Mike “The Naked Woodworker” Siemsen made mallets for 18 students in my upcoming “Hand Tool Immersion” class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. This low-cost class is aimed at beginning woodworkers with young families who have few tools, money for classes or free time to teach themselves the craft through trial-and-error.
The one-week class will be a deep dive into handwork for the students, who will go home with a tool chest, sharp tools, a bunch of new skills and probably some B.O. (we’re camping to save money).
Mike, who runs the Mike Siemsen School of Woodworking outside of Minneapolis, Minn., volunteered to make mallets for all the students. He did, and they are great.
I’m going to teach this class again in June 2016 – at Mike’s place. We plan to camp and cook on his land. I’ll post details about the class, the minimal costs and registration when they become available. Mike and I still have lots of little details to work out.
Thanks for the great mallets!
— Christopher Schwarz
This sounds great. I’m moving the end of this month to Minnesota; I’ll be 2 and a half hours from Mike’s shop. Who knows? Maybe in June ’16 I can come to the class (though absolutely not if I would take a spot away from someone more in need of it).
Very cool!
Jim Toplin’s school is in the middle of a state park in Port Townsend, WA and I’ll be camping there during a week long course in August.
Luckily, by June 2016 I’ll be living back in my native Minneapolis. I’d be very interested in another week long camping and woodworking class close to home.
Let me know if you need any help from a Minneapolis local to make this happen!
Nice lettering on the handle – Mike must have a nice cnc machine or awesome carving skills.
Those are very posh! When you first called out for donations, I was in the middle of making a mallet for myself. I thought maybe a could make a couple more, and did! Now I have three big ash mallets ala Roy. I’m glad I didn’t ship them out, because they look like crap compared to Mike’s.
Thank you, Mike, for such generosity of time, timber, and skill.
Yuck! Camping in Minnesota in June is the pits. BO is going to be the least of your problems. The skeeters are the worst that time of the year and the ticks are nasty and plentiful and no matter how hard you try you get em. Lived there 18 years. What I can’t fathom is how they come back every year when most of the winter it’s way below zero and ass deep in snow!
How about making some to sell as fundraisers to help offset the costs? Those would be a great way to raise some cash. I’d be in for one.
I’ll come up from Rochester to hang out and drink beer in the evening after class…..but I will stay in a hotel with a nice bed and modern plumbing!
Sign me up. I’m 45 mins from his place.