Firstly, once again, I’d like to welcome all of those who have recently signed up to the newsletter. We thank you for your interest!
As most of you already know, master blaster ‘Schwarzenegger’, will be arriving on 10th March which is only a couple of weeks away! For those of you who are not so familiar with Christopher Schwarz, my best advice is to do a Google Search on ‘Christopher Schwarz’. You’ll see some 20, 000 000 hits!! He has become one of the greatest communicators on the subject of Fine Woodworking and its traditions. There are so many accomplishments attributed to him…too many to mention! It’s a great honour to have him here.

Two of his courses are fully booked. However, there are still a few vacancies available for his two day – Shaker Wall Cabinet course.

Monday 25th to Tuesday 26th March
9:00am to 5:00pm
Click through to enroll now.

MELBOURNE HAND TOOL EVENT
with Christopher Schwarz

Where: 79B Lexton Rd, Box Hill North
When: Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th March
10am to 4pm

We have decided with the grateful support of Lie Neilson, Chris Vesper, Terry Gordon of ‘HNT Gordon’ , Colin Clenton, Michael O’Connor, The Hand Tool Preservation Society and Testuro Izumitani of  ‘Japanese Hand Tools’  to create our first ever Hand Tool Event that is unique to Melbourne. There are a few very simple principles that we are committed  to. The 2 day event will focus entirely on hand tools, new and old, fine furniture making and its traditions and beautiful timber for furniture and musical instruments. Christopher Schwarz will of course be our main draw card.

Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking  will also be holding an Open Day for the school with demonstrations of traditional crafts being conducted throughout the weekend. Demonstrations such as steam bending, dovetailing, hand fitting drawers, carving, Windsor chair making and Shaker Oval box making will take place here at the school. In addition to this, Terry Gordon, Colin Clenton, Michael O’Connor and Tetsuro Izumitani will be conducting demonstrations as well throughout the weekend. All the above mentioned supporters will also be present selling their wares.

If all of this isn’t enough……there will be a high quality selection of beautiful timbers available from various vendors. Timbers such as Curly Maple, Gidgee, Coobar, Elm,  Curly Redgum, Californian Redwood just mention a few! Some of these timbers are exceptionally rare.

A sausage sizzle and beverages will also be available outside the front of the school.

A reminder to everybody who are unable to attend any of his Christopher Schwarz’s courses, you will have the opportunity meet the man himself and perhaps get a book signed. His book, ‘The Anarchist’s Tool Chest’ will be available to buy during the courses, Hand Tool Event and Seminar.

Please help support this event by your attendance. This entire event is free. There is also no charge to vendors. Only with your attendance can we make  it  a success and run this again in the future. This event is purely about the passion of tools, beautiful timbers and fine furniture making!!

Thursday 28th March from 6pm to 9pm, Christopher Schwarz will be conducting a Seminar at Eley Community Centre – Eley Rd, Blackburn.

The topic for the Seminar will be on the state of woodworking in the US as observed by Christopher Schwarz.  He will also be discussing his own journey and his passion for the craft.

He will have a power point presentation and will also be conducting a number of demonstrations.

Light refreshments will be served halfway through the Seminar. There is also time set aside for questions and answers at the end of the Seminar.

Seminars like this are not unusual in the US and are always well attended. This is a once in a life time opportunity to hear somebody of Chris Schwarz’s stature talk about woodworking in the US.

I am, as much as anyone else really looking forward to hearing him talk and being inspired by what he has to say. There is nothing more powerful than listening to somebody talk eloquently about their passion.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!!

Best Regards

Alastair and Jacqueline Boell