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mr_skittle said:
Make sure its a project that can be reasonably finished in the allotted time. Speaking of allotted time, I have not settled on that yet. It will have to be broken into 2-2.5 hr sessions and I'm starting to think that I might be looking at 3 sessions. Hank G, when you say the class you took was two days, how long were the days? What I have in mind is a little more involved than what you describe so I'm wondering what kind of time frame I need to consider.
My class was on the weekend and it was pretty much two full days. I don’t see how you could do a more involved project in only three 2.5 hour sessions. A lot would depend on how prepared the stock is and how much the students are doing other than assembly. If you do any glue-ups, you’ll have to allot time for the glue to dry. As I remember, our class was structured so that we did the gluing near the end of the first day, so they were ready to continue working on the next day. I think you could plan to leave the completed project unfinished and just give a short explanation of finishing options. Shellac, Danish oil, and wiping varnish are all pretty simple to do. If you do finishing in class, then you have to allow for some drying time so that the students can take their projects home (or arrange for them to pick them up later). If you have time, the best option (IMO) would be to get a couple of non-woodworkers and use them as guinea pigs to see how long the project would take and see where the trouble spots are. I really haven’t thought about that class in the decade or more since I took it, but I am realizing that creating a good beginning woodworking class is hard. There is the time management element, and developing a nice project that is not beyond the capabilities of a beginner. Good luck with yours.
Hank Gillette
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Here comes some heresy.
What is your goal for this class? It is a beginner's class. But there are two types of beginners' classes.
The first teaches the basic skills needed for woodworking.
The second's purpose is to get people hooked on woodworking.
If your's is the second purpose, to get people hooked on woodworking, then I would avoid teaching the arcane skills like jointing and planing, and give them something that they can make quickly easily and be proud of.
Most beginners don't want to brag about their skill-set, they want to show off their projects.
I would try for something that is easy, simple to make, low in cost and looks impressive. If pocket screws and glue will work as well as dovetails, then I'd go with the lightning quick pocket screws.
I would not take shortcuts on the finishing. It is the one are that can make a project look terrific.
At this point I will run for the hills no doubt ducking thrown projectiles.
No animals were injured or killed in the production of this post.
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Maybe look into some Sloyd projects, not overly complex but they do require concentration
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Pencil box with choice of joinery, sliding lid, and a hand carved thumb indent for opening and closing. A project that anyone can use or a nice gift. You could even use pine or another economical wood and it will still look nice. Quick and easy to finish as well.
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How long do you have to teach the class? How much time?
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I've got some unfortunate news to report on this topic. After thinking about it at great length, I've decided to walk away from my involvement with the community workshop where I would have taught this class. It was a complicated decision but came down to two irreconcilable points: There wasn't a shared vision for the workshop between myself and the guy in charge of the whole operation. His priority was being as cheap as possible and relying on and waiting for necessary equipment to be donated. My priority was to have everything necessary, on opening day, to conduct a simple class. For someone who willingly admitted he knows nothing about woodworking, he still insisted on fighting me on every single suggestion I had. A serious control freak. The other BIG problem was the total lack of a safety culture throughout the entire space. Most of the tech shops and craft shops are pretty low stakes when it comes to possible injuries but we all know the high stakes in the woodshop. Once i found out that as an instructor, and the shop manager, I could be liable if anyone was injured, walking away became the smart thing to do. It is incredibly disappointing but I just couldn't keep banging my head against the wall trying to make progress against the current. If their doors are still open in a year maybe I'll check back, hopefully by then they'll have enough clamps to conduct a class. At least there is still a fudge School where I can still teach some hand tool stuff.
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Sorry to hear that. I'm sure it was disappointing to have to come to that decision, but given your description of the circumstances, it sounds like you made the right call. Hopefully another opportunity will present itself.
I know a little of how you might feel. A few years ago I had an opportunity to conduct a class on scrollsawing. Due to chronic communication difficulties with the entity sponsoring the class and what I perceived to be, their lack of commitment to timely scheduling and promoting of the event on their website, we didn't get enough participants registered in time to conduct the class, so I had to cancel at the 11th hour. I was really looking forward to it and spent a lot of time preparing the materials and arranging for my scrollsaw club to help out. It was really disappointing to me. I haven't found that other opportunity yet, but I keep looking.
Good luck!
If you are going down a river at 2 mph and your canoe loses a wheel, how much pancake mix would you need to shingle your roof?
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(10-05-2016, 09:17 PM)mr_skittle Wrote: Once i found out that as an instructor, and the shop manager, I could be liable if anyone was injured, walking away became the smart thing to do.
Is the community workshop covered by liability insurance? If so, the policy may cover both students and instructors. Just something to consider if the opportunity to teach there arises again.
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lil
WOW, gonna deduct points from Megan for not going with what I would have thought was the obvious plug.
Popular Woodworking magazine has had a section for a while called "I can do that" A lot of starter type projects and videos, many of which can be done with a few basic tools.
Worst thing they can do is cook ya and eat ya 
GW
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Since I decided to walk away I've felt a sense of freedom that's been missing for awhile. I was the only one putting any work into the woodshop and ended up putting a lot of pressure on myself to get it in line with the vision I've developed. I was always thinking about it and trying to fit in time to work there. Since my decision, I've been more productive in my own shop too.
As far as insurance, I wouldn't trust it there. They were letting people work in all the different shops, including the woodshop, before they had any insurance at all. Its a rich guy that's fronting all the money for the endeavor and hes totally winging it. He made his money typing code and making video games, not as an entrepreneur. The only thing worse then his business sense was his people skills. He's incredibly hard to communicate with and hence, to get anything done with.
Whether I'm part of it or not, I'm really rooting for it to succeed. Its a really great idea and resource for the community. I'm just afraid that the "flying by the seat of their pants" mentality is going to sink the place. Either that or an accident, god forbid. I'm already in the process of lining up some classes with a local fudge School. Not the full shop kind of projects but just some simple hand tool stuff.
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