Beginning Woodworking Syllabus

Orientation to shop

Design

  • History of furniture
  • The process of Building furniture
  • The design process
    • Finding Inspiration
    • Creating preliminary designs
    • Converting designs into plans
    • Using cut lists
    • Creating prototypes, models, scaled drawings
  • Understanding Wood
    • How trees grow
    • How lumber is cut & dried & sold
    • Movement, grain, strength, weight
    • Lumber & Preparation prior to milling
    • Grain selection for design aesthetic – thinking ahead
  • Buying Lumber
  • What do you need to know

The Milling Process

  • What is milling & why do we do it
    • Straight/Square/Flat & True
  • Milling
    • Introduction to Jointing* – Flat faces & edges
    • Introduction to Planning* – Flat and parallel faces
    • Using squares & tape measures
    • Introduction to the Chop Saw* – flat and parallel ends
  • Introduction to the Table Saw*
    • Safe use/hand positioning
    • Set up, alignment
    • Blade selection
  • Rip cuts – what are they, how to do them
  • Cross cuts – what are they, how to do them
    • Introduction to the cross cut sled
    • Introduction to the miter gauge

Joinery

  • Introduction to Carcass Joinery & Frame Joinery
  • Butt joints
  • Miters
  • Rabbet, Dado, Lap & Bridle
  • Mortise & Tennons
    • Introduction to tennoning jigs
    • Introduction to the router*
  • Box Joints demo
  • Dovetail demo if time allows

Constructing Projects

  • Sanding
    • Sandpaper overview
    • Sanding techniques
      • Hand sanding
      • Scraping & smoothing planes
      • Machine sanding
  • Choosing and Using glue

Finishing Projects

  • Coloring Wood
  • Choosing Finishes
  • Applying Finishes

*Introduction to Power Tools

The topics marked with an * can also be covered independently as part of the Introduction to Power Tools