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14 Cottage St
Blackburn, VIC, 3130
Australia

0413 537 490

The Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking was founded by Alastair Boell in 2007. After graduating from the world renowned North Bennet Street School, Boston (USA) Alastair felt that there was a great need in Australia for an educational facility that focuses on traditional skills. 

The Guild is committed to preserving and advancing craft traditions in furniture making. We are also committed to promoting a greater awareness and appreciation of
craftsmanship. In our classes we emphasize the skillful use of hand tools and power equipment and an informed use of appropriate materials. We are passionate about what we do and want to share information, ideas and skills with all our students young and old, from beginner to advanced.

Beginners Course: The Fundamentals of Fine Woodworking - The Shaker Nightstand

Classes

Beginners Course: The Fundamentals of Fine Woodworking - The Shaker Nightstand

Josh Cohen

$2100.00 AUD

Presented by Michael Ooi

The ‘Shaker Nightstand’ course represents the perfect course for the beginner. It also happens to be the first compulsory project under taken by all students at the prestigious North Bennet Street School in Boston, USA – a school dedicated to traditional skills. This course runs for 22 consecutive weeks.

You will be directed to the MindBody booking page.

Learn to master some of the fundamentals of fine woodworking. In this course, you will learn about basic carcass construction techniques. ‘Carcass construction’ represents any piece of furniture that includes doors or drawers. Some examples of techniques learnt in this class are: ‘mortise and tenon’ joinery, hand cut dovetails, fitting an 18th century styled drawer by hand, hand planning techniques, turning a small timber drawer knob and how to taper legs.

If time persists, you will also learn the basics of French polishing, hand rubbed oil finishing and traditional ‘milk paint’ finish using a product imported from the United States of America. Your understanding of the finer points of furniture making will be greatly enhanced after completing this class. A timeless piece of furniture that will inspire you and others.

Please note: This course runs for 22 consecutive weeks.

Instructor
Michael Ooi.jpg
Michael Ooi

Coming from a background in music and architecture, Michael’s journey into furniture making was prompted by some ideas and interest that he had in instrument making (drums in particular). The study of furniture making seemed to be the most practical and logical step to acquire the necessary skills for wooden instrument making.Accordingly in 2014/15 Michael undertook a Certificate III in Cabinet and Furniture making at Holmesglen TAFE full-time.

Through participation in the Furniture Making course, he became more interested in the craft of furniture making itself and gained a great satisfaction and inspiration from the experience of working with wood.

Since 2016 Michael has been a full time furniture maker making furniture at Whelan, Westwood and Tide Designs.

Michael has entered pieces in the Student Craftsmanship category of Furnitex Awards in 2014 and 2015, both of which became finalist pieces and also received an award for Excellence in Craftsmanship at the Holmesglen TAFE Design Awards for 2014.

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Testimonials
Highly recommended

Highly recommended for anyone that wishes to learn from an inspiring, humble master of the trade. I gained a wonderful insight into the relaxing and challenging world of hand crafted woodwork. I also met a fantastic bunch of people!

Matt Stonehouse - 2014

Great support and knowledge

I would like to thank all of the teachers at the Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking. They all provided great support and knowledge which was especially helpful for someone rekindling their love of working with wood.

Trevor Clarke

When

31st March to 8th September 2025
Monday Evening - 7:00pm to 10:00pm
(22 week course)
PLEASE NOTE: Cancelled classes are:
21st April & 9th June 2025

Location
Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking.
14 Cottage St, Blackburn

 

Testimonial

“I would like to thank all of the teachers at the Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking. They all provided great support and knowledge which was especially helpful for someone rekindling their love of working with wood.”

Trevor Clarke

“After 30 years watching our Maple grow from a sapling to a 10-metre tree, we decided it was too large for our suburban block and it needed to be felled. We didn’t want to see it cut up as firewood or mulched so we looked into what would be involved to make it into furniture. After several phone calls, I was directed to Alastair Boell who would be able to ‘slab’ the tree for us. Alastair visited us on a rainy day in May 2020 and advised us on what could be done. Alastair was encouraging and supportive of our idea, commenting that he wished more people would do what we were considering. Six months later, after COVID lockdown ended and the top part of the tree had been removed, Alastair visited again with his portable milling machinery. It was a great experience and I was able to be involved by stacking the ‘slabs’ in our patio where they would remain for up to 2 years while the timber dried out. I learned a lot about timber that day; Alastair's excitement of seeing ‘figures’ in the beautiful, creamy white timber was contagious as each slab revealed a new slice of our much loved tree. I am so glad we decided to take this direction. Alastair's care in providing an excellent service was evident throughout the process - he kept me informed of any delays, arrived when he said he would, included me in any decisions and cleaned up afterwards. It has been a very positive experience.”

Denise Lyons March 2020

categories Beginner
tags Tuesday