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If you’ve ever wanted to go to Germany and take a hand woodworking course from a guy who is mostly German (me), but doesn’t speak a word of German (me again) but likes German beer, pork products and pork by-products (guilty), here’s your chance.
Next month I am teaching a week-long class in basic handwork in the workshop of Dick GmbH, the massive German tool cataloger in Metten, east of Munich. The class, which runs from Sept. 13 to 17, will be taught in English and is titled “Classical Joinery.” The class is 480 Euros (about $625).
Thomas Lie-Nielsen taught a class there earlier this week and reported that the facility is first-rate (get information here), the area is beautiful and that he wants to go again.
I’ve never taught this particular class before and am greatly looking forward to it. The five days will focus entirely on the precision sharpening, set up and use of the hand tools that are the core of the shop. This class will attempt to blend everything I’ve studied about craft history, modern toolmaking technology and practical furniture-making experience.
During the five days, we will be building a simple Shaker cabinet from the Hancock village that requires many of the skills we’ll be exploring.
Here’s the short list:
1. Sharpening straight and skewed tools (we might get into profiled irons if there is time)
2. Setting up and using bench planes
3. Setting up and using joinery planes, including rabbeting planes, fillisters, router planes and shoulders
4. Precision sawing with Western saws
5. Cutting joints using handsaws and handplanes, including rabbets, dados, tenons and half-laps
6. Cutting simple profiles with block planes or moulding planes
7. Nail technology
8. Fitting doors.
In addition, I’ll be exploring the food and beer of Metten and the surrounding area. If you’ve ever taken a class with me, you know that I always try to drag students with me. (I’m also attempting to set up a special field trip, which I can’t say much about at this point.)
I apologize for the short notice here. I’ve only recently found out there are a few spaces left in the class (the maximum size is 10 students). If you are interested in details on the class or even registering, visit the Dick site here.
– Christopher Schwarz
