The Port Townsend School of Woodworking Weekend Essentials Series

The Weekend Essentials Series was developed and designed by Jim Tolpin, with continued development by PTSW faculty. These two-day crash courses are designed to introduce complete beginners to a subject matter and to help more seasoned woodworkers develop a new skill or refine an existing skill. Weekend Essentials courses are taught exclusively by local PTSW faculty. All tools are provided by the school, but you are welcome to bring your own.

Each of the Weekend Essentials courses may be taken separately; but are also designed to be taken in order. The order is: Handsaws, Hand Planes, Dovetails, Mortise & Tenon. Shop Machines is not part of the hand tool series but is helpful to anyone wanting to dip their toes into machine woodworking. These courses can help prepare you for many of our more advanced courses. Each class covers a bit of tool care, but we’ve also added Sharpening to this list, for those wanting to dive deeper on hand tool maintenance.