About This Event

Understanding wood and how to shape it into cultural artifacts such as houses, furniture, and basic household utensils has a venerable heritage. Man has always been a tool-using creature, and from the prelapsarian commission to “work and keep” the earth into the present day, wood has been one of the most foundational materials he has learned to work. Starting Monday at 3:00 PM, this weeklong class, led by Mortise & Tenon Magazine editors Joshua Klein and Michael Updegraff, will immerse the student in the premodern world of hand-tool woodworking. Using the same time-tested tools that built our material heritage (such as handsaws, handplanes, and chisels), students will learn to prepare and smooth boards, cut joinery (such as mortise-and-tenons and dovetails), and build their own bookstands. Each day will be framed by morning and evening prayers, common mealtimes, and instruction and discussion of the relationship between hand-tool woodworking and spiritual and ministerial formation. This class is designed to accommodate all skill levels from beginners to woodworking veterans. If our present technophilic age has taught us anything, it has taught us that we have a lot to learn from the past. The ancient wisdom of craftsmanship will not only aid our own personal formation, but it also teaches us how we can better love our neighbors and how we might more deeply engage the world that reflects the glory of our Triune God.