Introduction to woodwork ~ The London School of Furniture Making

CORE SKILLS: Joinery 1

£455

Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Day: Monday to Thursday or Saturday/Sunday

Time: 10.00 to 16.00

This four-day introduction to woodwork covers the most important practical skills used in traditional furniture making.

Measure and mark accurately
Become familiar with Japanese saws.
Saw to a straight line
Using a chisel to remove waste and refine joint surfaces
Understand what a sharp tool is and how to keep it that way
Learn how posture and body position help to control and power your cuts
You will start with a simple lap joint and work your way up to the mortice and tenon in several of its most useful forms.

Beginners and experienced but untrained woodworkers will find this class an invaluable learning experience. Your understanding and practical skills will get a thorough workout. By the end of the course, you should feel ready to tackle a range of projects including tables, benches, doors, and frames.

The last day of the course is given over to #TrivetChallenge, where you will make an intricate frame using some of the joints from the previous three days. Despite its apparent simplicity, this is a hard project so we reward anyone who makes a good attempt at it with a prize.

The companion to this course is CORE SKILLS: Joinery 2 – Dovetails

A note about Woodworking Tools

The joinery taught in this module is the cornerstone of wood-to-wood construction and no introduction to woodwork is complete without discussing woodworking tools.

The same joints, and, more or less, the same techniques have been used for more than 4000 years in making furniture and constructing buildings. Over time, tools have improved, becoming highly specialised for cutting wood, which means we are able to be super accurate in our work.

At the school, we have a full set of top quality modern and antique tools for the use of our students.