I built this walnut bed from plans in Woodsmith Magazine and needed a bedside table for a lamp. I also wanted to learn more about building drawers so I found a woodworking school that had a class where you could build a three drawer dresser. Problem solved.
With woodworking becoming so popular, there are a number of places where you can learn basic woodworking skills, get experience using woodworking machines and as I did, build a piece of furniture. For some, building that one piece of furniture may be enough while for others, it may be the start of a woodworking hobby or career.
So, in 1997, I attended a 5 day woodworking course at the Marc Adams Woodworking School, https://www.marcadams.com, in Indianapolis taught by woodworker Kelly Mehler. In the class I learned how to take the general measurements I had in mind and turn them into a plan for the dresser. The school provided access to rough sawn wood for the projects and instructions and help in turning the wood into useable lumber. From that experience, I learned what kind of equipment I needed in my shop if I was going to buy and use rough lumber in the future. Over the next few days, I learned to select boards for their grain pattern on the visible portions of the project, glue up panels and cut them to final size. I also learned a number of joinery techniques including hand cut half blind dovetails. One thing I learned that I did not like doing was making hand cut dovetails. So on this project, I ended up using the Leigh dovetail jig I describe in the Tools section of my shop tour to complete the joints when I got home. One skill that I did develop was how to fit a drawer front in case work. In the dresser I built, the drawer openings were defined by the case sides top and bottom and two dust panels. That meant the openings were not exactly square. What I learned to do was to match the drawer from to the opening but cutting, sanding, and scraping it so it would just fit in the opening. I then attached the drawer sides with half blind dovetails and then sanded the front and sides so that it would slide all of the way in. To make the gap appear even around the drawer front, I learned to sand a slight bevel to create an even shadow line around the drawer front. On my particular chest of drawers, I applied a clear finish to it when I got home to bring out the beautiful walnut color and grain.
One nice feature of the school was that they provided dinner and relaxation after the day in the shop where you could exchange experiences and tips with other woodworkers in the class as well as the instructor. Now, you can experience that in many online forums.
If you think you might want to take some classes, contact local woodworking stores like Rockler or Woodcraft or a regional woodworking store. They often have one or two day basic classes to get you started. Also, Festool has classes on how to use their tools. If you want to attend a multiway woodworking school, google woodworking schools in a state that is accessible. As a woodworker that prefers to build Arts and Crafts furniture, I have identified two that do have classes in building popular pieces of Arts and Crafts furniture: Gregory Paolini Design Academy http://gpdacademy.com/class-catalog/ in Asheville North Carolina and The Cabinet Maker https://the-cabinetmaker.com/wood-working-school/class-descriptions in Paoli Indiana.
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