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I’ve taught woodworking classes many places. I’ve taught weekend classes at Woodcraft stores and seminars at WoodWorks shows. I’ve demonstrated at woodworking clubs and taught week-long classes, but I’ve never taught at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Ind. , billed as the largest woodworking school in the world. That changes this week because I’ve signed on to work with some 18 students to build a Massachusetts Block-front chest. And you are going to be there with me. As the week progresses, I plan to blog about my experience.
I’ve been told that I won’t make it past midweek before I hit the wall. Most people expect that I’ll be so worn out by then that blogging will be the last thing I’ll think about. I hope they’re wrong.
Sunday, I loaded my project and tools into the shop in preparation for today. As I finished up, I caught up with Marc Adams and got a chance to met Steve Latta. Steve taught a class this past weekend on Line and Berry Inlay, one of Steve’s specialties. It was a short meeting, but I hope to catch up with him again this morning if he gets a chance to stop in before returning home.
As you can tell from the photos, there isn’t much going on in the classrooms on Sunday evening. I expect today will be entirely different. At 8 a.m. we get started with an introduction to the school given by Marc himself. Then, it’s off to our workrooms to things going.
I’m not sure what to expect. I asked that students come to the class with the panels assembled for the case sides and bottom. I assume some will and some will not. I received many e-mails over the past week asking for help in securing lumber , not ordinary 4/4 stock, but the 12/4 stock needed for the drawer fronts. I couldn’t help at this late stage of the game, but I did offer a couple alternatives. The drawers for the project can be built using 8/4 stock while gluing a piece to the backside of each drawer. If this is done, you won’t see the seam from the front faÃ?§ade. It’s only in view when the drawer is open. We’ll see how many students had problems locating the thick stock and how many simply decided to attack the project using readily available lumber.
I built this piece in my book “Glen Huey’s Guide to Building Period Furniture” using cherry. I know some of the projects built this week will also be in cherry, but I’ve heard at least one woodworker is working in mahogany and another is using walnut. Stop back tomorrow and I’ll let you know how many different hardwoods are represented. By the way, the chest I brought up to teach with is built with tiger maple (what else?).
p.s. Click here to read “Teaching at Marc Adams – Day Two”
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Glen,
Good luck out there at Marc Adams’ this week. I hope the first day wasn’t too overwhelming. Glad you finally met Steve. Have a great week. Do me, and all the readers, a favor and buck the odds and keep blogging through the end of the class. I for one am extremely interested in how you make out.
What on earth are you building that requires 12/4 stock for drawer fronts?!