Category: Woodworking Classes

I am teaching a few classes at the Lost Art Press storefront in 2019. I admit I’m a little gun-shy about teaching. I feel quite rusty as a teacher, and I am wary of classroom duties spiraling into a huge part of my life.

The year I quit teaching, I was on the road for 18 weeks and felt like a carney – unkempt, unshaved, grizzled, ragged out and a bit foul-mouthed. (So, not much has changed.)

Here is my completely sane schedule for the first half of 2019. Registration opens at 10 a.m. (Eastern time) on Oct. 12, 2018.

Build a Staked High Stool
Date: Jan. 19-20, 2019
Location: Lost Art Press storefront
Link for registration and full description

This class is designed as an introduction to chairmaking (except for saddling the seat). It is a crash course in sightlines, resultant angles and how to manage all the compound-angle drilling without any math skills. Plus, you get to build this stool and experiment with shou sugi ban if you like.

Build a Staked High Stool
Date: Feb. 16-17, 2019
Location: Lost Art Press storefront
Link for registration and full description

Same class as above, except this class is in February, which is a very different month from January.

Build a Staked Armchair
Date: March 4-8, 2019
Location: Lost Art Press storefront
Link for registration and full description

This armchair was created for the forthcoming expansion of “The Anarchist’s Design Book.” It is designed to be a class for first-time chairmakers. The only prerequisite is that you can sharpen your edge tools.

About the Storefront
We did not set out to teach classes at our storefront, but it turns out to be a nice environment for it. Class size is limited to six. Everyone gets a massive, well-equipped workbench. The bench room has oak floors, lots of natural light and is climate controlled. Students also are encouraged to explore our Mechanical Library during their downtime. We have a lot of rare and interesting woodworking books.

Just as important as the building is where it is located. We are one block off Main Strasse in Covington, Ky., a small city adjacent to downtown Cincinnati. You don’t really need a car during your stay. Hotels and restaurants are a short walk. And downtown Cincinnati is nine blocks away, where you can pick up the streetcar and get anywhere in the urban center.

Plus, if you bring your family, there is lots to do – the zoo, aquarium, children’s museums, multiple art museums and all the other amenities of a mid-size metropolis.

A complete list of classes from Megan Fitzpatrick, Brendan Gaffney and a few guest instructors will be coming soon.

— Christopher Schwarz

Tomorrow morning (Aug. 3, 2018) at 10 a.m. Eastern, registration will open for a handful of new classes scheduled through the end of this year:

To those we’ve added one from Joshua Klein: Restoring & Using Wooden Bench Planes. It’s a one-day class on Friday, Sept. 7, and Joshua is staying for the LAP open house on Sept. 8 to celebrate the release of his new book, “With Hands Employed Aright: The Furniture Making of Jonathan Fisher (1768-1847).” (Joshua and his wife, Julia, are making the long trek from Maine for the Open House and book release – they don’t often make it to this part of the country – it’s worth stopping in to say hello and check out a copy of his gorgeous book!)

Here’s the class description from Joshua:

“I do not think the tools such as were used in the days of my youth can be surpassed. Even admitting the excellence of the modern tools that are used by hand, the old joiner’s affection remains for the old style of tools. He feels a spirit of affinity in a plane made of warm beech that does not seem to exist for him in cold hard steel.” – Walter Rose (1937)

Wooden bench planes are more than quaint relics screwed to the walls of kitschy restaurants. In fact, the entire pre-industrial world was built using this ingenious tool that is little more than a block of wood with a cutting iron wedged into it. This is astonishing to modern woodworkers who assume newer is always better. But wooden planes have many advantages over their metal-bodied counterparts including: lightness, lack of sole friction, comfort in use, intuitive adjustment, tactile feedback and a matchless beauty.

In this class, students will bring their own grubby second-hand planes to learn to remove grime while preserving patina, repair broken components, fine tune the bed, wedge, and iron/cap iron for optimal performance, flatten soles, and finish with shellac. The remaining time in the class will be spent exploring the (intuitive and simple) adjustment method in practical use at the bench.

The goal of this class is to empower 21^st-century woodworkers to give these time-tested, but often neglected, tools a new life.

There are 10 spaces available (not much space is needed for the work, so we’re able to share a few of the longer benches for this one). Registration for the class is free, then students will be billed $150 (which includes everything but the planes).

Click here to see the other new classes (which, like Joshua’s, go live at 10 a.m. Eastern tomorrow).

— Fitz

At the time I stopped teaching in 2015 I was booking 18 class a year. It was a stupid schedule. I quite enjoyed the travel and learning from the students. But my personal work – my writing, designing and building – suffered.

Starting in November I’m returning to a limited teaching schedule – four classes in a year and no more. I am extremely excited (yes, I used an adverb there) to share the techniques and designs I’ve developed during this hiatus.

These classes will be different as I’ll be teaching little or no casework or workbenches (unless the French Oak Roubo Project III comes calling). It will be all staked furniture and chairs.

My first class will be Nov. 3-4, 2018, at our storefront in Covington, Ky., where I will teach the Staked High Stool. This project is a great introduction to chairmaking and working with compound angles. And everyone leaves with a finished stool. You’ll be able to finish your stool with “shou sugi ban,” though we’ll also teach spray finishing of shellac and some hand-applied finishes.

Registration for this class will open next week. We’ll have full details on all the storefront classes for the remainder of 2018 posted on Monday.

I hope you’ll consider joining us. The classes are small – six students maximum. The workshop is a great place to work with excellent benches and loads of natural light. And Covington, Ky., is a fun place to stay and eat.

— Christopher Schwarz

I’m teaching two courses in Munich this October at the new and expanded workshop for Dictum GmbH.

Today I visited the new workshop, and it is impressive. Located by the Munich Ostbanhof (east train station), the new facilities are flooded with natural light and have beautiful new German workbenches. And downstairs is Dictum’s Munich store and a huge array of choices for food, culture and lodging.

The classes are taught in English (with German expletives). If you are interested in handwork or getting started in chairmaking, here are the details:

Staked Furniture: 3-legged Stool
Oct. 8-9, 2018
I taught this class for the first time this summer, and it is a fun couple of days. In the class I explain how to do compound-angle joinery without math or even numbers. Plus, all the chairmaking techniques I have compiled and refined during my time as a chairmaker. If you do flat work and right-angle projects, this class will open up a new world for you.

Build a Sawbench
Oct. 10-12, 2018
This three-day class is great for new woodworkers. The pace is relaxed, and we get to explore all sorts of odd corners of the craft. The last time I taught this class, we also made winding sticks, straightedges and other useful workshop appliances.

Munich is a great city – very easy for international travelers to get to and navigate.

Some of you might be wondering if this new round of classes at Dictum indicates I might teach more in the coming months and years. And the answer is: kinda. I’ve resolved to keep a limited teaching schedule until my youngest daughter has graduated so that I can be a good father.

After her graduation in May 2019 I hope to teach about four weeks a year. (Teaching 18 classes in a year turned out to be a bad idea for my psyche.) I’ll probably teach a couple short courses at our storefront and maybe a week-long course somewhere else (if anyone will have me).

— Christopher Schwarz