Woodwork Course

stephenrd

Hi All,


I've been thinking about taking a woodwork course in the near future - one aimed at beginners but possibly moving on to something more serious.


Does anyone know of any good evening courses in the south Dublin area? I've had trouble finding any in depth information.


Cheers


Stephen

Dummy

Hi Stephen,

I did one a few years back in St Tiernans in Balally. Good course and a good teacher.

Didn't let us near the power tools though - only hand tools. I've made up for it since !!!



D

ennisa

Stephen,
I had a cast around several months ago to see if I could find a woodworking course and I was very dissapointed with what I found. I work full time so it had to be a night course. I went to

http://www.nightcourses.com/

and did a search. If you are interested in wood turning then there is a bit of choice, however for actual woodworking there were two. One in rosmini and one in Dun Laoighre. There may be more outside dublin but I only searched within dublin. I enrolled in the one in rossmini and completed it at the end of last year. The tutor said this was the first time in many years that they had gotten enough numbers to actually start the course usually they have to cancel it.

It was a basic course. It went through making some joints, mortice and tennon, half lap, bridle and through mortice. And then it was up to you to pick a project (and supply the materials) and the tutor was there to assist you as you built the project. To be honest i was looking for something more advanced and I ended up skipping the last couple of nights and I completed the project at home (a small side table made from oak)

If you have never done any woodworking then I reccommend the course. It was good to see people have an opportuninty to use tools that are properly fettled and to use them on a proper bench. There was also a high proportion of women on the course, just less than half, which quite surprised me. Very few women I know would be interested in such a course. They love the end product but aren't particularly interested in the physical aspect or the process.
I could not find something that catered more to the skill level i am at or want to achieve.

Hope this helps Stephen.

stephenrd

Hi,


Thanks for the replies.


I was suprised to see the lack of options out there - I would of thought there would be more to choose from. I'll check out the one out in dun laoghaire and see what happens.


If I find anything else out there, I'll report back.



Cheers


Stephen

stephenrd

So the course out in Dun Laoghaire doesn't start up again until September. (The one for spring 09 is full up).


Anyone else know of anywhere offering such a course?



Thanks

loz

Forget the flatwork - Get yourself turning !!

Plenty of courses on, and most have only just started for the spring season, call a few night schools, you might get on an underbooked slot, and will have only missed a week.

---

Member of "Craobh Cuíg Déag". The Dublin 15 Chapter of the Irish Woodturning Guild.

www.craobhcuigdeag.org

JoeB-

Courses of this sort are difficult to find. As Ennisa says there are some woodturning ones, in Bolton st. and elsewhere. Tiernans in Ballally as mentioned may have something.

One other option, though expensive, would be the UK.. there are some week long chair making courses for example, and others... these can be very expensive, I've seen eight week courses, with an acknowledged expert at his trade (usually chairmaking for some reason), but they can be 15K to 20K.. very expensive as I said.

But there aren't many night courses to try. Axminster, the tool company, also offer courses.. and people in the UK would travel to them and stay in recommended accomadation, so that might be an option for a holiday type thing... (mostly courses on woodturning, use of expensive jigs, i.e Leigh, but they may have other general woodworking ones.)

There must be more going on in Ireland but I haven't heard of them.

There's always Letterfrack in Galway, it's well known as an excellent training center, only longer full time courses as far as I know, may be worth ringing them. (College of Design or something similar, in Letterfrack, Galway.. these details may be wrong.)

Cheers
Joe

loz

JoeBallantine wrote: »

, I've seen eight week courses, with an acknowledged expert at his trade (usually chairmaking for some reason), but they can be 15K to 20K.. very expensive as I said.



Cheers
Joe

You serious Joe ? - thats crazy

---

Member of "Craobh Cuíg Déag". The Dublin 15 Chapter of the Irish Woodturning Guild.

www.craobhcuigdeag.org

Benburb Dog

hi stephenrd,
I'm in the same situation as you. I am still researching and have come to the conclusion that I may have to teach myself. There are only 3 things in my way:
1. Space, 2. time, 3. money.

But I may be able to squeeze these out eventually. Until then, it will be books. The most attractive classes I have found are in East Sussex in the UK, at a reasonable price and exactly what we are talking about:

http://www.johnlloydfinefurniture.co.uk/

good luck and let me know if you find any viable alternatives.

doozerie

Found the following from the Sustainable Ireland website, Irish Times website, and google:

* Green Wood Chairs in West Cork. 3 day course on chairmaking, 1 day course on stools and tables.
* oldchairs.ie in Clare. 2-day weekend courses on restoration by the looks of things.
* Irish Times article on various types of course.
* Other West Cork courses

The Irish Times has had other articles in the past on both chairmaking courses and green wood courses, but I can't find them on their site.

If you are considering a course in England then the David Charlesworth courses are well worth considering, from what I have read. £595 for the 5 day course and £5,300 for the 12-week course, so not cheap but he has a good reputation as a woodworker.

Highway_To_Hell

stephenrd wrote: »

Hi All,


I've been thinking about taking a woodwork course in the near future - one aimed at beginners but possibly moving on to something more serious.


Does anyone know of any good evening courses in the south Dublin area? I've had trouble finding any in depth information.


Cheers


Stephen

No too sure if they still run them, but Newtown Park Comprehensive school ran night courses in wood work - great introduction to basic wood working and the different joints. As far as I remember the clases ran from Sept - Dec, Jan - May/June so you might have to weait until next September to enrol.