Granite State Luthiers At Woodcraft Demo Day 2016

On Saturday, June 11 from 10-4, the Granite State Luthiers, the luthiery group of the Guild Of New Hampshire Woodworkers, will be demonstrating musical instrument-making techniques at the Newington, NH (Portsmouth area) Woodcraft store.

The following members will be participating:

• Terry Moore: neck carving.
• Al Carruth: rosettes.
• Jeb Hooker: more rosettes.
• Mike Mahar: bending.
• me: sharpening.

These guys are spectacularly talented. There will probably be some instruments on display. If you have any interest in building stringed instruments or just want to see some beautiful work, stop by.

If you're interested in some breathtakingly-simple sharpening, I'll be showing a method I've been refining lately. Hearkening back to the fundamentals covered by Charles Hayward in the new 2-volume set The Woodworker: The Charles H. Hayward Years, this is meant to simplify learning the skill for the beginner as well as simplify everyday sharpening, producing razor-sharp tools by hand in seconds. I'll also be demonstrating some beginner violin-making skills.

I'm hoping to have a blog post and video on the sharpening method ready before then, but I might run out of time.

Spring 2016 Session Intro To Hand Tools

Learn how to use these and other hand tools.

The Spring 2016 session of my online video course Intro To Hand Tools starts May 11 at Popular Woodworking University, the online education component of Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The course consists of 12 hours of instruction for $59.99. If you'd like to learn how to do everything with hand tools or just add some hand skills to your power tool woodworking, whether you're a new or experienced woodworker, this is for you.

Why do everything with hand tools when there are perfectly good power tools available? The practical reason is lack of access to power tools or lack of space for them.

A small hand tool workshop is an excellent option for anyone with limited space, as little as 4'x6'. It can even be portable, with a workbench that folds up to be put aside when not in use.

The less practical reason is that it's a lot of fun, very satisfying.

Skills covered include sharpening, rough and fine stock preparation, simple and fine joinery including mortise and tenon and dovetails, and curved work. These are used in furniture making, cabinet making, musical instrument making, boat building, and home building and repair.

The course runs May 11 through July 6. During this period you can join the online discussion and ask questions. You have unlimited access to the videos during and after the course. You can watch them at your leisure on your schedule as many times as you'd like.

For a full episode guide, see this blog post: 59 Videos: Intro To Hand Tools.

This 7-minute video is a free sample lesson on rabbetting excerpted from the longer lesson:

This 11-minute video is a trailer that I have looping in the background when I do demonstrations (it's silent to avoid disturbing other demonstrators):



To go to the course description and registration page, as well as read reviews from past sessions, click here.