Last night I took the woodshop basics class again from @Tapper. I didn’t think at first that I should have to take the class since I’d already taken the earlier intro class from @AlexRhodes. I reconciled my need to take the class first because it is a prerequisite for taking other woodshop classed I wanted to take and second because although I’ve been a wood worker for many years I believe you can always learn something new. Maybe you’ve been doing something wrong all those years and you just didn’t know it.
Like Brian said, he’s still learning woodworking, as we all should still be learning. I want to compliment Brian for his excellent class and for taking the time to teach us how DMS would like us to treat the tools. I definitely learned somethings from the class. If you’ve already taken the previous intro class or if you’ve been working in wood for a while, I highly recommend you take the class. You might help the woodshop committee improve the class by making suggestions to the instructor, but the class is primarily to set a baseline for understanding how to correctly use the tools.
Brian knows a lot about the particular DMS machines because he spends a lot of his time repairing them. In his class he explains in considerable detail how to avoid breaking a machine. Case in point, is his admonition not to push wood into the bandsaws forcefully. Let the saw cut at the speed the saw wants to cut. Forcing it causes damage to the saw and damage to your work piece, neither of which we want.
The bottom line for me is that I want to take care of the equipment DMS provides and I want to learn something new every time I come to DMS. Brian’s woodshop class definitely achieved both of these goals. Thanks again Brian for an excellent class!