An Experience Money Can’t Buy


This summer’s workshop is an experience money can’t buy.

Let me explain the three factors behind this:

First, although Mike and I have long harbored enthusiasm to one day host our own classes, we knew ourselves well enough to foresee that it would be hard to juggle another thing on our plate. We still have a number of shop construction projects to do (windows, final doors, wood shed, back porch, outhouse, etc.) that represent a lot of hours. On top of that, every week we have people ask us when the next “Apprenticeship” video (which has been under snail-paced production) is coming out. And it goes without saying that producing our magazine does not happen overnight but consumes the majority of our work each year. So, we wondered where in our schedule we could shoehorn in some classes.

Our second roadblock to teaching was that we want to make it as accessible to folks as possible. We know many woodworkers that would die to take a five-day workshop that could propel them further in the craft but they simply can’t afford it. Not only does the time off work sting, but add up the $800+/- tuition, travel, and hotel expenses and you’re talking several thousand dollars. Ouch. So, our question was, “How could we make it work for both student and teacher?”

Lastly, we wanted the focus of this workshop to be personal growth as woodworkers and as people and we believe shared manual labor is one great way to facilitate that. This is the kind of shoulder-to-shoulder sweaty work that doesn’t happen as readily when everyone works in solitude at their own bench. So, it was as we considered different ways to get everyone side-by-side working on one project together, that we saw how these three puzzle pieces, when oriented properly, might fit together to make a beautiful picture.

The picture that emerged was that of a work exchange model. Instead of students forking out cash to pay for solitary bench time while we put off important projects around the shop, we’re basing this transaction on mutually beneficial engagement: our students will spend two days working with us on one of our many shop construction projects in exchange for three days of instruction and bench time. In reality, we believe that all five days will be enriching and educational, and this is one way we think we can satisfy all our goals. 

So, if you’ve been wondering why we’re writing so extensively this week about the philosophy undergirding this workshop, it is because we will be selecting students from a pool of applicants, who share with us a little bit about their background and experience level (though none is required), why they are interested in this workshop in particular, and what they hope to learn from this experience.

But this is not some kind of essay contest as if the folks who will be selected are the ones that have a proficient way with words. And it’s not about some elitist club, Mike and I picking who’s in and who’s out. We will be choosing the six people from a diverse array of applicants that we believe will most benefit from the type of experience we’ve been outlining on our last three blog posts:

M&T SUMMER WORKSHOP: JUNE 17-21, 2019
DEMOCRATIC WOODWORKING
A PRE-INDUSTRIAL WOODWORKING IMMERSION

The application and details about submission will be posted here this Friday, so if you have interest in joining us this summer, we encourage you to reflect on the three questions listed above.

We’d love to have you over this summer. 

-Joshua

 


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