ROCKLER OFFERS WOODWORKING CLASSES IN SANDY SPRINGS!
“The last time I did this was middle school,” says the man to my left. I’m immediately transported back to my own high school experience, to the warehouse-like building behind South Forsyth High where hands-on learning meant spending an hour wiping sawdust off your brow.
It’s 10 a.m. on a rainy fall Saturday, and five of us (three men and two women) sit in a row of folding chairs at Rockler in Sandy Springs for Woodworking 101, the shop’s introductory lecture course. When we introduce ourselves, we all admit to zero woodworking experience. Instructor Richard Urbantas, a senior sales associate, begins as basic as you can get: explaining the mechanics of a tape measure. To be honest, starting with math is scaring me. I’m a writer, after all, and I try to avoid numbers at all costs.
Soon enough, though, Urbantas, with an encouraging lilt and a little humor in his voice, says to his students, “This is why you use a calculator.”
There’s other standard advice like measure twice, cut once, followed by a demonstration of basic tools. We walk through various hand saws, chisels, pocket rulers and precision tools. “Always look for precision accuracy tools; if you don’t see that in the package, don’t buy it,” he says. The precision T-ruler already looks like the right tool for me; there’s no math required thanks to the tiny holes punched at each measurement.
When we tour the store, Urbantas compares characteristics between hardwood and softwood, deciduous and coniferous, and which to use for what project. Softwoods, like pine, cherry and poplar, I learn, are for construction. Hardwoods such as oak, mesquite and maple are furniture grade. I start to think about how much this lesson would benefit furniture shoppers, and I vow to buy hardwood only from now on.
The lessons continue throughout the next four hours. We lift various boards, noting their grain, weight and imperfections. Back in the fishtank classroom, so called because of its glass surroundings in the center of the store, we try our hands at power tools, discussing contact points of wood. We use the joiner to plane our boards, and we receive demonstrations of some of the more serious machinery. Rockler in Sandy Springs hosts multiple classes per month. Some include specific projects such as cutting boards or pizza slicers, while others, like 101, overview the hobby. For the holiday season, Rockler is offering several options for those looking to create homemade gifts for loved ones. Classes start at $85 and are between two and four hours long.
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