New English Workshop Shwarz Class

[Berncarpenter]

End of the first day and only now at 11.30pm have time to post.The day started 8.30 at Warwick collage in Royal Leamington Spa .Work on the ATC started at about 10 am after introductions and safety talk. Chris gave us bite size tasks that were easy to follow and if you got into difficulty at all he would help you get back on track. Anyone thinking that they are not up to a good enough standard needn't worry at all, there is a big difference in the skill levels and everyone in the class is doing just fine.By 12 am lunch time, marking out and rebates were planed and tails ready to saw. 12.30 isn back to it and sawing the tails . Work on the tails carried on until about 4pm then we transferred them onto the pin board and sawed chopped pared until 6pm.

Big tails meant they were quick to finish.

One thing that surprised me Chris was happy to let you use any of his personal tools to try out and encouraged all the students to share their tools as well.

Borrowed this little beauty to check for tail squareness.

And we also get to play with these

Yeh they are HOLTEY 8)

7pm and off to the pub and thats everyone Chris included . Great night ended for me at 11.30 and left about 8 to carry on without me , theres going to be a few sore heads in the morning :roll:

So end of the first day of five and i have had a great time . The dovetail gauges i made as practice for this class were given to each of my fellow students as a gift to use if they wished to.

A big plus for me was that they got the seal of approval from Chris and he also wanted one to use.

Well thats it for now !.35 am thats a long day but a really good one , I will try and take more photos for you tomorrow.

Cheers Bern

 

[Mike.S]

Very interesting and appreciated, particularly the pics. Keep it coming.

Love the 'tail square'.

ATC?

 

[nathandavies]

Looks rubbish Bern, i'm not jealous at all.
Not sleeping in the Volvo B&B I hope?
Enjoy the week.

Nathan

 

[Berncarpenter]

Very interesting and appreciated, particularly the pics. Keep it coming.

Love the 'tail square'.

ATC?

Hi Mike
Hopefully i will have time today to take more photos , no one minds them being taken which is good.

The tail square that Chris bought for $20 second hand was used for die making originally .

Looks rubbish Bern, i'm not jealous at all.
Not sleeping in the Volvo B&B I hope?
Enjoy the week.

Nathan

Left it a bit late but managed to get B&B in Warwick , just 10 minutes from the collage. Volvos looking all respectable now ive put the seats back in for the week.
Cheers Bern

 

[Berncarpenter]

Today we will be shown how to Bishop our dovetails, this caused a great deal of laughter in the pub . (hammer) the Bishop.
If things go bad for Chris he could make a living as a standup comedian :lol:

Cheers Bern

 

[Paul Chapman]

Sounds like you're having a good time. Keep the pictures coming.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Bern,

Glad that you're all enjoying it. Thank you for taking the time to post the photos.

Neil

 

[riclepp]

Hi Bern

Thanks for sharing, looks a great course, looking forward to the rest of them photo's

 

[Berncarpenter]

8.30 start today and surprisingly no one looked too worse for ware. Todays task was to finish transferring the tails onto the tail boards saw and chop the pin sockets.
My yellow pine boards went a bit nuts overnight and curled up .

Had to clamp to the bench to straighten things out a bit and was glad i brought my rolling toolbox ,its a handy support .

The downside of big tales is lots of chopping out and this stuff is pretty tough .Being able to sit on my box made it a little easier

And i wasnt the only one , this is Robbie and his dutch chest who came over from Belgium

Ater a morning chopping things started to come together

All the curled up stuff straightened up once the joints were put together

6 out of the 18 managed to glue up

sorry this post is a bit word shy , but I'm wacked out

Cheers Bern

 

[nathandavies]

Good job bern, keep it coming

 

[Newbie_Neil]

sorry this post is a bit word shy , but I'm wacked out

I'm impressed that you still have the energy to post on the forum. :lol:

Thanks for sharing, it's really interesting.

Neil

 

[Paul Chapman]

Great stuff, Bern - those dovetails look good.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Noggsy]

Really enjoying the updates Bern, thanks. I wish I'd had the money, that looks like a fantastic course - must save up for next time!...maybe when my daughter's left home in 25 years or so :lol:

Good luck with the rest of the week and keep those updates coming.

 

[carlb40]

Excellent Bern, i'm really glad you got on the course and are doing so well.

 

[David C]

May I ask what your final thoughts on the Schwarz experience were please?

Bets wishes,
David

 

[Berncarpenter]

May I ask what your final thoughts on the Schwarz experience were please?

Bets wishes,
David

Hi David
First i would like to apologise for abandoning this post , sorry folks but the pace of this class was brutal . Long hot 33 degree days in a glass roofed shop and evenings spent in the pub left me exhausted but happy.
Great natural light but in a heat wave torture :twisted:

Final thoughts
The class was very well organised by Paul Mayon and Derek Jones, very passionate intelligent and interesting guys that were a pleasure to work and socialise with. Jamie Ward ran his workshop with military precision, very well organised no hanging around waiting for timber or help when needed to find a spare length after little mishaps like this #-o

Chris Schwarz was very entertaining, funny ,very skilful in the way he taught and although the pace was hurried he made sure everyone understood the task helping out when assistance was needed.He worked hard and partied even harder .He has the ability to explain something with three words that would take any one else thirty or more.

There was a really good atmosphere between the students and every one got on just fine. It was good to meet and work with other woodies that i would have never have met up with usually.

A big plus for me was to be able to try out so many different tools, Holtey planes lie Neilson, Veritas , water, ceramic and diamond stones.

So i had a great time and would recommend one of the New English Workshop classes to any one and would like to thank all involved .

Didnt manage to complete my chest but then nobody does it all in the five days, managed to finish at home one day this week.

Cheers Bern
,

 

[Harbo]

Sounds like you had a great time and great chest.

Rod

 

[Peter Sefton]

Thanks Bern, looks like you all had a great course. The tool chests look very good.
We had a dovetailing and drawer making course last week, I managed to keep the workshop to about 27 degrees but it was exhausting particularly for guys that are not used to working on their feet all day long.
I really enjoy the intensity of the short course's and finishing a complex construction within a week, but couldn't keep up that pace all year long.
Cheers Peter

 

[Fromey]

I just survived the two day Dutch Tool Chest course (apparently it only got to 28 degC, so my hat's off to you surviving 5 days at 33 degC). Like the ATC, it was very intense and rushed. More like a race. Still, that means you have to really focus and just get on with it, so in a strange way it's a fairly effective way of learning. The wood was a trade-off between ease of use and long term durability. For my first set of dovetails, it made it quite a challenge; hard and crumbly (I'll post pictures once I've cleaned them up). My best moment was when I came to squaring up the frame before nailing on the back. Unlike most of the others, it was essentially perfectly in square; no adjustment needed. At least it made the Schwarz laugh. I'm disappointed at myself for not taking advantage of the tools floating around. I looked at them, and even saw others using them, but for some reason I can't fathom, I didn't think of using them myself (other than Chris's Starrett callipers and beading plane). Instead I made do with the college's tools when needed. Doh!

I'll definitely be back depending on project/tutor/cost. It's opened my eyes up to the worth of doing a course so I'll start looking at the others on offer in the UK.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

What sort of cost do these courses come at?