Wanted: Woodwork Tutor

Many of you will know that we have been running woodwork evening classes here in our own workshop at Uckfield Framing Company for many years. They began at Ringmer School back in the early eighties, and are still going as strong as ever, with a considerable waiting list of those wishing to join. There is already a lot of information published about these classes, such as what is produced, and what beginners might expect, but now we would like to find a keen woodworker willing to take these classes forward into the future as our long term class tutor Tim […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged evening, tutor, uckfield, woodwork, workshop | 2 Comments

Bird boxes.. ..and woodwork classes

All my woodworkers will know the ‘bird box’ project, as it’s been my standard ‘workshop familiarisation programme’ for very many years. For class beginners it involves many of the tools and processes which will be relied on in later individual projects. And for the birds, it’s a welcome new home! A veritable stack of hand tools from try square, marking gauge and knife, tenon and coping saw, to block and jack planes are used along the way, as well as some vital machines; pillar drill, band saw, disc sander and biscuit jointer. Learning to use all these properly and accurately […]

Posted in Events | Tagged birdbox, classes, new skills, personal expression, wood work, woodwork, woodwork tools, workshop | Comments Off on Bird boxes.. ..and woodwork classes

35 years of woodwork classes

We are currently freshening up our website (like one does rather sporadically), and in describing our current classes were surprised to find that the woodwork one began 35 years ago! Not only that, but one member of the ‘class of ’82’ then held at Ringmer School, has been a continual attender ever since! Des, my good friend and fellow woodwork collaborator, has been coming ever since then, which if my maths is correct, amounts to over 1800 hours of class time, plus the homework of course! Hasn’t he learnt enough to do it on his own yet, you may well […]

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Woodwork.. ..more than just a hobby

Learning woodworking with Tim Benians has given me confidence and the incentive to tackle so many more tasks around the home. Previously I would have needed to research local tradesmen to help me undertake fairly simple repair tasks that I would have hesitated to tackle on my own. I have now completed two terms of woodworking at Uckfield Framing Company over the last six months. In particular, during the winter, the weekly sessions were a great way to make the best of the dark evenings and achieve a better skill level and a practical grounding in the use of various […]

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Woodwork classes.. an update

Mostly we post stories on our picture framing related activities, and it’s easy to forget that our weekly woodwork classes go on throughout the year. Open to all, beginners or improvers (a category that includes absolutely everyone), these classes have been running continuously for around thirty five years, moving to our Riverside workshop about a decade ago. Making things, as we’ve said before, is vitally important to us all. Not everyone has access to a workshop and tools, nor the confidence to use them. We try to provide all that. For many of our regulars attending a regular class is […]

Posted in Events, Furniture | 2 Comments

Woodwork classes

The spring term of woodwork evening classes started this week.. with some new students.. and new projects for many others. Since this event is uppermost in our minds right now, it seemed appropriate to write a few words about it. You may already know, but we hold these weekly classes here in our workshop at Uckfield Framing Company, and have since migrating from a local school many years ago. Catching up with our woodworkers after the Christmas break inevitably becomes a bit of a show and tell exercise, with particular emphasis on woodwork projects, many completed in the run up […]

Posted in Miscellaneous | 13 Comments

Success!

We are delighted to announce that we have finally found the perfect replacement tutor for our woodwork classes. James Harmsworth-Dayman, a good friend of Tim’s, recently and very fortuitously became available to take over these long running classes. Tim Benians, who has been teaching these courses for the last forty years, is very excited saying ‘at last my students will get a proper experienced woodwork teacher!’ James has made a career of designing and making high-end furniture and carpentry projects. I’m sure he will tell you more about that in due course. Handover of the classes will begin from the […]

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A welcome return to classes

last year. We held one of our popular Beginners classes in July, as well as our first ever Advanced group. The latter was a full day of techniques ranging from canvas stretching and sports shirt framing, to hand finishing and complex mount cutting.

Posted in Events | Tagged advanced, beginners, biscuit jointer, canvas stretching, class, course, double mount, fabric, Float mount, multi aperture mount, picture framing, pocket hole, tapestry, tray frame, uckfield | 3 Comments

A new way of making frames

This week’s news from our outside broadcast unit brings you a framing story with a difference, and in particular a review of a new (to us) woodworking tool – the pocket hole jig. As many of you will know, I am able to leave the picture framing to Mark these days and spend more time on ‘other projects’, albeit being in and out of the Uckfield Framing Company workshop on a regular basis.

Posted in Frames | Tagged display case, kit, kreg, picture frame, pocket hole jig, pocket hole joint, pocket hole screw, Trend, uckfield, UJK, woodwork, workshop | Comments Off on A new way of making frames

Reflections

It’s been a while since we have had the chance to enjoy a funfair or traditional seaside attraction, but there has been a hint of those pleasures in the workshop for the last few weeks

Well before Christmas we received an order for three of our Funhouse mirrors for a new attraction at the Milestones Museum in Basingstoke, for delivery in January.

Posted in Funhouse Mirrors | Tagged basingstoke, bespoke framing, east sussex, framing, funfair, funhouse mirrors, milestones museum, seaside attraction, uckfield, workshop | Comments Off on Reflections