HAND TOOL TUNE-UP FOR BOATBUILDERS
Understanding and developing a relationship between wood and the tool in hand.
- Jim Tolpin — August 8–14
Building traditional small sailing and rowing craft is demanding, challenging, and fun. As you get better with the tools necessary for this type of work, especially the traditional hand tools, the demanding part of the equation goes down and the fun quotient goes up. Hand tools are quiet, don’t produce tons of unhealthy dust, and bring you closer to the wood itself, both figuratively and literally. The trick, though, is to choose the hand tool most appropriate to the task, to tune and sharpen the tool to its optimal level of performance, and then to use it the way it was designed and intended to be used.
In this six-day course, master woodworker Jim Tolpin will help students learn and practice these fundamentals for a variety of tools including hand planes, spokeshaves and drawknives, handsaws, chisels, grooving, beading, and scraping tools, and others. Each day will provide a healthy mix of hands-on work along with plenty of question-and-answer sessions and demonstrations by Jim. By the end of the week, you’ll know which hand tools to choose for doing typical tasks such as carving the cutwater on a stem; cutting the rabbet for the garboard plank; and running a traditional decorative bead along the stringer. Jim will guide students through the steps in tuning up, sharpening, and how to handle them in the most effective and efficient ways.
When you experience how well these tools can work and discover how pleasant it is to use them, you’ll develop a new appreciation for true craftsmanship. For anyone interested in woodworking and boatbuilding, this week will prove invaluable.
Tuition: $750
Note:This is a six-day course ending Saturday afternoon.
Thank you, thank you for offering this opportunity to learn and discover the world of hand tools. Jim Tolpin was absolutely phenomenal and wise beyond imagining. 