Megan Fitzpatrick and Brendan Gaffney will each teach a weekend class in April at our storefront in Covington, Ky. Registration will open at noon on Friday, Oct. 20.
Just like with the Welsh stick chair class with Chris Williams, these will be small classes with only six attendees. Also, these are not money-making enterprises for me or Lost Art Press. All proceeds go directly to the instructor.
I’m allowing them to use the space for free because they are my friends, I think they each have something valuable to teach and the classes build the local woodworking community in Covington. Here are the details.
Build a Shaker Silverware Tray with Megan Fitzpatrick
April 7-8, 2018
Cost: $250, plus a small materials fee for wood & cut brads (likely around $30)
Make a classic Shaker silverware tray in this introduction to hand-cut dovetails. In this two-day class, you’ll learn:
- Dovetail layout using dividers
- How to use a backsaw to saw to a line
- How to wield a coping or fret saw
- How to pare and chop to a line with a chisel
- Several strategies for transferring the tails to the pin board
- Techniques for fitting the joint
- Why dovetails work – and we’ll look at some examples of long-lasting period dovetails that look as if they were gnawed out by a beaver – “perfection” is overrated when it comes to the efficacy of this joint. (That said, you’ll also learn some “tricks” for fixing less-than-stellar dovetails.)
- How to lay out then cut and fair the handles (both the hand holds and the curved top edge)
- How to smooth-plane your surfaces
- How to use cut nails (to secure the bottom board)
- And of course, how to put it all together (and why I recommend liquid hide glue).
Build the Cabinetmaker’s Sector with Brendan Gaffney
April 21-22, 2018
Cost: $300, which includes all raw materials
In this two-day class, students will build their own Cabinetmaker’s Sector, my modernized design for the ancient geometer’s tool, used for drawing, drafting and (in my shop) the layout of dimensions and joinery on woodwork. The class will revolve around the skills of modern hand-tool makers, including careful marking and measuring, mixing metal and wood, hand shaping, finishing and (of course) how to use the tool.
Each student will be provided the wood and the necessary brass hinges and pins, everything needed to produce the sector. The first day will revolve around affixing the brass and wooden tabs into the tools, riveting the leaves together, flattening and lapping the tools and reviewing the principles behind the geometry of the sector. The second day will revolve around shaping the sectors, stamping and inking the sector marks, finishing the sectors and learning to use them in the shop. Every student will leave with a completed sector, plus the knowledge of how it works and how to use it.
I would like to sign up for the Sector class with Brendan Gaffney on April 21-22. Please let me know when you can confirm this so I can make plans. Thanks.
Hi Larry. The registration will open at noon on Friday. We’ll have a link for registration then.
I’m hoping y’all can do more of these in the future. I can only attend one of the classes, but I really appreciate you opening your shop up to do this.
We’re going to see how these three classes go. Mostly, we’re worried that we’ll need to do so much mollycoddleing with attendees that we’ll hate our lives.
So far it’s… sigh.
Two quick questions: It sounds as though the Shaker silverware tray is geared towards beginners. I’m not a rank beginner (I can saw to a line and know which end of the chisel to push) but aint no expert, either. Is this the class for me?
Will the LAP store be selling anything? I’m from out of town so can’t ever make it in when the store front is open to peruse the blemished goods you won’t ship. I’d be glad to bring my checkbook and my birthday/Christmas/Hanuka money to make it more worth LAP’s while to host!
The classes are aimed for woodworkers of all skill levels.
And yes, you’ll be able to buy LAP good while you are here. I cannot offer any guarantee we’ll have any blemished goods on hand, however.
Unfortunately, I cannot make the long trip to the storefront for these classes. Any chance you could sell the sector raw material kit to those of us who cannot make the journey?
Hey, this may be something that happens in the future, but not quickly or soon. If you’d like to hear about it if it does, I’ll most likely put out the word through the mailing list on my website, or through my instagram, @burnheartmade.
All I need is that oh-so-hard to find brass joint. I harangued our Grainger and McMaster Carr reps for about three months last year trying to find it. If it has another name other than “rule joint”, I’d love to know about it. 🙂
Exactly! Where can we find that brass scissor/pivot hinge?
Crickets
I designed and had the hardware custom made – as far as I know, it isn’t available anywhere (I looked myself for quite some time). I may be offering them for sale in the future, but currently, I am holding onto those I have for future classes and maybe another run of sectors.
Thx for the follow-up. I’ll keep looking for that next run of sectors for sale!
Hey, that old lesbian night club is looking very respectable.
Love the idea of the classes!
Brendan: Will the brass fitzes be included in the build?
Hey Jared, we’ll be building the sector without the fitzes – mostly to avoid the hour of drill press time each would require. We’ll be plotting them by hand with dividers, but I’ll have fitzes with me, and anyone wanting to inlay them after the class can take some home with them – it can be done after the fact. I’ll demonstrate how to do so to those who’d like to, but I’d rather spend our valuable class time building and learning, not the backpain inducing drill press work (ah, I remember the week where I drilled 2,820 of those holes…). So – fitzes included, and I’ll cover how it’s done, but we’ll be sending that back as homework for those who’d like to do it.