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Beginner’s furniture making course launched

David is launching a one-day course, where you will transform a board of timber into a beautiful floating shelf with recesses for tea light holders. In his peaceful rural workshop in Ashley, Cheshire, you will work in a small group of three students, thereby receiving plenty of individual guidance from David. The course is suitable for complete beginners and is designed to allow you to acquire new skills in a relaxed environment and to take away a finished piece that you will feel proud of.

The day itself is an introduction to fine furniture making and will provide you with an understanding of how to work with this tactile, natural material. Students will see how the wood is machined into a more workable form and from this point they will they will be using professional hand tools, to continue the process themselves.

Early on, you will experience the satisfying process of seeing shavings curl off your plane, as you clean up and flatten your shelf. You will move on to squaring off the edges, with a combination of a block plane and a jack plane whilst also learning how to sharpen their blades so that they continue to be an absolute pleasure to use.

You will then remove any of the minor imperfections with a cabinet scraper, before drilling holes with the pillar drill for the concealed shelf supports. Further holes will be made to locate the tea light holders before sanding and detailing the shelf to a lovely crisp finish. During the last part of the day you will apply an acrylic lacquer, leaving your shelf silky smooth.

There are only a limited number of places for this offer which is for the two dates of Sunday 15th and Friday 27th of March at the introductory price of £95. This includes a timber of your choice, tea light holders, concealed shelf supports and all tools are provided. All you need to do is show up, ready to learn!

To book your place contact David on 0161 928 5647 (workshop), 07969 115946 or by email – david@www.davidtragen.co.uk.

Further photos of the project can be seen on my Facebook page photo album.