Sign up using the email links in the class postings. There is no deposit (please respect this and let me know in advance if you must cancel), payment is first day of class, cash, check or Venmo. Please notify me A.S.A.P if you need to cancel.
Please arrive at least 15 minutes early on the first day to take care of payment and sign waiver. Shop opens at 8:30, classes run 9:00 to 5:00, I provide lunch at noon.
I allow youth over 14 with a parent
May 10th and 11th, 2025 9:00 to 5:00, $450
We will be making a traditional Moxon double screw vise, a mallet, a marking gauge, and a marking knife. You will use hand tools to make these four very useful items for your shop and gain the ability to make more of them as needed. Hand chopped mortises, boring with a brace and bit, threading with a screwbox and tap are all covered. We will do a bit of metal work on the marking knife, grinding and filing the blade to shape then hardening and tempering the steel. The tools alone are worth the cost of the class! Bring the tools you have. I have some I can loan you.
email mike@schoolofwood.com to enroll
Saturday May 17th, 2025 7:30 am - 1 pm
Where: Minnesota National Guard Armory 3050 Highway 316 (Redwing Boulevard) Hastings, MN 55033
A great place to buy tools!
COST: Registration: $20 per single; $25 per couple. $25/$30 at the door. Guests (with member) $15. Guests & family under 18 admitted free. $5 Trade tables are assigned via registration. Registration includes coffee, beverages, doughnuts & lunch. Register for trade tables below.
DISPLAY THEME: Combination Tools
SCHEDULE: 7:30 am ......Registration opens. 8:30 am, Tool Trading begins! 10:45 What’s It!, 11:15 Lunch, 12:30 Short Area A meeting for all interested. Tear down begins.
I will be demonstrating.
May 31st, June 1st, 2025, 9:00 to 5:00, $375
Sharpening your own saws keeps them in top shape, no sending them out to be sharpened! It also enables you to restore old saws. We start out on your 8 point crosscut saw, then you do your 5 1/2 point ripsaw. Bring your saws for assessment and to sharpen. I have a few saws for sale or to practice on if you don't have any.
On day two we learn how to properly use our saws to rip and crosscut while making an essential sawing aid,a sawhorse.
email mike@schoolofwood.com to enroll
June 15th, 2025, 9:00 to 5:00, $200
This is a great place to get your feet wet in woodworking and make a useful and attractive piece of furniture. The handcut joinery is strong and simple and easy to repeat at home. We will plane a taper, use a bow or coping saw, chisel a dado, and auger holes for wooden pegs. Bring the tools you have. I have some I can loan you.
email mike@schoolofwood.com to enroll
July 5th and 6th, 2025 9:00 to 5:00 $425
Use hand tools to create a small „Sea Chest“ with angled sides. The finished chest will be about 12×12×24 with dovetailed corners. You will learn to make angled dovetails as you build this traditional form. A great place to store thing like tools or yarn or? Bring the tools you have. I have some I can loan you.
email mike@schoolofwood.com to enroll
July 19th and 20th, 2025 9:00 to 5:00 $375
On the first day we will learn to lay out and cut several basic woodworking joints. Learning to layout joints, saw straight, cut to the line and chop and pare with a chisel to your mark. Working our way up to dovetails on day two. We will also cover wood movement and why joints are made the way they are.
Whether for drawers or case work dovetails are actually pretty basic woodworking. At first it can be a bit difficult to keep it all straight. Pins first? Tails first? What’s a pin or tail? Which piece is the waste? What’s a half pin? How do you keep the pieces organized? It will all become clear as you learn to layout, saw and chop this signature woodworking joint. We will do through and half-blind joints, then make a box! Bring the tools you have. I have some I can loan you.
email mike@schoolofwood.com to enroll
August 2nd 3rd and 4th, 2025 $675, with vise $795
9:00 to 5:00
Pound for pound and dollar for dollar I believe the Nicholson bench is the best bench you can build. Especially with hand tools! We will use some machines aided by hand tools for this project. Sign up closes July 10th so I can get the materials in. If you want a vise or a bench over 6 feet long let me know. Bring the tools you have. I have some I can loan you.
email mike@schoolofwood.com to enroll
August 16th and 17th, 2025 , 9:00 to 5:00 , $375
On day one we will turn spindles. Day two bowls. This a very basic intro to wood turning.
Get your feet wet! Bring the tools you have. I have some I can loan you.
email mike@schoolofwood.com to enroll
August 30th and 31st, 2025, 9:00 to 5:00 , $350
Knowing how to sharpen your tools is probably the chief skill you need to acquire to be a better woodworker. Dull tools don't work well and are dangerous to use (and no fun). We go over different methods of sharpening and the reasons for different sharpening angles. We will sharpen a chisel, a plane iron and a card scraper and tune up a plane. We will go over how to flatten a board with hand planes and how to edge joint a board. We will try out various other planes as well dado, plow, router, combination, molding, and etc.
Bring a plane to rehab, I recommend a pre-1950's Stanley #4 or #5
September 13th and 14th, 2025, 9:00 to 5:00, $575
In a departure from my typical hand tool oriented classes we will be using the most basic of power tools to construct a paint grade cabinet.
You will need to bring a skill saw with a plywood or laminate cutting blade (fine tooth, smooth cut), a biscuit jointer, a cordless drill with charger and batteries, a Kreg pocket screw jig (Kreg 310 or better), an old steam iron and an 8" smooth cut file.
