Thinking of taking a woodworking course

[Zsofia]

Since I read your thread I’ve really been thinking about doing this - there’s a store nearby that evidently does classes, although I’ll have to call and ask about when the next intro classes are. Basically I want a VERY intro class - tool safety, what to use various tools for, taking care of them, intro to terms, simple project - with the opportunity to take more advanced classes as I feel comfortable. I’d love to make Arts and Crafts furniture to fill my house with. I’s scared of saws, though.

[Lunar_Saltlick]

@Sal Ammoniac

The one piece of advice I would give is to invest in a good dust mask before the class. I once took (with my wife) a woodworking course at the Boston Center for Adult Ed, and you could barely see through the fog of wood dust. By the end of a single session, my mask was so choked with dust I had to throw it out. OSHA would shut the place down in a nanosecond if they knew. What you may find is that there are people who take the class for no other reason than to have access to power tools they don’t have at home. So the place can be noisy as well as dusty.

It also seemed to me that the class I took focused purely on machines, and not on core skills like sharpening. And sharpening is of course key. (I suspect that certain people rely entirely on power tools because they don’t know how to sharpen…

Boy, do I detect the presence of an anti-Normite here…

[Dinsdale]

Thanks for all of the encouragement and suggestions, folks.

I think I am focusing on this class, because it is offered at the HS that is one town over. A reasonable price and a very convenient location. And if I ever decide to equip a shop, it will be in my next house. We plan on moving after my youngest graduates HS and she is presently a junior, so next fall will work as well as this spring.

I realize that my interests are unfocused. Given my historic level of precision, I can imagine that rough carpentry would be much more along my line. And I’ve often run into a technology/machinery bar in various interests - not wanting to master and maintain equipment pretty generally turns me off.

I guess I’m wondering if taking a class will kindle my interest, because heck, if I wanted to do woodworking there is nothing stopping me from sharpening up my current tools and getting going right now. I’m in that stage where I’m not sure if it is just something I like to think I’d like to do, or if it actually IS something I’d like to do.