The bench I made in school

Last week, I took a class at the Dogwood Institute School of Fine Woodworking(http://www.dogwoodwoodworking.com/) in Alpharetta, Georgia.

I am very much a noob. All of my projects have been simple and my joinery has been with nails or screws. This is a stool I made two months ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarkpictures/3993536317/

Not to turn this into too much of an advertisement, but the instructors were experienced, knowledgeable and encouraging. I am very glad I took the class and I’m hoping to take more eventually, but right now I want to practice what I’ve learned and get better at it.

I liked that it wasn’t a class where we built a project. The purpose of the class was to teach us the techniques needed to do a project(like sharpening and maintaining tools, wood selection, milling) and the bench was just a little side thing that came out of the practical exercises.

I am very glad I took the class and would encourage anybody that asked to do the same.

The bench is made from alder. We learned how to layout and cut through and half blind dovetails by hand. The sides and tops are from two different boards we had to mill square and to dimension and glue up. The tenon has walnut wedges.

-- Sometimes... At night... My router tells me to do things to wood. Bad Things.