Woodwork Intermediate: Make a Contemporary Side Table

Course overview

Traditional Hand-Tool Woodworking at Rycotewood Furniture Centre

Elevate your woodworking skills through crafting a contemporary Shaker-style side table, with this 12-week intermediate course, limited to 8 participants.  

This woodworking course is perfect for those looking to improve existing skills by exploring a variety of traditional hand-tool woodworking techniques, guided by expert tutor Freddie Corbyn.

Using a range of hand and powered tools, learners will create a stylish side table. You will learn how to select, measure mark and accurately dimension timber, create strong mortise and tenon joints and veneer and edge-band a tabletop.   

Quiet and methodical by nature, hand-tool woodworking can be a very mindful activity and we hope that you will find this course to be relaxing and fun as well as informative.  

At the end of the course, you will take home the table that you have made and will hopefully have the skills and confidence to pursue further woodworking projects and/or attend another of our classes.   

 

The core skills taught during this course are:  

Foundational Techniques: including accurate measuring and marking, timber selection and preparation, safe tool handling and maintenance and basic joinery principles. 

Hand tool techniques: using chisels, hand saws, bench planes, mallets, hammers and more.  

Specialised Skills: such as creating mortise and tenon joints, veneering, ide Table wood finishing techniques, surface preparation and assembly methods and gluing up.

Our experienced tutor, Freddie Corbyn, will provide group demonstrations and individual instruction, guidance and mentoring within a supportive learning environment. .

All tools and materials you will need are provided.

Please wear stout closed footwear and clothes that you don’t mind getting covered in sawdust. 

 On completion of the course, you will be ready to pursue your own DIY projects and/or progress to one of our other intermediate or advanced courses.  

Tutor: Matthew Biddle

As this is aimed at intermediate wood workers, you’ve probably started collecting your own tools so feel free to bring them and you probably know how to sharpen them, for which the workshop is equipped.

Course Starts in 159 Days

Thu 25 September 2025

Enrol now

Alternatively enrol by phone quoting OXLLL83EA

Meet the tutors

We want our learners to feel welcome, safe and at ease when attending our classes, especially if this is your first time attending an adult education class or if you're coming back to education after a break.
If you're interested in one of courses, meet our tutors first! You'll see they have similar passions and interests and, most importantly, the right qualifications to help you make the most of your time and money.

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