
This course is filling up so now is the time to sign up. More
The Art and Craft of Working with Wood Lecture Series: Restoring and Preserving Old Buildings with Kevin Palo on Thursday February 19th 2009 at 6:30
Kevin has joined our faculty to lead the Historic Preservation Program. Kevin has more than 30 years of experience in restoring Old Buildings. This lecture is a teaser for our Introduction to Historic Preservation course in March.
Learn about the challenges of restoring an old home - some of the work is less scary if you understand how to the houses were built.
Free lecture at the school: Building 315, Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA 98368
When does a course run?
We get a lot of questions about whether a course will run or not. These are the guidelines we use at the moment:
W'e're still in the start up phase of the school and we will run courses taught by the three of us (Jim, John or Tim) with a small enrollment (minimum of two students).
We're also seeing a tendency for people to sign up for the courses at the last moment and in general this is fine.
A course is full if you try to register and our registration system asks you to be wait listed. We will update the course listings and descriptions when a class fills.
If we have just one student signed up for a course and we're two weeks out from the start of the course we will call the student and let them know that the course is at risk of cancellation.
If a course is being taught by an external tutor - we list a drop dead date for enrollment and minimum enrollment for the class to run. If we fail to make the minimum enrollment we cancel the class and fully refund your payment.
Some courses are filling fast:.
Darrell Peart's Greene and Green Details I & II Classes are both more than half full. Jim Tolpin's May Gypsy Wagon class is filling fast as is Michael Dresdner's Fearless Finishing class.
Good and Reasonable Accommodation at Fort Worden.
A couple of the students on courses have stayed at the Olympic Hostel here at Fort Worden. The Hostel is located about 5 minutes walk from the School on the campus at Fort Worden. The Hostel offers dorm style accommodation and rooms for married couples. Christopher who runs the place is a gracious host. There appears to be plenty of space available at the moment but it get booked in advance for the summer. Cost $25-35 / night depending on whether you belong to Hostelling International. More details
