Popular Woodworking Magazine » Woodworking Classes

A Slight Change in the Teaching Plan

Christopher Schwarz — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:25:30 +0000

This week I’m in Bavaria to teach two woodworking classes at the workshops of Dictum GmbH. (And to visit my favorite coffee machine in the entire world.) However, instead of pushing the machine’s buttons over and over, I’m teaching in a different workshop and making friends with a different coffee machine. Because of heavy rains … Read more »

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Plans: A Simple Bowsaw

Christopher Schwarz — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:41:18 +0000

While I have used a lot of bowsaws in the last two decades, I’ve never made one. But during the last few weeks, I’ve made five. The reason is that I fly to Germany on Friday to teach a couple woodworking classes. One class on building Roorkhee chairs, plus a one-day class on building a … Read more »

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Roorkhee Chair Design Document

Christopher Schwarz — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 02:41:47 +0000

Whether you know it or not, you’ve probably seen a Roorkhee chair (or its children) at some point in your life. The chair was supposedly invented at the end of the 19th century for the British military. But it had a long life that extended into the 20th century and influenced many modern designers: Marcel … Read more »

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Wait, Leather Already?

Christopher Schwarz — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 02:08:48 +0000

With this class in building Roorkhee chairs, I bit off way less than I could chew. After the second day, we just have to finish up a couple details on the leather and metal work before we start finishing the mahogany. Tomorrow, I hope we will finish all the chairs with shellac and black wax … Read more »

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Roorkhee Chairs, Day 1 (Then What?)

Christopher Schwarz — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 23:08:06 +0000

Most classes I teach end up being a “dovetail death march” (in a good way). There is a lot of traditional joinery, late nights, sore feet and little hope of finishing the project in five days. But this class on Roorkhee chairs at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking promises to be different. If we don’t … Read more »

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5 Bowsaws Later

Christopher Schwarz — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 00:32:19 +0000

I leave for Germany in a couple weeks to teach classes on making Roorkhee chairs (piece of pie!) and bowsaws. Yup. Making bowsaws. You’ve probably seen my international treatise on bowsaws: “Bowsaws: An Anthropological View of Three Sticks and Some Cat Innards.” No? Well that’s because I haven’t written it. I’ve used and owned many … Read more »

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I Want to Give You ‘Go Fever’

Christopher Schwarz — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:49:49 +0000

In some high technology circles there is an expression they use when engineers move too quickly to launch a project. They have “go fever” and are willing to overlook horrible mistakes in order to launch a product. When teaching woodworking – especially casework – I find that most students need to take down their protective netting, … Read more »

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The Dumb Way to Teach Design

Christopher Schwarz — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:50:56 +0000

While I like and appreciate strict reproductions, I’ve always preferred to design my own stuff. How do I design a piece? In the only way I know how. It’s not easy. There are no formulas or rules or ratios. It is by a process I call “saturation and feedback.” Step 1: Absorb everything you can … Read more »

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Toothbrushes & Glue in Canada

Christopher Schwarz — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 01:16:15 +0000

When in Canada, you do need to be careful about what you use your toothbrush for. At woodworking schools in the United States, a lot of them use a wet toothbrush to remove wet glue squeeze-out from the inside corners of a carcase. But when teaching a tool chest class at Rosewood Studio in Perth, … Read more »

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Tuning Bench Planes at Vesper World Headquarters

Christopher Schwarz — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:24:57 +0000

Honestly, I’ve tuned so many dang metal planes in my lifetime that I’ll never worry about having enough iron in my diet. They might mine my carcass for the mineral when I’m dead. For me, it has always been an analog process: Do it by hand with inexpensive supplies. Today I spent the day tuning … Read more »

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