Woodworking Class: Introduction to Hand Tool Woodworking with Joshua Farnsworth

CLASS LENGTH: 3 Days

CLASS DESCRIPTION: Joshua Farnsworth will teach the fundamentals of traditional woodworking with hand tools. Students will learn the basics of woodworking hand tools, workbenches, and lumber. Students will then use hand saws, handplanes, and gauges to dimension a board, followed by learning to cut a variety of wood joints, including dovetails, mortise & tenon, tongue & groove, rabbets, dado, grooves, and whatever other useful joints time allows. See below for class details.

WAIT LIST: If the class becomes sold out, click here to get added to the wait list. People may cancel, we may add more slots, or we may decide to add another class date.

PAYMENT: If you would like to pay for a class using a different method than online with a credit card, email us here to arrange to pay by check or cash. We don’t accept credit cards over the phone.

Description

Spend three days with Joshua Farnsworth learning the fundamentals of traditional woodworking with hand tools. Students will learn a wide range of skills, preceded by an in-depth discussion about hand tools, workbenches, and lumber. At their own traditional workbench, students will then learn to use hand saws, handplanes, & gauges to dimension a rough board (the most fundamental of skills), followed by learning to cut a variety of wood furniture joints, including dovetails, mortise & tenon, tongue & groove, rabbets, dado, grooves, and whatever other useful joints time allows. And if time allows, students will have the opportunity to cut moldings with dedicated antique molding planes. Here’s a video from a recent class:

About the Instructor:

Joshua Farnsworth woodworking instructor at the woodandshop traditional woodworking school

Joshua Farnsworth is the founder of the Wood And Shop Traditional Woodworking School, and the creator of WoodAndShop.com. He started woodworking as a teenager in his high school vocational wood shop class. He loves building period furniture (and some modern furniture), collecting & rehabbing antique hand tools, and teaching traditional woodworking. In his workshop he uses a mixture of historical hand tools and modern power tools to build his furniture. In addition to woodworking, Joshua loves traveling, sailing, cycling, and spending time with his wife Laura & their four children on their little Virginia farm.

Materials Fee:

The class material fee is $20. It is payable to the instructor before or on the day of the class.

How to Get Here & Where to Stay:

The address of the school is 5700 Buffalo River Rd. Earlysville, Virginia 22936 (Google Maps here). The school is convenient to quite a few hotels, stores, and restaurants, and is only 8 minutes from the Charlottesville airport. Many more details are listed on the school’s main page here.

Class Policies, Liability Waiver, & Cancellations:

A PDF document with the full class policies and a liability waiver will be sent in the order confirmation email. All students are required to sign and return this document prior to attending the class. Anyone can cancel a class up to 2 weeks prior to the class for a full refund (minus a $25 fee that covers credit card processing fees and administrative work). Cancellations under two weeks before a class begins will be given a refund (less $25) if we can find someone else to fill the slot. If we have to cancel a class for an unforeseen emergency, inclement weather, or low number of registrations, a full refund will be given to students.

Student Tool Discounts from Lee Valley & Lie-Nielsen:

After you’ve registered for a class, you are eligible for a discount from Lee Valley (Veritas) and Lie-Nielsen Toolworks. Lee Valley offers a 15% discount, and a discount form PDF will be available for download in your Wood and Shop dashboard after your purchase. For a 10% discount from Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, you need to place a phone order and tell them that you are a registered student at the Wood & Shop Traditional Woodworking School. The discounts aren’t available after the end of the class.