Where I’m Teaching in 2012 (Plus a Look Ahead at 2013)

By request, here is my teaching schedule for the remainder of 2012. If a class is sold out, it is always worth getting on the waiting list. Life has its crises, and so spots always open up – usually in the week before the class begins.

June 11-17: Dictum Workshops, Metten, Germany
I’ll be making my third trip to Germany to teach handwork at the Dictum workshop, which is located in an uber-cool pig barn in a monastery (no sarcasm — it’s awesome). I’m teaching three classes — one on planes and saws, a second on building wooden layout tools and a third on building a French-style workbench.

Here are details.
Precision Layout Tools, June 11.
Metal Handplanes and Western Saws, June 12.
Build an 18th-century Workbench, June 13-17.

July 7-8: Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, Warren, Maine
Shaker Wall Cabinet. This is a fun two-day class in hand joinery. Learn to surface boards by hand, cut rabbets and dados and learn the joys of cut nails. The new Lie-Nielsen classroom is outstanding.

July 16-20: The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Rockport, Maine
By Hammer & Hand: The Dovetailed Schoolbox. This class is based on the 1839 book “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker” – a fascinating look into the life of an apprentice in an English joinery shop. In this class, we build a Moxon double-screw, a shooting board and the Schoolbox from the book. This is an intense class in dovetailing and hand casework. This is the first time I’ve been asked to teach at this school. Hope it goes OK.

July 30-Aug. 3: Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking, Berea, Ky.
The Anarchist’s Tool Chest: Build the Anarchist’s Tool Chest in five days in the hills of Berea, Ky. Kelly runs an excellent school with a great vibe and tremendous workbenches. I’ve been looking forward to this class all year.

Sept. 4-8: Marc Adams School of Woodworking, Franklin, In.
By Hammer and Hand: The Dovetailed Schoolbox. I bring the Schoolbox class to Marc Adams’s excellent school. There’s a reason this is the largest school in North America. Everything is top-shelf, from the workbenches, the new engineered floor to the ice cream machine (yes, it makes swirls).

Sept. 17-21: The Woodwright’s School, Pittsboro, N.C.
The Anarchist’s Tool Chest: Yes, you can build this tool chest entirely by hand. And eat ice cream for lunch. And be 10 steps from an awesome tool store and bar. It’s Roy Underhill’s school for gosh sakes. This is a fun class with lots of crazy hand- and foot-powered tools – including a Barnes mortiser.

And that’s it for 2012, except for speaking at both Woodworking in America conferences. For 2013, I’ll be traveling to a lot of new places to teach: Rosewood in Canada, Alaska and Australia. Plus, I hope to be teaching the following two classes, which I am pitching to some of the schools I frequent.

Design & Build a Campaign Chest
Campaign chests are one of the most rugged and masculine pieces of furniture ever made – and their simple lines fit in with almost any decor. In this class, you will learn to design your ideal campaign chest using guidelines culled from old military records and the archaeological records. After spending a day designing your chest with the help of SketchUp and the instructor, you’ll spend the next four days building the upper unit of your chest using a variety of hand- and power-tool techniques. In this class you’ll learn:

1. How to speak the language of campaign chests so you can execute your design and it will look as good as an original.
2. How to design the joinery for these cases, which were designed to survive war.
3. How to surface very wide boards with ease using hand tools and home shop equipment.
4. How to cut full-blind and half-blind dovetails.
5. How to cut rabbets, dados and grooves by hand and by power.
6. How to make the special tight-fitting recesses for the brass hardware that is typical size – both by hand and power.
7. How to age brass and steel hardware to make it look ancient.
8. How to fit drawers toa  piston fit.
9. How to use high-angle planes and scrapers to deal with the exotic woods common to campaign chests.

Design & Build a Traditional Trestle Table
Trestle tables are one of the most ancient forms of furniture and appear in Medieval dining halls, Shaker dwellings and in the portfolio of George Nakashima. In short, they are one of the most elemental and enduring forms of furniture in human history. They use a minimum of material and excellent joinery to produce a table that is lightweight and incredibly strong. In this class, you’ll take a historical trip into the furniture record to understand the trestle table, from its beginnings in castle life to the present day. Using this knowledge, you’ll design your own trestle table using SketchUp and the assistance of the instructor. You’ll be able to design your trestle table in any style and in any size. Then you’ll spend the next four days executing your design under the eye of the teacher. In this class you’ll learn:

1. How to make beautiful tabletops that stay flat and are easy to assemble.
2. How to make the wedged through-tenon – the joint at the heart of a trestle table.
3. How to make your table knock down for travel using bed hardware.
4. How to surface large tabletops using power tools, hand tools or scrapers.
5. How to cut and assemble breadboard ends by both hand and power.
6. How to surface all your parts using handplanes.
7. How to make large-scale bridle joints to affix the top braces and ribs of the table.
8. How to use a fore plane or scrub plane to remove material quickly and provide authentic texture.

— Christopher Schwarz