Anyone done any 2-5 day carpentry courses?

Quite fancy upping my man-ometer by learning the basics of being a chippie, e.g how to repair/build various things around the house and garden etc.

Anyone done anything similar?

Would need to be in Surrey, hence looking at the BTC http://thebtc.co.uk/brochure/foundation-carpentry-courses/ and such like.

If you have the time and the money, they look like a good set of skills to learn in five days. Would be good fun too I imagine. (Might even do one myself. 😳 )

I think the one downfall with these types of courses, is that you can quickly forget how to do stuff when it’s all crammed in in a week. Maybe have a project set up to start on once you’ve finished the course? Shed build perhaps, or decking so that you can put your skills to use straight away. There’s nothing quite like doing these tasks over and over again to actually “learn” them. Even I find now that there will be the odd little job that I perhaps haven’t done in ages that I have to get my head around for a while.

Hope you enjoy though – working wood is good fun and the satisfaction of something well put together, a door well-hung (oi, no tittering) or a spot-on join is wonderful.

Quite fancy upping my man-ometer by learning the basics of being a chippie, e.g how to repair/build various things around the house and garden etc.

+1

We’ve just finished a major renovation of our downstairs area (fnarf) – new floorboard joists, boards, levelling, etc; cupboard fitting etc.

I watched my Dad do carpentry when I was a youngun and kind of figured it out from there. Would love to do a course though.

Oh and I notice there’s no module on being the most miserable flecker on site. 🙂

No wood carving courses, I notice. 🙁 That’s what I’d really love to do – fineals and fancy stuff…

+1 both DD and camo

My elder brother was always the proper handy one so I looked up to him as a kid/teen, whether it was car mechanics, fitting a kitchen etc.

Methinks it’s now my turn to pick up the baton (see what I did there 🙂 ) and get stuck in. We’re hoping to complete on a house in a few weeks and that’ll need quite a bit of work. Decorating no issue = am good at that. Building = mates. Woodworking = fancy having a go myself, so hopefully I’ll have a few projects to throw busy myself with.

pick up the baton (see what I did there)

* applauds *

Let us know how the course goes if you go on it… I’m looking for something suitable in the Liverpool area. Cost is a factor, plus, for the reasons DD mentioned, I’d like to do something project based over weeks, rather than a short, sharp carpentry shock over a couple of days.

Good luck!

If you have the time and the money

I reckon £395 is a fair price to pay so long as I put the skills to work. Would no doubt have to buy a few bits of kit too.

Let us know how the course goes if you go on it

Will do. BTC look pretty sound but I’ll keep looking in case a more suitable option appears.

Looked at doing a woodworking evening course at Peterborough Regional College, but there weren’t enough takers do they didn’t run it…gutted.

Keep meaning to buy a book or two and see where I get to with it, but God knows when I would find the time…

As someone who did a 4 year apprenticeship and learnt most of what is done on the course, its a very very short course, things need to learnt right, and taught right.
The thing you need to look at is how many are on the course at one time and the number of instructors per student, as some woodworking stuff takes quite a while to perform,so you need to work that into the time allowed.
For tools axminster power tools are cheap all branded stuff, or http://www.toolstation .com for cheaper stuff.

Either way youll get an insight into tools and the feel for wood.

The most important skill is measuring, IMO. That takes a long time to get right.

Is that 967mm or 968mm? Now mark that on the piece you’re cutting. How wide is the line? Which side of the line do you cut? Does it fit? Too small? Aaargh!

Leave it as long as you can for as long as you can. 🙂