Making Molding Planes With Matt Bickford
2020-10-27 09:00 - 16:30, 2020-10-28 09:00 - 16:30, 2020-10-29 09:00 - 16:30, 2020-10-30 09:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Acanthus Workshop, 62 Indian Trail Rd., Jim Thorpe, PA, 18229, United States
In the making molding planes with Matt Bickford workshop you’re guided through the process of making a pair of #8 hollow and round planes with side escapements.
Making Molding Planes
The class focuses on making a pair of hollows and rounds, but much of the tooling and processes are directly relatable to making any wooden plane or tuning any antique. Students start with beech billets and learn the many steps involved in creating these very versatile tools.

Some of the many skills addressed in this class:

Making an accurate mortise with floats
Fitting a wedge
Mating an iron to the bed of your plane
Profiling a sole
Heat treating
Addressing the iron’s various edges.

Using Molding Planes With Matt Bickford
2020-10-31 09:00 - 16:30, 2020-11-01 09:00 - 16:30
Stop making compromises with your router. Stop getting close to the moulding profiles you want. Learn how to use some of the most abundant moulding planes of the past to get the exact detail you want in the Using Molding Planes with Matt Bickford class.
Using molding planes
Hollows and rounds do not make specific profiles. They make specific arcs. Learn to transform these various arcs into scores of varying profiles.
From layout to execution, this weekend class focuses on creating various moldings with these extraordinarily versatile planes. You’ll lay-out and ultimately stick (plane) several moldings that range from simple coves and ovolos through ogees, cymas and various combinations.
The class focuses on hollows and rounds sized #6 and #10 along with a rabbet plane. Students have the opportunity to bring their own performing planes or they can use newly made planes by M. S. Bickford, planemaker. Students also have the opportunity to use a larger range of planes.
Each student leaves with a stick (or two) of moulding for a picture frame and the ability to transfer mouldings he or she sees in person or print into wood and onto their project.

Optional 3rd Day of Using Molding Planes With Matt Bickford
2020-11-02 09:00 - 16:30
Stop making compromises with your router. Stop getting close to the moulding profiles you want. Learn how to use some of the most abundant moulding planes of the past to get the exact detail you want in the Using Molding Planes with Matt Bickford class.
In this optional 3rd day of the class, you’ll learn to make and carve linenfold and egg-and-dart moldings.
Using molding planes
Hollows and rounds do not make specific profiles. They make specific arcs. Learn to transform these various arcs into scores of varying profiles.
From layout to execution, this weekend class focuses on creating various moldings with these extraordinarily versatile planes. You’ll lay-out and ultimately stick (plane) several moldings that range from simple coves and ovolos through ogees, cymas and various combinations.
The class focuses on hollows and rounds sized #6 and #10 along with a rabbet plane. Students have the opportunity to bring their own performing planes or they can use newly made planes by M. S. Bickford, planemaker. Students also have the opportunity to use a larger range of planes.
Each student leaves with a stick (or two) of moulding for a picture frame and the ability to transfer mouldings he or she sees in person or print into wood and onto their project.

Make a Wharton Esherick 3-Tier Stand – Hands-on Class
2020-11-09 08:30 - 16:30, 2020-11-10 08:30 - 16:30, 2020-11-11 08:30 - 16:30, 2020-11-12 08:30 - 16:30, 2020-11-13 08:30 - 16:30
Wharton Esherick was an artist and studio furniture maker before virtually everyone else. His work is often sculptural with light, flowing lines. The 3-tier stand he created in the mid-1960s is no exception.

3-Tier Stand
In this 5-day class, you’ll create your version of this Wharton Esherick masterpiece. From the joinery to the mix of woods, the details of this stand elevate it to another level of quality and design. There’s also lots of power and hand tool work to help develop or improve your skills.

Greene & Greene Rocker – Hands-on Class
2020-11-16 08:30 - 16:30, 2020-11-17 08:30 - 16:30, 2020-11-18 08:30 - 16:30, 2020-11-19 08:30 - 16:30, 2020-11-20 08:30 - 16:30
This stunning Greene & Greene rocker is the project of the week. In this 5-day class, you’ll have the opportunity to recreate this G&G masterpiece.
Greene & Greene Rocker
You’ll dive into some striped mahogany for the chair parts, then form ebony tenons and pegs to hold it all together. From piercing the splats to inlaying the burl and ebony into the crest, this rocking chair will push your abilities to their limits and beyond. The best way to become a better woodworker is to test your skills and push through what you perceive as their limits.

Make a Boston Blockfront Chest – Hands-on Class
2021-01-04 08:30 - 16:30, 2021-01-05 08:30 - 16:30, 2021-01-06 08:30 - 16:30, 2021-01-07 08:30 - 16:30, 2021-01-08 08:30 - 16:30
The Boston Blockfront Chest is a distinctly American form. Not only are the drawer fronts stepped (or blocked) to form symmetrical concave and convex surfaces, but the top, base molding, and feet are blocked as well.
Boston Blockfront Chest
This 5-day class begins with case construction. You’ll learn how to form the blocked drawer blades that separate the four blocked drawer fronts. With the case together, you’ll move on to forming the drawer fronts to match the blades. The week wraps up with the creation of the base molding and feet.

3D Cutting Board With Alex Snodgrass – Hands-on Class
2021-04-24 09:00 - 16:30, 2021-04-25 09:00 - 16:30
Make a 3D Cutting Board with Alex Snodgrass here in the Acanthus Workshop. Just in time for the upcoming holiday season, you can learn how to make a beautiful, mystifying end-grain cutting board.
3D Cutting Board with Alex Snodgrass
This hands-on class begins by teaching you how to tune a bandsaw to make perfect cuts. Once learned, this skill makes future bandsaw use a breeze. You will then progress through the techniques required to make the cutting board: how to make dead-on straight cuts on the bandsaw, how to make accurate angled cuts on the bandsaw, and how to plane, sand, glue, and clamp the cutting board.
Using only three woods, walnut, cherry, and maple, you’ll work under Alex’s direction to make a beautiful and functional cutting board that you’ll take home. More importantly, you’ll go home with the knowledge and experience to be able to set up a bandsaw to make accurate cuts regardless of what you’re making. Oh, and you’ll be able to easily repeat the construction process to make enough 3D cutting boards for all your friends and family.

Make a Line & Berry Inlaid Document Box – Hands-on Class
2021-05-03 08:30 - 16:30, 2021-05-04 08:30 - 16:30, 2021-05-05 08:30 - 16:30, 2021-05-06 08:30 - 16:30, 2021-05-07 08:30 - 16:30
Document boxes were an essential part of nearly every 17th and 18th Century home. Often they were used as a portable home safe. Although many were plain, others were showcase pieces for their owners. Our Line & Berry Inlaid Document Box falls into the latter category. Your box will undoubtedly be the focal point of any room.
Line & Berry Inlaid Document Box
Because document boxes were made over a long period of time, you have a few options when making your box. You can make the box with William & Mary ball feet, or mitered or dovetailed bracket feet.

Make a Wharton Esherick Book Stand – Hands-on Class
2021-06-07 08:30 - 16:30
Wharton Esherick was an artist and studio furniture maker before virtually everyone else. His work is often sculptural with light, flowing lines. The 1956 Book Stand is no exception.
Wharton Esherick Book Stand
Don’t be fooled by the simplistic appearance of this book stand, the construction is a challenge. In this 5-day class, you’ll create your version of this Wharton Esherick masterpiece. From the curved and rounded dovetails to the sculpted shelves with through-tenon construction, this little project packs a powerful woodworking punch.

Some of the skills learned in the Book Stand class are:

Project design
Through mortise-and-tenon joinery
Sculpted furniture parts
Curved dovetails
