Garrett Hack Seminar in Phoenix, Arizona December 3-7, 2011

A fellow Arizona woodworker is hosting Garrett Hack for some excellent demonstration and hands-on classes here in Phoenix.  The following is a write-up as it appeared in the Arizona Association of Fine Woodworking newsletter.

I think I signed up within the first 3 minutes of hearing about it.  Very exciting class.  If you are in the Phoenix area or near-by, I'd love to see you there.

For reservation information, send me email: and I will get you the information for reserving.  I am not the chair for this event; just the messenger :) Sorry for the image of my email address; trying to avoid spam!

The AZ Association of Fine Woodworking is hosting Garrett Hack for a 2-day seminar December 3 and 4 in Phoenix as well as a 3-day hands-on at the Woodcraft Store in Chandler, December 5 to 7.

For the 2 Day Demonstration Class:

Garrett’s talk over two days will cover a range of useful topics that will improve your work habits, help you work more enjoyably and safely — by using more hand tools — and lead to better designed results. 

The first day covers WORKING SMART, ways of working that reduce dumb errors while increasing your efficiently. Something as simple as using a good marking system avoids errors and saves time, as does a story stick (doubling as a pattern perhaps) for transferring exact dimensions.  Naturally hand tools figure in, for their efficiency and accuracy at certain tasks such as smoothing surfaces and edge jointing boards for gluing together. Through demos Garrett will illustrate the usefulness of hand tools and how they fit into the balance between working by hand and machine, and many tips for working smart.  

DESIGN is by far the most challenging part of building furniture as there are few rules and often many unknowns. By looking at images of some beautiful furniture we’ll start to answer questions such as how was it made, what woods were used and why, how did the maker solve some of the basic problems of design and construction, and how are such design elements as proportion or detail used? We might also look at developing drawings, choosing materials, devising a building sequence, and even de-construct a table or case design to understand the joinery and variations possible. Come with your design questions. 

For the 3 Day Hands on:

Working with Curves

As your furniture design and technical skills develop, so does your interest in using curves. We'll cover the basic ways to create those curves, from cutting them out of the solid such as along the edge of a table, to laminating and steam bending more complex shapes for chairs. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method — speed of making, stability, consistency, economy — and how do you decide the best approach?  We'll go through as many processes as we can, from designing curves to producing quick patterns, bending forms, thin laminates, coopered shapes, veneered curves, and most importantly dealing with the joinery of curved parts. You'll see, because you'll be doing all the steps, too.

Decorative Details

Over three millennia ago Egyptian craftsmen were decorating their work with inlays of small intricate patterns of ebony, ivory, and other exotic materials. We'll learn similar techniques for making delicate string or line inlays, larger surface inlays such as panels, making and inlaying patterned bandings, beads, and using non-wood materials such as silver and shell. For much of this work we will be making and using scratch stocks, simple yet amazingly versatile tools useful for lots more besides inlay. 

The 2 day is December 3 and 4 at the Grace Inn in Phoenix. The 3 day is December 5-7 at Woodcraft in Chandler. Cost for the 2 day is 75.00 and the 3 day is 300.00. To reserve: $75 for the 2-day and $100 deposit for the 3-day.