FINE FURNITURE
Program Notes: Fine Furniture Program
| Basic Woodworking | 10 weeks |
| Furniture Design | 6 weeks |
| Furniture Construction | 18 weeks |
| Finishing/Refinishing | 8 weeks |
The Fine Furniture Program is a ten-month, full time program, divided into four components. The program begins each year with a ten week session of Basic Woodworking. Classroom lectures and discussions provide information on tool machine use, set-up and maintenance, adhesives and assembly procedures, fastenings and joinery techniques, wood technology, hardwood and softwood identification, and manufactured wood products. Assigned practical projects completed by each student include a dovetail drawer which focuses on hand tool procedures including material sizing and cutting the dovetails. In addition, a small case is constructed using machine sizing and joinery techniques. The final project in the Basic Woodworking segment is a Shaker style table which stresses leg and rail joinery techniques including mortise and tenons and dowels. Beyond these required projects, those students with previous woodworking experience may find extra time for completing projects on their own.
The six week Furniture Design portion of the course covers basic drafting techniques and conventions develop the necessary skills for designing products and communicating ideas to others. Emphasis is put on both preparing working drawings which could be used for construction in the shop and presentation drawings which could be used to convey proposed ideas to a client. During this portion of the course, lectures and slide presentations on period furniture history and information on furniture structures are blended to provide the background information required to complete the assigned drawing projects. Each assignment involves producing a set of drawings to fulfill a customer's request for a specific piece of furniture. In addition, cutting list assignments cover blueprint reading and calculating materials cost estimates.
The Furniture Construction portion of the program ties together the skills developed in the previous Basic Woodworking and Furniture Design components. Students spend the first portion of this component working in groups of four to construct a large cabinet project. This fall-front desk cabinet not only covers all aspects of basic cabinetmaking, including case joinery, door and drawer making, door hanging, veneering and decorative detail work, but also stresses working cooperatively within a team to complete a fairly complex project. Working with others can be the most difficult part of the project but is a vital skill in small shops where employers, employees, designers, suppliers and customers frequently interact with one another.
The next stage of Furniture Construction involves designing and constructing a project for competition co-sponsored by Camosun College, Forestry Canada, and the B.C. Wood Specialties Group. *For more information about this competition see our INSIDE SCOOP.
The final four or five weeks of Furniture Construction are used to design and complete a project of your own design. Some students choose to practice skills already developed while others use this opportunity to work on specialized techniques, such as carving, turning, and veneering. Several previous students have used this portion of the course to develop marketable prototypes, and some have used it to produce shop accessories, jigs and fixtures to make their own shops more efficient. Throughout the Furniture Construction portion of the program, lectures and demonstrations are arranged to provide information on specialized machinery, veneering techniques, carving, lathe turning, basic metalwork, and jig and fixture design and application. Classroom time is also spent on small business basics, including forming a business plan, time management, customer relations, portfolio preparation, promotion and advertising.
Finally, the last eight weeks of the program cover Furniture Finishing. This section of the course involves the techniques, skills and materials used in wood finishing. Preparing wood surfaces, colouring wood surfaces using bleaches, dyes and stains, and top coating with urethanes and lacquers sprayed on, as well as shellacs and oils applied by brush and pad are all topics discussed and practiced. All of the projects completed so far in the course have a finish applied, and each student completes a series of finishing schedule samples to use as a reference for future finishing projects. Repair and restoration basics on older pieces are carried out during this component, as well.
The final week of the course is spent photographing each of the pieces made through the year. A professional backdrop and high quality lighting is used to provide students with photographic records of their work suitable for presentation portfolios.
For Further Information Contact: Cameron Russell
| Instructor, Fine Furniture Program | |
| Ph: (250) 370-3803 | |
| Fax: (250) 370-3898 | |
| E-mail: russellc@camosun.bc.ca |