March Foundational Course

We had a full and exciting foundational course this past week, with folks from all over the country. Students traveled from California, Georgia, Louisiana and Tennessee, with the rest from the Lone Star State!

Here are a couple of pictures of the students during the week.

For those that are not familiar with our Foundational Course, it is an intense course with a lot of hands-on, as well as lectures, crammed into six short days. We start out by teaching sharpening, then delve right into sawing practice and dovetails, going straight from there into making a dovetailed candle box. This takes up the first two days. On day three we build a shelf using mortise-and-tenons; I even show them how to cut a tapered sliding dovetail. The last three days are spent making a walnut end table, complete with hidden mitered tenons. Of course, the legs are tapered by hand and all the mortises and the arches are cut by hand. Everyone leaves with a completed table!

3 Responses to March Foundational Course

  1. Paul Dennehy March 14, 2011 at 3:25 PM #

    Frank – Thank you so much for an incredible week. There was so much information and knowledge so selflessly shared with eveyone in the course. You are a true craftsman. Jonathan is a great apprentice too – always willing to lend a hand or make a timely observation. I for one, plan to be back as often as I can.

    Paul Dennehy

  2. Kevin Wells March 15, 2011 at 3:29 AM #

    Frank–great pictures, especially the one of Clementine. We’ve added my table to her nursery, so someday she’ll get to see pictures of me making it. Thanks very much for getting me started in woodworking. The course was excellent–the pace, the instruction, the hands-on practice. It’s hard to believe how much I learned in 6 days. I look forward to seeing you guys in Katy next month.

    Kevin Wells

  3. sally young March 15, 2011 at 9:09 PM #

    What a pleasure to open my email and find all of these photos –they tell quite a story–I am so happy I found out about this program and could participate. The 6 days were so interesting, challenging, fun, and it went so fast. I feel like I have a good basic knowledge and will practice my new found skills in my shop at home in California. I look forward to coming back next year to take the craftsman rocker class–I guess I will need to bring a car for that one–Thank you Frank and Johnathan for making this such a wonderful experience.
    I am planning to go to the Lie Nielson Show in Santa Ana next month and the Designs in Wood show in San Diego when it comes.
    I will miss all of the wonderful people Christine and I met this week.
    Have a wonderful Easter.
    sally young