Preparing to Hit the Road

This weekend I am booked into a 2 day class at Chuck Bender’s Acanthus Workshop. Chuck has a whole slew of classes to offer but he also has some prerequisites to take some of his more advanced classes. While there are ways to “test” out of the apprentice level classes, I decided to sign up for the Fundamentals I class since I really have never had any formal instruction on hand tool usage and joinery. Chuck also offers Fundamentals 2 and 3 where he switches focus to power tools and then to lumber selection and the completion of a complete project. What I like about this series is you can either take all 3 classes in one 6 day class or you can take each segment individually over 3 weekends. It makes it easier for the working woodworker to get away and get some education.

I have my tool list for the weekend from Chuck and I am carefully packing up my hand tools to take on the 90 minute trip up to central PA and Chuck’s shop.

Eye and Hearing Protection
Square
Bevel Gauge
Bench Chisels
Mallet
Backsaw
Marking Gauge
Smooth or Jack plane
Block Plane
Tape or Folding Rule

I have a leather chisel roll for my Lie-Nielsen chisels but nothing for my saws and planes so I am taking a tip out of The Wood Whisperer’s book and using some t shirts to lovingly wrap up the planes. I also have cut strips from one of those magnetic air vent covers to stick to the soles of my planes to protect and prevent rust that will help during transit. I still have a tool cabinet on the project list so in the meantime to protect my smaller tools I have kept the boxes and rust inhibiting bags they came in and this will be helpful for transporting them as well.

This weekend we will be covering the general tuning and usage of the basic hand tools from chisels to saws to planes as well as going through the basic joints and making them by hand. I am looking forward to learning a lot from the master as picking up some tips to help me in the tenon and dovetail events at the Hand Tool Olympics at WIA in August.

I’ll do my best to take copious notes, photos, and maybe even a video or two and share with you all my experiences.

Wish me luck!