Foundational Course Part 2-Day 2
The day moved along quickly for everyone, but for the main part all the legs were mortised and the tenons cut and partly fitted. Mortise and tenon joinery is not necessarily easy, but I teach several ways to make the joint and they try these out to see which they prefer. Tomorrow they must shape the legs and form the arches to the rails before they can glue everything up. I love seeing all the parts on the bench.
I am always amazed at how quickly confidence develops and the tools seem to suddenly start acting the way they should somehow. The tenons all seemed to be fitting and fitting quite nicely. These are all hand made using only hand tools and traditional woodworking methods remember.
Our goal here is to establish skill with hand tools for laying out the project, planing and sawing, fitting Mortise and tenon joints and so on.
We ate lunch at the picnic tables outside. Everything was really lovely.
Of course there are relationships developing naturally through classes and workshops like this. Inevitably our students have lots of interaction with one another and as they progress they start to help one another.
We jointed the tabletops with the low angle Veritas planes which cut perfectly jointed edges to glue together.
Dad and I had a great time. We rarely spoke through the day, we were so absorbed in the work and the skills we were developing – I almost lost my temper a couple of times I'm sorry to report, but on the plus side I really cared about what I was doing and wanted to get it right.
The days went by in a blur and there is much forgotten and lost that I'm sure will jump back to me once I get into the DT department at school in order to continue on this new path now opened up to me.
Dad and I will definitely be coming back; the time together was priceless; the achievement irreplaceable and the experience thoroughly worthwhile, supported at every turn by Paul, an insightful and inspiring gentleman.
Hello my friend,
It was so great for me too. Spending time with you and your dad was unique and special for me too. These are memories in the happening. Keepsakes if you will. I recall a time in my life when i wanted to spend special time with my dad and i am glad that I did. There should be more dad and son classes for all ages I think. I did special classes for dads and sons in the USA for two decades. Saw broken relationships healed, dads find a new friend in their sons and sons find a new friend in their dad. One of the most life-changing happenings in my own life was making a cello for my son with my son. It changed my life and his. A miracle was born through that three months ot took to build. He will play it for the rest of his life. Wow! Imagine. We made a voice together.