Lulu james course

[djellworth]

This thread has quite upset me - I have a few thoughts :

The more woodwork schools the better. I want more people to get into it and I know that for many it is quite hard to start off on your own despite (or maybe because of) YouTube. My dad used to teach at nicght schools which are predominantly no more so there is a huge gap.

I run a woodwork school. (northernschoolofwoodwork which I took over from Chris Tribe for those of you who know him). Having spoken to him about this, he would have been very happy creating magnificent pieces on his own and would have not begun teaching if not to help pay the rent.

I love my workshop and the teaching pays for it. As those of you with a professional workshop know, it costs a lot simply to keep the lights on (approx £20k+ for me here). Teaching does often subsidise your "day job".

I am lucky in that I really like teaching and find it very rewarding - but as any teachers know it can also be quite involved/tiring/demanding. In the last year alone Peter S has shut down teaching (for other reasons) and also the courses at the Boat Building Academy have closed down - it really isn't as "lucrative" as many may think.

My brother went on a course in Oxford with Lula James (this is the business name - it is one male and one female) - bought as a present for him. He reported back that they had beautifully well kept tools (hand sharpening no honing guide!!!!!) - that most people really enjoyed the course (they have great Google reviews) and that he was certainly enthused enough during the day to pick up the chisels again. (Our dad was a woodwork teacher and cabinet maker who had a very old school background). He did feel that the teachers were quite young albeit very enthusiastic and will undoubtedly get better as they age - but very "proper" in their approach to hand tool wooodwork and a genuine love of wood and the craft. They have a small workshop in Oxford and he guessed that they are doing this to help them maintain a workshop and to pay the bills whilst they build the other side of their business

Woodworking is especially hard for women. I know someone who won the Alan Peters prize (and went to Rycotewood as it happens....) and she is a truly exceptional woodworker - way better than me. It is very tough even with this background to make reasonable money woodworking. Comments such as "she looks a cracker" continue to make it hard and should my 20 year old daughter want to get into woodwork comments like this this would make me want to respond very forcefully.

My conclusion - more power to Lula James woodwork school

 

[Blackswanwood]

This thread has quite upset me - I have a few thoughts :

The more woodwork schools the better. I want more people to get into it and I know that for many it is quite hard to start off on your own despite (or maybe because of) YouTube. My dad used to teach at nicght schools which are predominantly no more so there is a huge gap.

I run a woodwork school. (northernschoolofwoodwork which I took over from Chris Tribe for those of you who know him). Having spoken to him about this, he would have been very happy creating magnificent pieces on his own and would have not begun teaching if not to help pay the rent.

I love my workshop and the teaching pays for it. As those of you with a professional workshop know, it costs a lot simply to keep the lights on (approx £20k+ for me here). Teaching does often subsidise your "day job".

I am lucky in that I really like teaching and find it very rewarding - but as any teachers know it can also be quite involved/tiring/demanding. In the last year alone Peter S has shut down teaching (for other reasons) and also the courses at the Boat Building Academy have closed down - it really isn't as "lucrative" as many may think.

My brother went on a course in Oxford with Lula James (this is the business name - it is one male and one female) - bought as a present for him. He reported back that they had beautifully well kept tools (hand sharpening no honing guide!!!!!) - that most people really enjoyed the course (they have great Google reviews) and that he was certainly enthused enough during the day to pick up the chisels again. (Our dad was a woodwork teacher and cabinet maker who had a very old school background). He did feel that the teachers were quite young albeit very enthusiastic and will undoubtedly get better as they age - but very "proper" in their approach to hand tool wooodwork and a genuine love of wood and the craft. They have a small workshop in Oxford and he guessed that they are doing this to help them maintain a workshop and to pay the bills whilst they build the other side of their business

Woodworking is especially hard for women. I know someone who won the Alan Peters prize (and went to Rycotewood as it happens....) and she is a truly exceptional woodworker - way better than me. It is very tough even with this background to make reasonable money woodworking. Comments such as "she looks a cracker" continue to make it hard and should my 20 year old daughter want to get into woodwork comments like this this would make me want to respond very forcefully.

My conclusion - more power to Lula James woodwork school

Great post.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I met some odd DTs on this box. https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/mystery-box.134102/
Not remotely decorative but very functional.
I reckon it's a "box joint" (obviously) but designed so that
1 the sides can't be forced apart from the inside (as for a cistern etc)
2 Done like a straight box joint but bent, with exactly same machining on both pieces, no tails and pins.

I can't recall seeing anything with the joint in that form. It looks to me like a modified box-lock joint, aka finger joint, with the modification being an additional angle thrown in for the purpose you speculate. I also don't recall seeing that thread you pointed us towards, but that might just be wonky memory on my part. Slainte.

 

[Jacob]

.....

Woodworking is especially hard for women. I know someone who won the Alan Peters prize (and went to Rycotewood as it happens....) and she is a truly exceptional woodworker - way better than me. It is very tough even with this background to make reasonable money woodworking. Comments such as "she looks a cracker" continue to make it hard

Sorry was meant to be a joke - the link was to Lulu James - a particularly spectacular African soul singer. You obviously didn't click on it and she obviously isn't a woodworker! I'll edit it.
https://www.phoenixmag.co.uk/article/third-culture-kid-the-multi-cultural-majesty-of-lulu-james/

and should my 20 year old daughter want to get into woodwork comments like this this would make me want to respond very forcefully.

My conclusion - more power to Lula James woodwork school

Good luck to them. I was asking about the independent woodwork teaching scene not least because it seems to have a very particular culture and style of its own (often referred to as "post modern") which seems a long way from traditional woodwork.
I wondered what could be learned in one day.
My own training was a 6 month fast track version of C&G carpentry and joinery which I though was brilliant. I spent the first week doing hardly anything but half housing joints in bits of 2x1" , making little crosses. All about face and edge marks, marking up from these, saw cuts and bench hooks, chisel etc. Could have supplied a pets' cemetery!
My first day I was shown how to use a mortice chisel, just as something to do whilst they got me sorted out, but in fact a little revelation in hand tool use... etc etc