I taught my first woodworking class yesterday, a five hour session on how
to make handcut dovetails at the local woodworking place. What a blast. I
had a good group of five students, most of whom had tried a dovetail at
least once. About half of them made at least one set that was nearly
defect-free. The others had varying success, most pretty good except for
one fellow who got a lot of practice with the pounded veneer/pounded pin
patches. All but one made a second set that was much much better than the
first set.

We spent a lot of time working on sawing technique; lining up the cut,
standing correctly, holding the saw lightly -- but apparently we needed
more. The biggest problem that several people had was in making pins that
had a slight twist, so that they were a little tapered wide on the backside
of the board.

I brought four decent saws to the session, and only one guy gravitated
toward a dozuki. Another oddly liked a gent's saw, and the other three
were going the western way. The guy who was using the dozuki had the best
looking joints at the end. I don't use a dozuki, but I came away with the
impression that it might be a little easier to learn on.

Anyway, I know there are probably lots of guys here who have been teaching
for years. But I thought I'd post this anyway; it sure was a lot of fun.

Nate Perkins wrote in
. 125.201:

I taught my first woodworking class yesterday, a five hour session on
how to make handcut dovetails at the local woodworking place. What a
blast. I had a good group of five students, most of whom had tried a
dovetail at least once. About half of them made at least one set that
was nearly defect-free. The others had varying success, most pretty
good except for one fellow who got a lot of practice with the pounded
veneer/pounded pin patches. All but one made a second set that was
much much better than the first set.


That sounds like it would have been fun to attend. What part of the world
are you in? Are you going to do it again?

Patriarch

Patriarch wrote in
. 97.136:

Nate Perkins wrote in
. 125.201:

I taught my first woodworking class yesterday, a five hour session on
....
That sounds like it would have been fun to attend. What part of the
world are you in? Are you going to do it again?

Northern Colorado, US. http://www.sears-trostel.com/classes.htm It
seemed to be well received by the students and the shop wants me to teach a
few per year. I'm just having a good time and enjoying the experience.

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 20:20:51 GMT, Nate Perkins wrote:

I taught my first woodworking class yesterday, a five hour session on how
to make handcut dovetails at the local woodworking place. What a blast. I
had a good group of five students, most of whom had tried a dovetail at
least once. About half of them made at least one set that was nearly
defect-free. The others had varying success, most pretty good except for
one fellow who got a lot of practice with the pounded veneer/pounded pin
patches. All but one made a second set that was much much better than the
first set.

We spent a lot of time working on sawing technique; lining up the cut,
standing correctly, holding the saw lightly -- but apparently we needed
more. The biggest problem that several people had was in making pins that
had a slight twist, so that they were a little tapered wide on the backside
of the board.

I brought four decent saws to the session, and only one guy gravitated
toward a dozuki. Another oddly liked a gent's saw, and the other three
were going the western way. The guy who was using the dozuki had the best
looking joints at the end. I don't use a dozuki, but I came away with the
impression that it might be a little easier to learn on.

Anyway, I know there are probably lots of guys here who have been teaching
for years. But I thought I'd post this anyway; it sure was a lot of fun.

Congratulations on the class and having the confidence to try giving it!

Also, since the best way to learn is to teach, you're going to get better and
better, with each class.... good on you, nate!


mac

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