A firm grounding in carpentry methods
Learn about various wood types, carpentry equipment, cutting, forming joints, and finishing. Take on multiple woodworking projects, document your efforts, and have them evaluated.
Learn how to work with wood and put your skills to use in:
- Landscaping
- Building construction
- Furniture making
- Fencing, or any other application.
Lesson Structure
There are 10 lessons in this course:
- Scope and Nature of Carpentry
- Understanding Wood
- Resistance to Rot, Fire
- Defects in Timber
- Turning Trees into Timber
- Ways of Cutting Logs
- Shrinkage Effects
- Seasoning Timber
- Moisture content of Wood
- Stress Grading
- Types of Wood
- Types of Composites
- Buying Timber
- Carpentry Tools, Equipment, Materials and Safety
- Hand Tools -saws, hammers, chisels drills, planes,screwdrivers, other tools
- Power Tools -nail guns, saws, electric drills, planer, sander, router
- Materials -sandpaper, steel wool, nails, wood screws, glues, wood filler
- Safety
- Tool Maintenance
- Sharpening techniques
- Sharpening tools -planes, chisels, saws
- Cutting and Joining Timber
- Storage -tool boxes
- Hiring tools
- Cutting and Joining Timber
- Types of joints -edge, butt,angled, mitres, framing, dovetail, mortise and tenon, housing joints, halving joints, etc.
- Nails
- Screws
- Staples, bolts, connectors, straps, corrugated fasteners, glues
- Glue blocks, dowels,biscuits, splines
- Cutting and shaping timber
- Small Carpentry Projects
- Hanging tools on a wall
- The work bench
- Making a work bench
- Making a simple 2 door cupboard
- Making a coffee table
- Making a bookcase
- Outside Construction
- Choosing timber
- Pests -termites
- Timber preservatives
- Keeping timber off the ground
- Using timber in the garden
- Recycled timbers
- Outdoor furniture
- Building a wood deck
- Building a wood fence
- Where to build in the garden
- Constructing a wall with railway sleepers
- Constructing Small Buildings
- Types of foundations
- Framing
- Roofing
- Building a wooden cabin
- Building a wood gazebo
- Building a cubby house
- Understanding House Construction
- Timber framed buildings
- Timber floors
- Doors and door frames
- Door Construction
- Door frames
- Architraves and skirting
- Windows and frames-sash, sliding sash, casement, pivot, slat
- Roofs -single, double, trussed,etc
- Handyman Repair Work
- Fitting a lock
- Repairing a sash window
- Fitting and hanging doors
- Hanging a cupboard door
- Form work for concrete foundations
- Relaying floorboards
- Resurfacing timber floors
- Repairing a broken ledge and brace gate
- Finishing Wood
- Creating smooth surfaces -using a plane, sanding, etc.
- Paints, stains and varnishes
- Polyurethane
- Shellac
- French polishing
- Stains
- Paints -defects in painted surfaces, repainting
- Veneering
- Preparing outdoor surfaces
- Tips for outdoor finishes
- Planning and Setting Out a Project
- Setting out
- Making a setting out rod
- Introduction to technical or trade drawing
- Drawing instruments
- Types of drawings -plans, sections, elevations, etc
- setting out a technical drawing
- Building regulations
- Measuring up
- Working out quantities
- Preparing and surveying a site for construction
Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school’s tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.
A Workshop
A workshop need not be specifically designed for you; it can be any area that you choose to use as your main location for storing tools and working on projects. It could be a basement, the space below a carport, or a shed.
securing tools to the wall
In the workshop, space is frequently at a premium, therefore it makes sense to hang tools on the wall to maximise the space that is available. Also, this has the advantage of making them plainly visible and reachable. Hammering nails into studs or drilling screws into masonry walls and leaving them protruding are the simplest ways to hang tools. Hooks that screw in can also be used. Tools without handles or shapes suited for hanging in this manner can be supported by two nails or screws spaced apart by the width of the tool’s handle. Some individuals would recommend drilling a hole through the tool handle if one doesn’t already exist, but we wouldn’t do that since not only will you lower the value of your tools, but you might also hit the metal shaft of the tool inside the handle and risk sending deadly splinters flying.
Pegboard is one of the other methods for hanging tools. This technique uses a pre-drilled piece of hardboard that can be fastened to a frame or wall. It is straightforward and reasonably priced. You must place spacers behind it if you secure it to the face of a wall so that it is slightly elevated from the wall. In this manner, the holes in your hooks will still be accessible. There are many various shapes and sizes of tool hangers that may be fitted through the holes that are evenly spaced out in rows. You can then customise your pegboard by selecting only the hangers you require. You can also create your own hangers using twine or wire that has been plastic-coated to protect the equipment. Some solutions use an elastic cord that is stretched horizontally across the board and nailed in place approximately every few holes. This makes it possible to create areas where the cord can be pulled out to make room for tools.
There are also additional specifically designed modular tool wall storage hangers available. Several of these could serve as an alternative to pegboards by being fastened to them. Before choosing one of these, you would need to determine what tools you currently have and whether there is a module that is the right shape for your tools. Also think about where you want to hang it, if it will stick out too far, and whether you can tie it tightly enough.
Working bench
One of the most practical tools a woodworker may have is this. You’ll spend a lot of time working on your projects at the workbench. There is no perfect bench because the type of cooking you will likely do on it depends on your unique preferences and taste. Yet, there are a few crucial factors to take into account.
The carpenter’s bench, also known as the woodworker’s bench, is used to hold lumber while it is being worked on. It is ideal to be able to stroll around the entire bench if you have the space rather than having it pressed up against a wall.
To help you manipulate work, the bench may have a variety of parts.
- The bench may have one or more vices, either the same size or of different sizes. In order to prevent the use of one vice from preventing the use of another, if more than one vice is to be installed, they should be situated on different ends or sides of the bench. Vices for woodworking can be manufactured of metal or wood (sometimes plastic). To prevent damaging the wood while it is locked within, metal vices should have wooden inside faces attached to the jaws. The vice is adjusted such that the bench’s surface is flush with the tops of the jaws. Older vices have a threaded handle that is used to wind the jaws in and out. Modern vices have handles that are levers attached to split nuts so that the vice may be slid up to the work fast without having to twist the jaws around it, saving time.
- Bench dogs are wooden pegs that are used to help clamp wood together. They go into dog holes in the bench top. The bench dog, which is normally an iron peg, is frequently located inside the vise, and the other dog holes are arranged parallel to it. Bench dogs can have a rectangular or circular portion, but the former is more common because it makes it simpler to insert them into the holes.
- Metal arms or hooks that mimic the top of a shepherd’s staff are called holdfasts. They serve as a third hand and are inserted through a hole in the workbench top so that the hook’s tip sits on the piece of wood being worked on and secures it. With the use of a mallet, the holdfast is tapped into the bench top and released by tapping it from below. Some variations feature a clamp that can be tightened onto the work to hold it in place as well as a threaded end that can be screwed to the bench top.
- In order to keep a piece of wood from moving while it is being planed, planing stops can be employed.
- Although a different mechanism, such as a wooden strip fastened to the bench surface, is typically used, bench dogs might be used for this purpose. It could be secured permanently or not. The stop can be fixed to the end of the bench where the height can be altered to fit the task, and when not in use, it is lowered below the surface.
The bench itself must be sturdy enough to support heavy work being done on it and heavy enough to prevent movement whenever a plane is pushed firmly or a nail is driven in. The bench top’s depth must also be sufficient to hold any vices. A bench top that is three to four inches thick would be excellent. It might be constructed from numerous MDF boards, for instance, with an oak or beech solid hardwood surface. Marine plywood might make for a superior underlayer because it won’t warp from damp. Take into account that MDF will produce poisonous sawdust if used as a top layer. When utilising different composites, keep in mind that some, like plywood, can splinter. The ideal hardwood surface, if you can afford it, is one that isn’t coated (coatings can mark timber which is being worked on).
A basic design might consist of a bench top measuring 60 cm by 1.5 m (2 feet by 5 feet), four upright posts measuring 100 mm by 100 mm (4 inches by 4 inches), eight cross rails between the posts measuring 50 mm by 100 mm (2 inches by 4 inches), one board measuring 2 feet by 4 feet to sit on the lower set of rails to form a shelf, and so on. Dowelled joints and threaded rods can also be employed, but mortise and tenon joints are going to be the strongest.
WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM COMPLETING THIS COURSE?
This course is aimed at anyone, anywhere who is interested in working with wood or would like to improve their skills:
- For all of those tasks around the house
- builders
- renovators, and developers
- Landscaping Building
- Furniture Building Fences
- For the handyman conducting services in this area without a licence.
It may also appeal to people who wish to get a taste of carpentry with a view to going on to further training.
