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Wood and Shop Traditional Woodworking School

Woodworking Class: Introduction to Hand Tool Woodworking with Joshua Farnsworth (3 Days)

Woodworking Class: Introduction to Hand Tool Woodworking with Joshua Farnsworth (3 Days)

Regular price $575.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $575.00 USD
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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. Please carefully read all details below before registering for this class.   

Class Full? Get on the Waitlist!

If your desired 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 if enough students request it.

Other Payment Methods

If you'd like to pay for class registration with a check or cash, please contact us here.

Full 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.

Class Syllabus

Day 1:
• Get to know each other
• Introduction to workbenches & fixtures
• Intro to marking & measuring tools
• Laying out rough lumber
• Ripping lumber exercise
• Cross cutting lumber
• Intro to hand saws
• Dovetail saw cutting exercise
• Intro to handplanes (bench planes, joinery planes, molding planes)
• Learn to adjust metal and wooden handplanes
• Four squaring lumber exercise

Day 2:
• Four squaring lumber exercise (continued)
• Molding plane exercise
• Intro to chisels
• Rabbet plane exercise
• Make dovetail joint exercise


Day 3:
• Make dovetail joint exercise (continued)
• Plow plane exercise
• Make a Mortise & tenon table leg joint exercise
• Other woodworking joints (if time allows)
• Class photo!
• Clean up

Meet your Instructor

Read about this instructor on our page: "Meet the Instructors".

Materials Fee & Required Tools

The class material fee is $25. It is payable to the instructor before or on the day of the class.

Fortunately for this class there are no required hand tools you to bring. We provide everything you’ll need! In the class we talk about what features to look for when buying woodworking hand tools, so many students prefer to postpone buying their hand tools until after the class. Of course, students are welcome to bring their own hand tools, and we will provide a list a few weeks before the class begins.

Class Policies, Liability Waiver, & Cancellations

No students under 18 years of age are allowed. A PDF document with the full class policies and a liability waiver will be available after you register. All students are required to sign this document, and bring it on the first day of class.

Anyone can cancel a class up to 3 weeks prior to the class for a full refund (minus a $45 fee that covers credit card processing fees and administrative work). Cancellations under three weeks before a class begins will be given a refund (less $45) if we can find someone else to fill the slot. If we can't find a replacement for a cancelled spot (under 3 weeks before class), we will not issue a refund or give credit for a future class (even in the event of illness or injury).

If we have to cancel a class for an unforeseen emergency, inclement weather, instructor illness/injury, or low number of registrations, a full refund will be given to students. We encourage students to not book non-refundable flights, car rentals, or lodging in case of these cancelations.

See our return / refund policy here.

Student Tool Discounts

After you’ve registered for a class, you are eligible for a discount from Lee Valley (Veritas) and Taylor 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 Taylor Toolworks fill out this form and upload a photo or screenshot of your class order email (under the “Student ID” section). The discounts may not be available after the end of the class, so try to place your orders before then.

How to Get Here & Where to Stay

Please read our page: "Getting Here and Where to Stay".

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