Port Townsend School Woodworking Laura Mays - Getting Ready

 Back in Nov 2019, I signed up to take a summer woodworking class at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking (Meghan Fitzpatrick - Anarchist Tool Chest).  I was so excited that I built a mid-sized Japanese carpenter style tool box for the class.  Well, we know how 2020 turned out.  I was so bummed about the class I built a mini-Anarchist tool chest on my own and have been holding off on the full sized ATC in hopes that some day I can take the class from Meghan somewhere.

Port Townsend is a beautiful town.  I used to live in WA state and had visited there a least half a dozen times or more before the school existed  As such, I wanted to get back there, take a class, and visit my close friends I still have in this state.  Laura Mays, head of Krenov School of Woodworking in Fort Bragg, was going to teach a class on small boxes/dovetails.  I want to get better at dovetails so this seemed like a great class and I signed up.

I wanted to bring my two tools.  Given it's a family vacation as well and gas prices are through the roof we wanted to take our hybrid rather than the mini-van.  I figured we would save $500 worth of gas by using the hybrid.  As such, this meant I was going to use my mini-ATC as the mid-sized tool chest doesn't fit will in the vehicle.

Laura Mays was kind enough to outline what tools we would need and was responsive to my email for a few clarifying questions.  Having said that, I didn't want to bring just the bare bones minimal tools.  Honestly, I feel a bit uncomfortable not having all the hand tools I have and use with me.  For saving $500 in gas, I was easily motivated to pare down what I would bring.

The wood we start with will be S4S'd and we will be cutting off pieces during the week off of a board we have been given.  Since it comes relatively dimensioned, I am leaving No 5 and winding sticks behind.  I figured I needed a smoothing plane, 6" & 12" square, marking knife, a few chisels, a mallet, some sort of device to mark the dovetail locations (dividers, dovetail marker), block plane, sharpening stones.  There are a couple of other things to add such as a coping saw, Glen Drake offset kit w scraper for saw kerf, and a router hand plane (I like making rebates to align my dovetails) and small plough plane (in case we need groves for box bottoms).  

Not sure if Laura Mays will encourage or discourage any of these extra items.  I plan to make the dovetails and learn how she tells us to do things so if she says yea or nea to any of these things I will comply.  In another hobby I have, I've always found it amusing that folks will pay good money to take a class and then tell the instructor there is a better way to do something.  I have vowed from that other hobby to never be that person.  I'm there to learn however she wants us to do things.

So below are photos of what I brought.  It's more than I need but it fits in the small tool chest just fine.  I literally sharpened, cleaned, lubed, and adjusted each and every tool as needed.  That way, when I get there the tools should be in optimal working order.  It was also a good excuse to do an annual maintenance on the tools.  Needless to say, I'm very excited by this class.  I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas day.  It's not that often as an adult that I find things that really get me excited so I really enjoy it when it happens.  As I'm typing this (03Jul2022), the class hasn't started yet.  By the time you read this (30Jul2022) the class will have happened.  If all goes well (sometimes I don't feel like blogging), the next several posts will detail what the class was like.