Teaching hand tool skills

[Bob Jones]

For anyone that's curious, the demo went really well. The store owner estimated about 70 in attendance! I'm glad that I volunteered to give it because it seems there was plenty of interest. The owner invited me back to teach a real class where students have to pay to attend. We will see how that goes in may. I posted details on my blog for anyone curious for more info. Thanks for all the tips it really helped me! Maybe soon there will be more neanders in Memphis.

[Dave Parkis]

Excellent!! Its always a bit scary doing a class like that for the first time. If they want you to come back, it must have gone very well.

[Greg Portland]

I've been teaching hand tool classes for about 6 years and have been teaching classes of various sorts for about 35 years....
Some suggestions:

1. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse again!
2. Try to tailor your class to your audience and its interests.
3. Try to set your class up as an interactive class -- get your audience involved. There are many ways to do this, so, again tailor it to your audience.
4. Keep it simple: focus on a couple of ideas and drive them home in detail!
5. Be dynamic and entertaining (this goes back to rehearsing)......even if you don't pass along all that much information, if you are entertaining and dynamic, people will remember you and what you said.
6. Relax and have a good time....if you're relaxed and enjoying yourself, your audience will enjoy your class, too.

Most of all.....have fun!
Good luck and best wishes for a successful class!

All good ideas. One thing that you should remember is that people learn in different ways. Some folks need to be hands-on (e.g. use a plane, make mistakes, get corrected, etc.). Others will need to see it being done or will need to learn verbally. You should try to combine hands-on, visual, and verbal teaching skills wherever possible.

[Ed Looney]

- Second, bench planes for a power tool shop. That should reach the people in the shop on Saturday, since it is basically a power tool shop. Since I use very few power tools, what should I cover here? Obviously smoothing, but what else do power tool users need most from bench planes?

Thanks for any tips! Oh, if anyone is near Memphis, TN feel free to stop by!

See details of the class here -

http://thechristiantoolcabinet.wordp...-this-weekend/

Hi Bob

Take a shooting board with you. I have rarely seen a chop saw or radial arm saw cut a true 90 deg. Show them it's fast, easy and dead square.

Ed