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One day classes- what to teach

john lucas

john lucas

AAW Forum Expert
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
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Location
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I've been asked to do a couple of one day classes, probably for beginners or relatively new turners. What would you suggest. I have some ideas of course but I want more feed back from people who do this. Most of my classes are weekend.
 
Is this for a small class of six or less? Many instructors will somewhat tailor things for a beginner or someone with special needs or disability. If you were invited by a club then they must have had something in mind. Ask the coordinator at the club what they would like . Tell them what your specialties are (ornaments, mirrors, or whatnot). Maybe they just want the beginner basics like what is the normal procedure for doing spindles or bowls and how to use tools so that they don't get paranoid about massive catches.
 
John,
Whatever you do will work well.
If it is possible you might ask the students?

With beginners there is always a balance between treasures and techniques.
In advanced classes I only care about sending them home with techniques
But beginner - they need to take something it may be the only time they ever turn.

I have done club workshops where I have helpers and these all have had some real beginners who did well. Classes that have worked for a mixed set of skills.
spheres, ball in ball, 3 Sided napkin rings,
Hollow ball Christmas ornament or Natural edge bowl are both great for advanced beginners.
These are all projects where I know how to fix most mistakes- important for selecting subject to teach.

One thing I learned in club demos is I don't ask them to make a simple jig like I would at Campbell.
They can make it but it takes the slowest student an hour instead of 10 minutes. Most of the class ends up waiting a long time for the slowest student. This is bad!

I think you could do a simple hand mirror class. Mirrors might be an expense.
Somewhat comparable:
We did gavels twice at AAW for the youth. 90 minute class for the head, 90 minute class for the handle. We have 1/2 diameter tenons 3/4" long which we dry fit test. The head cannot fall off when held handle up. It is does a couple turns of masking 3/8" wide tape in the center of the tenon will make the glue joint work.
Gavels can be done at all skill levels.

Al
 
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Something that will help the newish turners think through tool approach when they're on their own at home. With all the YouTube watching that many new and novice turners conduct, it can send the head spinning. A project that uses 2 or 3 tools, but shows the commonality shared by how they're used (ABC, what part of the tool does the cutting, difference between cutting and scraping, let the wood come to the tool, etc). Or, barring that, an entire day on use of the skew.😀😀😀
 
Boy...if I can add another question to John's thread...

I've been asked to teach the local junior high and high school shop teachers more about bowl turning, so they can in turn teach their students.

To say that I'm under-qualified is obvious, and I've said as much, but I've been assured that I know way more than they do. I've been turning 20-30 hours/week for a couple years, but I've never taught an turning...though I've taught all sorts of other woodworking on the jobsite.

Two things I thought to focus on for starters is to get them set up with an easy to use sharpening jig—which leads me to the Wolverine. And I'm thinking for bowls, to show them the Ellsworth grind.

Going over safety and watching the teachers turn also seems worthy of a fair bit of time.

I appreciate any advice!
Zach
 
That sounds like great training for you as an instructor as well as trying to make proficient instructors out of newbies.. They won't need to be experts, but at least they need to be safe. I think that you need to make sure that they understand that they won't be qualified to teach until they have more than a few hours of instruction. Seems like you need to come up with a course that goes for several weeks. In addition to making them proficient turners 😀, try to teach at least the essence of design. 😀 Good luck ... this sounds like a great challenge if you have the time to do it. I'm still learning after dozen years. The more I learn, the more I realize there is so much more that I still don't know. We never stop learning, but we can pass what we know on to others and let them know that what we can learn is almost unlimited.

Besides turning, there is so much to learn about wood and finishing. I wouldn't know where to stop.
 
Zach LaPerriere said:
I've been asked to teach the local junior high and high school shop teachers....

Two things I thought to focus on for starters is to get them set up with an easy to use sharpening jig—which leads me to the Wolverine. And I'm thinking for bowls, to show them the Ellsworth grind.

Going over safety and watching the teachers turn also seems worthy of a fair bit of time.

I appreciate any advice!
Zach
Click to expand...

You have a good framework laid out within to teach. Since your students are teachers who have a different focus than just learning how to turn a bowl it may be an advantage to work on sharpening first.

When I teach beginning bowl turning. I teach the Ellsworth ground gouge and I sharpen all tools for the first couple of class projects. I don't have them use a bowl gouge on the first project.

3 hours
The first project I do is a carving mallet from 4x4x8 or a 3x3x8 using a spindle roughing gouge, parting tool and a spindle gouge. The roughing gouge is an easy tool to start people on and using it to turn a cylinder gets over any inititial trepidation. I teach them beads and coves on the end of the blank where the handle will be. Do a row of beads, turn them off with the roughing gouge. Turn a row of coves, turn them off with the roughing gouge. Use the spindle gouge to shape and refine the mallet.
They can use this forever to drive in spur centers.

3 hours
The second project is a bowl from a 3.5x9" disc mounted on a screw in the Chuck.
They learn the scraping cut, bevel riding push cut. They turn the tenon with a spindle gouge.
Shape the outside of the bowl then mount and hollow it with a thick wall for drying. I have them use a round nose scraper on the inside bottom. This is the first tool I have them sharpen,

3 hours
Third class is a bowl from a half log initially mounted between centers..
Elllsworth gouge to rough to round in a crude bowl shape. Turn the rim. Turn the foot and tenon,
Connect the foot to the rim with a pleasing curve. On this bowl I introduce the pull cut. Mount in the Chuck and hollow for drying. In this class I teach them sharpen the bowl gouge with the Ellsworth jig.
I show them all a demos of sharpening then while they are roughing the bowl I take each one to the grinder have them go through the sharpening motion with the grinder off. I bring the grinder up to speed turn it off and have them sharpen one side as the wheel slows down. Then bring it up to speed turn it off and have them shape the other side. Then turn it on and have then sharpen the tool with the grinder running. I satay on the grinder not running until the have the basic moves. The stay in the grinder running turned off stage until they are doing well. Then they are ready for grinding under power. Then they have to have me watch them sharpen the next time. After that they have a license to sharpen as needed.

3 hrs Dry bowl class - I like to have them microwave one of the bowls above.
In this class if I make a judgement call on which if any students to teach the flute up shear cut.
In class of 8 this would usually be 2-3

3 hrs Natural edge bowl
3 hrs - turning beads on bowls and
 
I like the mallet idea. This is a small class maybe 6 or so. It's probably sort of a boot camp where I just try to get them introduced to turning but go home with a project. Weed pots and maybe a honey dipper would be good. I'd like to let them turn a small bowl. A really small bowl would go quick and most turners end up turning bowls anyway. If they all had Hunter Hercules tools I could skip sharpening and bevel rubbing and just let them turn.
 
I started by taking a 1 day class at WoodCraft few months back. The class covered intro to the lathe, mounting the blank, and turning a bowl. We had plenty of time to get creative and he explained techniques as he walked around attending to each of us. We used carbide tools.

I don't think new turners need too much details, being able to turn a bowl was very enjoyable. It would have been very difficult to remember more details. I think mounting the blank, the order of how you should work a bowl, few best practices, and going home with a bowl was most valuable to me.

This is the class description, we all did bowls, he only brought blank for bowls:

"Have you thought about turning a beautiful project on the lathe? Now you can; select a bowl, vase, candlestick, or a goblet as your project. Louis will teach you the various parts of the lathe, proper safety, turning techniques, and a ton of useful tips. Finally, you will learn the various styles of finishing for your project. Not only do you learn to turn, but you take your chosen project home with you!"
 
John,
I am a new turner who took a one day course from a member of the local AAW chapter. Here is what he did for me that I greatly appreciated. About 2 weeks before the course he asked me:
1. what type of things I wanted to make on the lathe.
2. how much experience I had.
3. what problems I experiencing.
4. what tools I had.

Based on my response(s) he sent back an agenda and instructions for the day: Bring 3 tools: a roughing, spindle, and bowl gouge. Sharpen them to the best of my ability.

1. He spent the first hour instructing and helping me "touch up" my tools.
2. He spent the next hour watching me rough out a blank spindle, correcting my technique, showing me how to make adjustments to the too rest, riding the bevel, etc.
3. The next two hours we made a new handle for my roughing gouge. (I still use it!)
4. After lunch, we started with face work.
5. We started with techniques of sharpening a bowl gouge. (1 hour)
7. He had me rough out a blank for a shallow bowl, using the techniques I learned that morning.
7. We spent the next two hours making my first bowl. He watched and corrected my techniques the entire time.

At the end of the day I had completed 2 projects: a nifty new handle on my roughing gouge and a my first candy dish for our kitchen! I walked away from the course with a sense of achievement and skills that I continue to build on every time I stand at the lathe.
Here is what I felt was important to me: he kept things simple, he gave me confidence, and he gave me a sense of accomplishment.

I like the advice from several members: keep it simple, make it fun, and give your students a project(s) they can complete and take home.
 
For the beginner, tool sharpening is an important skill to learn from day one. Without a properly sharpened tool
you quickly become frustrated with the progress being made on your project. Slow removal of wood and plenty
of damage to the wood surface that needs endless sanding to finish.
I would give the new wood turner a dull tool to turn with for several minutes and then hand them a freshly sharpened
tool. That single moment will be remembered for life.
 
Prospective teachers. @Zach LaPerriere and @john lucas

AAW has a couple of resources free to members.
http://www.woodturner.org/?page=TeachingResources

1- "teaching woodturning Basics" has lots of tips like
Use models, have a whiteboard, keep it simple...this is worth a quick look for experienced teachers too.to

2- "lets go for a spin"by Alan Leland is a whole curriculum for a one week class.
Lesson 5 is bowls&plattere

3- teachers resource an project guide. This aimed at teaching kids but I know it works for kids ages 8 to 80. 🙂. The article on gavels, morse taper, & napkin rings are terrific. 🙂
There are bowl articles too. Plus it comes with nice cover photo of AAW's most recent life member - Joe Ruminski

The way I did the download was to 1. order "teaching basics" 2. Go to checkout where I paid $0
3 click the link in an email from AAW. 4. Save it on my machine.

I always go to class with a plan, wood, tools etc. I'm also mentally prepared to move off the plan if it seems like the right thing to do.
 
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Making a scratch awl is a nice project that includes both between center and chuck mounting, and they go home with a tool they can use for any kind of woodworking. Materials: 1/2" copper pipe cap, 6" of 1/8"-3/16" drill rod, chunk of wood.
 
John, after seeing your demos over the years, I am confident that you will have an outstanding class. You might consider taking a few minutes at the beginning of the class to dwell on safety with tools, lathe, clothing, jewelry, long hair, etc.
 
In a one day class with beginners I start by teaching the basic in the bowl gouge. I know someone mentioned the fingernail grind and explain the difference it the grinds, size of goughe and reason for it. I have found that many think they understand the gouge but really don't. Then how to sharpen, take off the heel and why. Then the different grips, stance and body movement. Then on to the bowl. The bowl gets easier when you understand the tool.
Ok that is my 2 cents
Ron
 
What a lot of great ideas!
My question relates to how you actually managed to get the shop teachers interested? I have been trying to work with our local high school but for whatever reason can't seem to get my foot in the door. I did see some nice examples of turned 'dog' dishes apparently made from 2 x 6's in the hallway display cabinet!
 
I teach the class on Saturday. This one is 2- 3 hour sessions. In the first session we will turn an 8" candleholder. They will use a Hunter Osprey or Hercules or Clewes 1st or 2nd mate. I only have one of each to loan out so that's why so many different ones. for all practical purposes on this project they work the same. They will use a skew on the side to turn a bead and the parting tool to turn some details and to set the depth of cut for the coves cut with the Hunter tool. for the second section we will turn a Letter opener. Probably using the same 3 tools the same way.
The next 2 classes I'm teaching are one 3 hour session. They will do the candleholder as well. I had 2 guys come over to the shop to try it out on them. One guy was really new the other has turned a fair amount for about a year. They both finished in 2 hours and 3o minutes. What I did was have them rough out the cylinder using the Hunter tool. Then use the parting tool to cut a tenon. Place it in the chuck and bring the tailstock back up. Now they cut the various flat areas with parting tool and then use the Hunter tool to flatten those areas. Then turn the bead using the skew. Then use the parting tool to cut the depth of the coves on both sides of the bead. Then use the Hunter tool to cut the coves. Remove the tailstock and hollow out the area for the candle. Then use the parting tool to make the bottom concave and cut it off the lathe. Since I have everyone do each step together it's easier to correct the problems and keep everyone on track.
 
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