Wednesday-Thursday 9-10 May 2012, 9.30am - 5pm

The course

This two day course has been designed for students with little or no previous tool sharpening experience, who enjoy working with wood but have found difficulty achieving a satisfying standard of work due to their lack of tool tuning and sharpening skills.

During this course you will learn how to sharpen wood cutting tools to professional standards and select new or second-hand tools that are well engineered. From this understanding of the importance of tool technology and the acquisition of tool tuning skills, you will be in a position to expeience the pleasure of working wood by hand to a finer degree of accuracy and with less effort.  Students are advised not to buy tools or equipment for the course, but bring any tools they have in whatever condition they may be.

The tutor

Bruce Luckhurst has made and restored furniture for over forty years.  He is a refreshingly original thinker who has a wide range of depth of experience, setting demanding standards of himself, and with international recognition as one of the very best teachers of his craft.  He has designed and developed numerous vocational courses for institutions in Sweden, USA, Norway and the UK, including courses for West Dean College and The Countryside Agency.

Participant information

Participants should bring with them:

  • Any old woodworking tools that they may have, however damaged they might be, such as: metal and wooden bodied planes, chisels, gouges, hatchets and axes, bill hooks, drawknives, metal and wooden spoke shaves, sharpening stones, screwdrivers, scrapers, knives, cutting  gauges etc.
  • 3 kitchen rolls (paper towels).   
  • A candle.
  • Notepad and pencil.  
  • Large tipped, black marker pen (permanent ink)     
  • Protective clothing.  
  • Pair of stout shoes or safety shoes (you will not be able to wear sandals or canvas shoes in the workshop).

 Items that you will be able to borrow:

  • Cabinet scraper.  
  • Ticketer.
  • 30cm satin chrome rule.      
  • 6000g  Japanese water stone.          
  • Honing stones .    
  • Engineer’s square.   
  • Cutting gauge.    
  • No.51/2 or 6 bench plane.   
  • Chisels.  
  • 4 & 10mm glass. 
  • Dial and digital callipers.

Fee

£175 per person, to include all tuition, teas, coffees and a light lunch.

The Museum

The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum has over 45 historic building exhibits.  It is also home to the award winning and innovative Downland Gridshell, which houses a conservation workshop and artefact store, and is also used for many practical courses.  The Museum runs a full programme of courses in historic building conservation and traditional rural trades and crafts, along with MSc programmes in Building Conservation and Timber Building Conservation. Please telephone for further details.

To book, download a form here.  Alternatively, fill in the booking request below.

Make a Booking Request

 
This is an initial booking request form, and does not guarantee a place on the course. The Adult Learning Team will check the availability of the course, and reply to you as soon as possible - usually within one working day.