Conover Workshops

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In Celebration of National Spinning and Weaving Week

Don't Miss Our Winery Open House Saturday, October 4, 2008.

Click Here For Details

 


Our Woodworking Curriculum

We have made significant changes to our turning curriculum last year. We eliminated two classes, Woodturning Tools and Techniques class (which gave you two-and-a-half days of spindle and a like amount of faceplate) and Introduction to the Lathe (which gave you a day of each). In their place we now offer exclusively faceplate and spindle classes in both 2 day (weekend) and 5 day (week long) formats. We have come to believe that one day in either discipline is insufficient. The scheme has worked very well and is now standard practice.

We arrange the schedule so that a week long course is preceded by a weekend course of the opposite discipline. A weekend spindle class will be followed by a week long faceplate course, while next time we reverse the scheme with a two-day faceplate course followed by a five day spindle course. This means that you can get the basics in two weekends or in depth knowledge in two five day sessions. In seven days you can get both spindle and faceplate training with the emphasis on the skill you are more interested in.

Joinery at its Best is Even Better

A new course in 2006, Joinery at its Best, has proved popular. Meant to be a compromise between the “outward bound” rigors of Handtool Joinery and the “you’re really missing the boat” of a full blown machine course, it stresses using hand work where it stands out quality wise or offers a cheaper, easier alternative. We have tweaked Joinery at its Best by increasing it to six days and introducing hand cut dovetails when they occur in the building of the cupboard. In place of a full blown hand plane course on Saturday we have created Tuning-Up Your Hand Tools which covers the planes that one really uses, even in a machine tool environment, plus getting all the rest of your tools sharp and tuned. It launches you into the six days with confidence that your tools will perform.