Coopering
Coopered walnut door in an ash cabinet (in progress)
Coopering technically refers to the art of wooden barrel making, but cabinetmakers use the term to describe the process of making curved parts of solid wood without steaming or bending the wood. The panel to be curved is sawn into staves, the edges planed to a slight angle, and the whole panel reassembled and glued back together. Done properly, the resulting panel looks, on the outside, just as it did when flat — only now it is curved. Jim Krenov liked to make his curved panels asymmetrical, not arcs of circles, and the technique he taught me is the technique we will use in this class. Mastery of the hand plane for jointing edges is the key. Students should bring a #5 bench plane, or similar, tuned and ready for use.
16 hours of instruction, by appointment only
Familiarity with the use of hand planes for jointing and smoothing is required; therefore the basic class Planes – Essential Setup and Use is a pre-requisite (or demonstrated equivalency)
Tuition: $260
Materials: $ 60
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Total: $320
Class Schedule
Registration
