The classes I have taken at Marc Adams have been a basic cabinet making with Zane, Sharpening and Dovetail Class with David Charlesworth, and a Writing Desk by Chris Gochnour. I enjoyed all the classes, however the most challenging was the writing desk due to time constrains and how the class got so spread out in the work process.

Highly recommend that you plan on taking the instructor out for dinner the first night and than get back to work in at the bench. Any time your allow to work late take advantage and work as late as possible. The instructors and Marc does not expect anyone to complete their projects while at the school. However, they feel that you can go home with the knowledge you have learned during the week and finish at home. I have talked to some students who have gone to other schools and some expect you have enought time to finish while at the school and others feel the same as at Marc Adams. I really don’t know if it is a function of the size of class or type of project.

It is Marc’s feeling that if he were to go to your shop and work for a week that you or I would expect him to help clean the shop…which is true, except that I am pay him a fee for trainning and spending additional money for living expenses. All this money is not being spend to save a few of him a couple of dollars in cleaning. This cleaning time, classes size and the extra $$ for administation fee are just minor problems, if you have a good instructor. Marc does get some very well known instructors and I would attend again. However, I will first check out other schools first for that particular instructor.

Thanks for all of the comments! I am looking forward to this…as I stated, something that I’ve never done before. I’ve been prepping material from a rough cut list. Of course by my nature I already have a lot of questions regarding the build. I guess I’ll get them answered in due time.

Chuck, thanks for the tips. I guess you’ve gone down this road before. Good inputs – I’m a note taker so, I’ll put my skills to work! Shop cleaning, what’s that about?!!

–Mark

Neil

This is really exciting news! To say I am jealous would be an understatement. I hope you have a splendid time. It will be fun to follow any blog entries that you have a chance to post . . . and hopefully a photo or two of you at the bench!

David

Take really good notes while the instructors are at the bench…after the second or third day the class progress will will spread and and those in the back and middle can get lost. (remember the class size at Marc Adams is 18 individuals with different capabilities). Typically there are no plans or notes given to the students to follow, so ask a lot of questions. Expect to only work an hour or two on the last day. Mark always has his students clean the shop the last couple of hours. I have been looking at other schools due, which typically only has eight student per class and there is no cleaning time involved and thier prices are the same as Marc’s. At $700 plus expenses why am I cleaning instead of working on the project?

The positive of Marc’s school is that he does have top notch woodworkers coming into the school to teach.

Yeah, rub it in! Actually, ** that ** is pretty cool! I know you will enjoy your time there, and learning many new techniques. And I will look forward to your comments and review of the sessions you attend.