Re: Handplane and general sharpening workshop
I will only speak for myself here:
The first hand plane workshop I went to was super useful for me. I had never even held a hand plane before and I had never sharpened anything in my life. By the end of the workshop, I had sharpened all my chisels (and felt like I could keep them sharp by myself at home) and had a basic grasp of the different parts of a hand plane.
During the 2nd workshop, I spent the entire time tuning a #9 plane that I got off of craigslist. The sole had to be flattened and the frog needed adjustment so the blade was square. The throat also needed to be closed up some. Wood shavings were constantly getting between the chip breaker and blade. Mike and others helped me address all of these issues. By the end of the workshop, that plane was working great and I felt like I understood hand planes much, much better.
I would attend a 3rd workshop without thinking twice. I would hope to work on setting up a cabinet scraper that doesn't quite work as well as I think it should. I would also work on planing the face of a board that is wider than your hand plane without getting track marks.
That is a good question about why less people attend the classes at Klingspor. I really don't know. I would venture to guess that less people actually know about it and I wonder if signing up for something is automatically more of a commitment than just showing up to a class at Klingspor.
I don't know whether to be happy or concerned that so many are signing up for the sharpening workshop for the second or third time as well as lots of new folks.
We're either providing a great service that folks can't get enough or I am a terrible teacher that has to go over everything several times to make it understood.
Or maybe people just like Bill's shop?
Either way I was not as well attended at the workshops at Klingspor and I wonder why? Is it the location? Time? Not advertised well enough?
Those classes were free to the public but only a few attended. Is there something we can do different to bring people in at the Asheville or Winston-Salem stores?
I will only speak for myself here:
The first hand plane workshop I went to was super useful for me. I had never even held a hand plane before and I had never sharpened anything in my life. By the end of the workshop, I had sharpened all my chisels (and felt like I could keep them sharp by myself at home) and had a basic grasp of the different parts of a hand plane.
During the 2nd workshop, I spent the entire time tuning a #9 plane that I got off of craigslist. The sole had to be flattened and the frog needed adjustment so the blade was square. The throat also needed to be closed up some. Wood shavings were constantly getting between the chip breaker and blade. Mike and others helped me address all of these issues. By the end of the workshop, that plane was working great and I felt like I understood hand planes much, much better.
I would attend a 3rd workshop without thinking twice. I would hope to work on setting up a cabinet scraper that doesn't quite work as well as I think it should. I would also work on planing the face of a board that is wider than your hand plane without getting track marks.
That is a good question about why less people attend the classes at Klingspor. I really don't know. I would venture to guess that less people actually know about it and I wonder if signing up for something is automatically more of a commitment than just showing up to a class at Klingspor.