Woodworking Short Courses Archives - Boat Building Academy and Furniture School

The Furniture School runs a popular programme of 1 to 15-day short courses for everyone – Whether you’re a complete beginner, want to hone a particular skill or spend time by the sea learning something new. You can also build a more extensive training programme by joining a series of short courses

Book 2 or more courses for a 5% discount.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss our courses.

25% discount for Lyme Regis Locals when booking the ‘Make a Stool’ or ‘Make a Scrumpy Box’ course.

Taster Days
07 March 2025 / 09 June 2025 / 10 October 2025
A perfect opportunity to explore the Academy, speak to the team and ask any questions. You’ll have a tour of the workshops, learn practical woodworking skills and make your own wooden mallet.
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Joinery – Make a Table
14-18 April 2025
Set solid foundations in tool sharpening and maintenance, timber preparation and joinery. You will make joints including mortise & tenons and halvings. Using your new found skills you will make a wooden side table to take home.
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Make a Tote Box
21-25 April 2025
Dovetail joints demystified. Learn the setting out and cutting of handmade dovetails and use your new found skills to make a useful wooden tote box to take home with you.
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The Women’s Workshop: Introduction to Woodworking
28 April - 02 May 2025
Try you hand at woodworking in an inclusive and relaxed environment, led by boat builder Amy Stringfellow.
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Make A Scrumpy Box
06-08 May 2025
Get into woodwork or expand your skills with this three day course that takes you through the construction of a wooden trug with a steam bent oak handle. You will discover the pleasure of working wood with hand tools and learn an array of techniques from sharpening and using hand tools to steam bending and copper riveting.
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Make A Paddle
17-18 July 2025
A two-day course allowing you to learn some new skills and hand make your own paddle using UK grown ash. Begin by choosing the blade shape which best suits your needs, before settling on a suitable length for your paddle. Next, using a variety of modern and traditional techniques you will shape and then finish the paddle ready for oiling or to take away for varnishing. Tools and materials are provided.
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Build a Paddleboard
21 July - 08 August 2025
Spend two weeks building your own hand-crafted timber paddleboard built over an internal “fishbone” frame. The board you will make is designed for general use, it has a beginner friendly form with good stability, but is fairly quick and suitable for surfing, yoga, and fishing.
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Paint your own Bellyboard
July / August 2025 Date TBC
Are you in Lyme Regis and summer is not as hot as planned? Come join us to paint your own bellyboard, which
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Letter Carving
07-08 August 2025
Spend two days learning the art of letter carving. You will learn how to sharpen and use carving tools and have the opportunity to carve a name board for your house or boat.
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Routing – Make a Stepstool
11-13 August 2025
An introduction to the safe use of routers, direction of cut, holding the workpiece, PPE and dust control. Different methods of working with a router, guided handheld, free-hand, and table mounted. .
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Weekend Dovetails
16-17 August 2025
Hand cut dovetail joints are often seen as a sign of quality in a piece of furniture; on this course you will spend two days learning the skills required to cut your own accurate dovetail joints.
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Green Wood Chair Making
18-22 August 2025
Learn the basic principles of green woodwork including cleaving and conversion of an ash log, as well as steam bending, drying, and construction.
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Make A Stool
20-22 August 2025
A three-day course to learn or expand your skills and make a simple stool using home grown timber. Learn to sharpen and then use a variety of modern and traditional tools to shape the legs, stretchers, seat and to cut the joints, before bringing all the parts together to assemble your stool.
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Design with Jules Hudson
01-05 September 2025
This new course is all about liberating and revealing the designer that exists within all of us.
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Marquetry
08-10 September 2025
Make simple motifs before progressing to more complex designs. You will also learn parquetry, shading, and finishing techniques.
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