Wooden Boat School at the Hudson River Maritime Museum Announce April & May Class Schedule

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE          
PR Contact: Kirsty Gaukel:
Press & Marketing Manager
[email protected]

                               

Program Inquiries: Dan Nelson
Wooden Boat School Manager 
[email protected]

Kingston, NY (Monday, 4 March, 2024)– The Hudson River Maritime Museum’s Wooden Boat School is pleased to announce their latest offering of woodworking courses for adults in April and May. Taught by professionals in the fields of woodworking and carpentry, the Wooden Boat School offers a variety of introductory and advanced courses for adults interested in expanding their skills in woodworking, boat building, and traditional crafts. Projects include wooden spoon carving, building a cornhole set, furniture restoration, and skin-on-frame canoes. Registration is now open at www.hrmm.org/adult-classes.html. All HRMM members receive discounts on class tuition. 
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The Wooden Boat School’s woodworking programs are perfect for adults who want to work with their hands and learn new skills. Participants will work on-site in the museum’s wood shop to create take-home projects with the help of skilled instructors. Some courses require some woodworking and/or machine tool experience.

For a detailed line-up of the Wooden Boat School’s classes for adults, please see the schedule to follow:

APRIL

Master 100GT Captain's License Class

April 4-21
Thursday. April 4-Sunday, April 7,
Thursday. April 11-Sunday, April 14, &
Thursday, April 18-Sunday, April, 21

All sessions are 8 AM - 4 PM
 
The Hudson River Maritime Museum is partnering with True North Maritime Academy to bring you a ​Master 100GT Captain's License Class. The course is for six-pack through 100 ton master and is ideal for those who are uncertified or for people seeking to refresh their skills in navigation, chart plotting, rules of the road, and safety and regulations. It is the highest level license and is required for operators of both inspected and uninspected vessels. The credential can serve as proof of experience and may reduce insurance costs.
NOTE: you will still need to accrue the sea time needed for the license independently of this coursework.

Tuition: $1,180

Power Tools Intensive: Build A Workbench
Three-Day Class:
Saturday, April 6, 9 AM - 5 PM
Sunday, April 7, 9 AM - 5 PM
Monday, April 8, 6 -9 PM 

An opportunity to develop basic shop tool skills and make a useful, portable, and personalized work surface for building future woodworking projects. Join woodworker Max Smith for this hands-on build of a functional woodworking workbench.

Tuition: $660 + $230 materials
Skill level: Intermediate
Prerequisites: Foundation of Woodworking: Machine Tools & Shop Safety or equivalent


Group/Family Build: Toy Boxes & Shapes
Saturday, April 6, 9 AM - 5 PM

Join veteran woodworker Bob Boisvert for this one-day group/family style building class where you will make wooden boxes and/or colorful shapes. Build unique, handcrafted toys for your family and friends as well as learn some basic woodworking skills along the way.

Tuition: $215 + $15 materials (price is for a group of up to 4 people).
Level: Beginner


Build A Live Edge Table
Sunday, April 7, 10 AM - 5 PM

"Live edge" furniture pieces retain the wood's original shape and natural appearance. In this class, you'll get the chance to create your own live edge coffee table from start to finish. Each student will get to pick a flitch of locally harvested hardwood, then use draw knives, sanders, and other hand tools to remove any bark and smooth the live edge. Students will cut their piece to custom dimensions followed by planing and smoothing. Finally, a set of legs will be attached. Each student will leave with their own coffee table ready for application with their choice of finish.

Tuition: $215 + $140 materials
Level: Beginner
 
Build A Picture Frame
Saturday, April 1, 9 AM - 5 PM
 
In this course, you will learn how to cut, assemble and finish wooden picture frames to your specifications using a sturdy and beautiful technique called corner spline joinery. Frames are intended to be wall-mounted, and will include turnbuttons that allow the media to be changed or adjusted, thereby making these great gifts for people to add their own photos or art.

Level: Intermediate
Tuition: $243+ $50 materials
 
Wooden Spoon Carving
Two-day Class: Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, 10 M to 4 PM

Come learn the incredibly satisfying craft of green wood spoon carving. Using traditional edge tools, primarily carving axes and knives, you will shape wood into the familiar form of a spoon.

Tuition: $230 +$20 materials
Level: Beginner
 
Make Your Own Ukulele
Three-day Class: Friday, April 19, 6-9 PM; Saturday, April 20, 10 AM - 5 PM, and Sunday, April 21, 10 AM - 5 PM

Luthier and woodworker Bill Sterling will lead this class where students will build their own Ukulele from start to finish. You will leave with a beautiful handmade instrument that you can play for years to come. This is a great opportunity for you to try making musical instruments while learning fundamental woodworking skills in the shop.

Tuition: $381 +$150 materials
Level: Beginner


Furniture Restoration and Repair
Two-day Class: Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21, 10 AM - 4 PM
 
Max Smith, a professional piano tuner, luthier, boat builder, and woodworking enthusiast will teach a new course covering methods for conserving structural and cosmetic details of furniture. Each student should bring furniture pieces to be worked on in class. Suggested pieces include small coffee tables, end tables, chairs, antique clock cases, small wood sculptural pieces, etc.

Tuition:$230 + $50 materials
Level: Beginner


How To: Fiber Rush Weaving
Sunday, April 28, 10 AM-4 PM

In this class you will learn the basic weaving pattern called fiber rush weave. The class starts with assembling a small stool, followed by making a seat of rush weave using an all natural, paper-based fibre rush. Students will learn to make tight, square corners, and perfect a figure eight weaving pattern. The class includes all the materials necessary to leave with a beautiful hand-woven footstool.

Tuition:$194 + $60 materials
Level: Beginner

MAY

Foundations of Woodworking Series, Spring 2024
The Wooden Boat School's Foundations of Woodworking series of classes provides practicing and aspiring woodworkers with the fundamental knowledge and best practices that are essential for the craft of woodworking. Although the series is designed to be taken as a whole, individual classes can be taken based on experience, and at the instructors' discretion.

Foundations of Woodworking: Understanding Wood
Monday, April 29, 6-9 PM

In this first course of the series, students will explore the nature of wood as a material and the unique qualities it has. The class will cover different common and exotic wood species, and the properties that make each of them suited to different applications, whether for furniture making, cabinetmaking, carpentry, or boatbuilding. The instructor will also cover how raw wood is dried to become a usable material, how to prepare lumber for projects, how to store and treat wood, and more.

Tuition: $90
Level: Beginner

Foundations of Woodworking: Hand Tools: Use & Care
Session A: Tuesday & Wednesday. April 30 - May 1, 6-9 PM
Session B: Thursday & Friday, May 2-3, 6 -9 PM

In this second class of the series, students will learn about the hand tools in a basic woodworking kit including layout and measuring tools like the combination square and marking gauge, Japanese and western-style saws, chisels, and several types of block plane. Each tool will be examined, its use and proper handling demonstrated, tool maintenance including fine tuning and sharpening, and where to find good tools. Students are encouraged to bring their own tools for examination and to get hands-on practice sharpening and honing.

Tuition: $185 + $10 materials
Level: Beginner
 
Foundations of Woodworking: Machine Tools & Shop Safety
Session A: Monday & Tuesday, May 6-7, 6 -9 PM
Session B: Wednesday & Thursday, May 15-16, 6 -9 PM 
 
In this third class of the series, students will learn how to safely handle tools and machinery in a shop setting. The class will include information on the different types of machinery and their uses, safe shop practices including: use of eye and ear protection, emergency protocols, and advice for setting up a home shop. This class is perfect for anyone looking to get basic safety certification with wood shop machinery or looking for the best practices to take home to their own workshops.

Tuition: $185 + $10 materials
Level: Beginner
 
Family/Group Build: Make A Cornhole Set
Three evenings: Wednesday, May 1-Friday, May 3, 5 - 8 PM

Join veteran teacher, woodworker, and craftsperson Kathy Prisco for the ultimate summer project: making your own cornhole set. Building your own set, rather than buying one, is a chance to learn and practice woodworking skills. This easy DIY project will give you and your loved ones the perfect game for this season and many more. When you purchase a ticket for your group or family, you can bring up to 4 guests to assist you with the build. 

Tuition: $275 + $65 Materials
Level: Beginner

Make a Turned Vessel
Saturday, May 4, 9 AM - 5 PM

In this introductory course, explore the beauty of wood turning and the process of creating simple, elegant objects on a lathe. Gain an understanding of the fundamentals, including safe lathe operation and proper cutting techniques. You will start with a solid piece of wood and learn the steps to design and hollow out your very own wooden vase, experiencing the joy of turning a raw material into a work of art.

Tuition: $225 + $35 materials
Level: Beginner

Boat Building Class: Kingston Pram
Three-Day class: Friday, May 10-Sunday, May 12, 9 AM - 5 PM

Come join us for this hands-on boat building course where students work as a team building a Kingston Pram from start to finish. This is a unique opportunity to work with a master woodworker and shipwright, Wayne Ford, over three full days, to successfully construct a small compact rowboat that is compact enough to be carried on the top of a car. 

Tuition: $695
Level: Beginner

Build Your Own Skin-On-Frame Canoe
Six-Day Class:
Friday, May 17- Sunday, May 19
Friday, May 24-Sunday, May 26
All sessions 9 AM - 5 PM

Learn to build your very own skin-on-frame tandem canoe from veteran instructor Rich Cerruto over two consecutive long weekends. The canoe is constructed with a wooden frame and a stretched nylon "skin". Each student will leave with a completed canoe ready for the water. Easily car-topped, they are perfect for casual paddlers and beginning boat builders alike. The canoe is paddled with single-bladed paddles and features traditional raised seats that the students will construct from a kit, to include webbing. Don't miss out on the opportunity to build your own beautiful functional canoe. 

Tuition: $895 + $875 materials
Level: Beginner


Boat Owners Series: Basics of Epoxy
Thursday, May 23, 6 PM-9 PM

Epoxy is an important part of a boatbuilder's, and a boat owner's, toolkit. In this brief evening class, learn the basics of using epoxy for marine applications from John Van Buren, who will demonstrate its properties and applications.
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Tuition: $58
Level: Beginner


Half Hull Boat Model Carving
Friday, May 24 & Saturday, May 25, 9 AM - 5 PM

Join shipwright Wayne Ford in this two-day class where he will teach half hull model carving. Starting with the layout and planning of the model, you'll practice precision skills of accuracy and measurement, practice hand tool technique, and learn how to cut, fit and fasten the parts, resulting in a finished project. To build your model, you'll learn how to use some of the basic power shop tools like a band saw, as well as hand tools like the chisel, block plane, gouge and rasp.

Tuition: $300 + $35 materials
Level: Beginner

An example of a half-hull boat model students will build.

Student in the Foundations of Woodworking class