DIYbanter - First Woodcraft class

FWIW -
When a business offers {and ESPECIALLY if they charge a fee} a class it is
inexcusable when THEY don't do their 'prep work' ahead of time.

I can understand if there is a 'family emergency' or some sort of accident.
However, a fishing trip to Canada is something that is obviously planned IN
ADVANCE. The fact that whoever the EMPLOYEE was who 'set-up' the equipment
was either so careless, or unfamiliar with the equipment that he {or the
store manager, either}, didn't bother to check the work is another screaming
'WARNING' !! With a very high speed cutter, this could be a very DANGEROUS
situation.

While I have not made 'Raised Panel Doors', I am familiar with the
theory/materials and have used 'wing' bits. Milling the 'basic stock' is
simply making some straight TS cuts - a '$6.oo/ hour employee' chore - an
hour of time, at most.

I may be over-simplifying, but I've reached the point that I REFUSE to
accept 'Bull****', shoddy work, or unacceptable behavior from so-called
'Professionals'. If someone is going to 'teach me something' I expect them
to KNOW MORE than I do, ant this INCLUDES 'Safety Practices' and
'Preparation'.

Regards,
Ron Magen
Backyard Boatshop
{Have you ever gone to a 'Craft Show' and seen 'rough cut, lightly sanded,
sloppily painted, idiotic 4 pieces of wood nailed together junk' being SOLD
for $30.oo a piece !!}

"Joe Wells" wrote in message
s.com...
So tonight I went to my first class at Woodcraft. This one was for raised
panel doors.

Walked in, sat down, and was greeted with "The guy that normally teaches
this class is off fishing in Canada". Uh-Oh. The guy replacing him
admitted that he agreed to do the class at virtually the last minute. He's
a local cabinetmaker and certainly seemed to know his stuff. Most of the
class went well and I learned quite a bit.

However, it was supposed to be a hands-on class. They didn't have any
stock milled up for us to make our own doors with. And since they rushed
to setup the class, he had trouble even making one as a demonstration. At
one point the bit in one of the routers actually slipped down in its
collet, causing the instructor to: 1) Figure out what the hell happened.
2) Wrestle with equipment that he was unfamiliar with in order to fix it.
The person who setup that router simply hadn't tightened the collet.

Anyway, we're all going to get to take the class again. Hopefully things
will go smoother the second time around. I'm also signed up for their
Router Basics class next Tues. Wish me luck.

--
Joe Wells