Replies

1. 
   raybrowne | Sep 05, 2003 01:39am | #1

   I took a fine furniture making class taught by one of the teachers from the North Bennet St. School(it was adult-ed class in Boston) and it was excellent. If you enjoy working with card scrapers, marking gauges, chisels and other hand tools you'll love it. If you're a power tool guy into having a huge table saw it might not really be up your alley quite as much. If you plan to work in new construction, commercial work, or anything but the highest end of residential work you may have some trouble using some of the things you learn at North Bennet on the jobsite as the concept of hand-planing, hand sanding, chisels or anything without a cord that isn't messy and loud isn't excepted. If I had the time or money I'd definitely take classes there.

   -Ray

2. 
   andybuildz | Sep 05, 2003 05:54pm | #2

   mike

         many moons ago I spent a cpl of weeks at the school in Maine, "Yestermorrow". Fantastic people! Look into it.

   Theres anothe incredable school in Mendocino, California but I think thats just furnature making.

   The North Bennet School from what I heard from friends is incredable..

   Let us know how it goes bro....good luck, not that you need it.

   Be well

            Namaste'

                            andy

    

   Emptiness is not really empty, emptiness is full of everything.

   The "everything",  just isn't manifest

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

1. 
   woodguy99 | Sep 06, 2003 04:21am | #3

   Andy, unless I'm mistaken, Yestermorrow is in Vermont, The Shelter Institute is in Maine.  Both appear to provide similar services.

1. 
   andybuildz | Sep 06, 2003 04:41am | #4

   sorry.......right...Vermont....I was living in Maine at the time (Brunswick) 

   Emptiness is not really empty, emptiness is full of everything.

   The "everything",  just isn't manifest

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

3. 
   straitg | Sep 08, 2003 05:31pm | #5

   I'm throwing around the idea of enrolling the PresCarp program at NBS also.  It may be prohibitively difficult for me to do so though.  I live in eastern NY and have a family here.  I talked briefly to a friend of a friend at a party once (in 1999) who I think was attending that program.  I'm currently trying track that person down to get some info.  If I get any info I'll post it here.  So keep checking back.

   I'm currently working as a software developer in NY.  A good job but after 13 years of writing code at a desk I'd like to change to a career I think I'd get more satisfaction from.  I own an 1866 colonial and have been busy for the last few years keeping it up, teaching myself skills as I go.  So I'm definitely a novice.  I really enjoy working on it, working with my hands I guess, and seeing tangible results of my work.

1. 
   woodguy99 | Sep 09, 2003 12:44am | #6

   I'm sure the NBSS program is excellent; my current employer went there for furniture design, and a friend took an intro to woodworking course.  If you are a fast learner with some experience already, I think you can learn a lot by doing, by reading magazines like FHB, Old House Journal, and The Journal of Light Construction.  Not only will you learn to do things the old way, you will see all the advantages of doing things in more modern ways that are actually better than the old.  Then you can pick and choose what is the best technique for a given situation.

   Eric Sloan's books are very informative and entertaining.  So is "A Treatise on Stairbuilding", though it's a bit dense.  Day trips to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, Shelbourne Farms in Vermont, the Common Ground Country Fair in Maine (Sept. 20-22, lots of demonstrations of how things used to be done, and good natural food!), and weekend courses in this or that will get you diverse information on how things used to be built. 

   Or you can quit your job and pay rent in Boston...don't worry, it's not that expensive to live there (ha!)

   Good luck with whatever path you choose.

4. 
   jc21 | Sep 09, 2003 05:04pm | #7

   FWIW, there's a piece in Old House Journal (Sept./Oct. 2003) about North Bennett Street School students restoring an old cupola.

5. 
   straitg | Sep 12, 2003 04:18pm | #8

   Mike, I'm posting this note to keep this thead current.  I just received the email address of a friend of a friend that attended the NBS preservation carpentry program.  I'll be sending him a note soon and will be post whatever info he gives me.   So keep checking back.

1. 
   MichaelNYC | Sep 12, 2003 04:30pm | #9

   Thanks for your help. By weird coincedence, I've also found someone in my neck of the woods (NYC) who is about to start in their furniture making program. So it will be good to get a couple of people's impressions of the place.

   I got their catalog and it's very expensive -- $12,500 a year and it's a two year program. I guess that means more student loans. Ugh.

   Mike

1. 
   BillHartmann | Sep 12, 2003 09:25pm | #10

   I know nothing about these people or your background, but I just got a saw a bingo card from the Traditional Building Institute.

   http://www.snow.edu/~tbsi/

   They offer a series of 3 day course on different bits of building restoration.

   And they also offer a standard colledge program in construction management.

   http://www.snow.edu/~bccm/