Thread: Tafe vs other woodworking courses

You'll find the tafe course is biased towards modern commercial wood machining.

The courses ran by woodworkers for woodworkers are biased towards the more traditional skills.

ATM I do not know of any courses being ran, due to the pandemic.

Pat, Illawarra Wood Working School at Woonona are currently running courses if that suits the OP.

For a mix of hand and machine skills, you could look at the Sturt School for Wood 1 year course. Not cheap, and you need to have the time available, but I believe it is accredited.

Are there any maker spaces near you? They might provide access to tools and a space to work around when you're available.

This may be a start.
Woodwork Course for Beginners | Short Courses in Sydney
Woodwork is one of those things where the start is the important part. After that with the basics you can learn as you go. I would hope that they could also point you in the right direction for further learning.
Regards
John

Wish I had asked this question when I started woodworking, instead of just bumbling along.

TAFEs are a shadow of their former self and, as Pat states, teaching courses orientated towards commercial machine joinery. A retired teacer friend says they have to teach machine joinery because the students have stolen all the hand tools - cynical so-and-so.

I used to work as a management consultant which requires accumulation of information, sometimes from reluctant sources. One series of questions were:

• Why are you best?
• Who are your competitors?
• Why are they inferior to you? Or better than you?
• Who else should I talk to?

In their answers they would frequently give a very insightful appraisal of both themselves and their opposition.

Potential sources of information would be:

• TAFE staff and students; the more the better, up to about 10 then they start repeating.
• Other course providers,
• Local men's sheds,
• Any joiners/carpenters that you know,
• Any hobbyists that you know,
• Anyone that they recommend - critical.

Also look at short term residential courses - some really interesting stuff was being offered in New Zealand before the lockdown. See Australian Wood Review magazine.

The courses that TAFE teaches are dictated by the industry itself. They don’t get to choose what they teach. Industry is consulted by a govt panel and the course, subjects and subject depth are decided by industry. For private providers to teach these accredited courses ( hence get govt funding) they have to follow the same guidelines.
if you are interested in the courses available, the units in each course and the details within the units, find the course number via google then go to training.gov.au then “continue to training.gov.au ( under National Register of VET) and enter the course number. You can then look at the units and the content in each unit.

Providers running non accredited course can choose their own content which certainly suits some people.

Depending whereabouts you are in Sydney the Woodworkers Association of NSW might be of interest. They are probably a bit locked down still but worth a look online.
They have a fully equipped workshop at Abbotsford open on Wednesday’s and Sundays.
They also have meetings at a local club bimonthly.
I used to belong about 30 years ago, back then it was full of very enthusiastic Woodies all on the new wave and most professionals or aiming at that.
They are now mainly amateurs but are a friendly and well organised bunch.
They do hold classes occasionally also.
H

I feel TAFE isn't the way to go, its changed a lot from when i did my Cabinetmaking apprenticeship, but that is due to what the industry demands.

I also moved interstate and studied at Sturt, It was accredited, and i believe it still is, i found it a great place to learn new things and the other students are like minded.

It does depend on the teacher, as it is a little different to when i did my time when Tom was teaching.

Some teachers let you work it out yourself and some will guide you and nurse you through it, its worth asking yourself what kind of learner you are and talk to the teacher to find out his teaching style.

Sturt now has more variety in teachers. When I studied there Tom taught everything, with a bit of input on design from another teacher. I had no problems with that, but from what I've seen, using several different teachers over the course of the year is a definite positive.

I know after Tom passed that they did have clusters of different teachers, but not sure about how it's operating at the moment, i do personally like the teaching by different teachers, different teachers have different strengths.

I dropped in last year and it was full of students and the students seemed to enjoying their time.

I've also heard good things about the woodworking course in Nelson NZ, i was lucky to be able to spend 4 years in NZ, and i visited the school and it would be an amazing opportunity to spend some time there.

I go to Paul Nicholson for lessons once a week in Marrickville.

Paul Nicholson Woodwork Courses - General 2

There is also the splinter workshop there so you could rent your own space.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do

Originally Posted by goongdengee

Hi all, I'd like to get in to woodworking / furniture making as a serious hobby but am a little stumped at the moment trying to learn on my own. I'm tossing up between starting a course, whether it's a certificate 3 in furniture making at Tafe or one of the other many (unaccredited) woodworking courses available in NSW.

My impression of the benefits of Tafe seem to be cost (being cheaper), but the duration is longer at 2 years. The other unaccredited courses that are available are term based and whilst they're more expensive, I feel the pacing might be better? If I can pick up the same skills in half the time, I would gladly pay the higher price. Also, it seems the classes are smaller (4-5 people) and that might be better in terms of more focused guidance from the teacher. I'd like to develop skills around hand tool joinnery skills as well (such as dovetails joints) and I'm not sure if tafe provides this. I'm curious if anyone can shed light on their experience with either of the paths, and which path you think would be more suited to someone in my position.

as said by others, the content and syllabus of TAFE courses are driven by the needs of industry.
There has been at least one, if not two changes to the syllabus since I completed my Certificate III in Cabinetmaking and Furniture making 10 years ago. My experience of the 3 year, part-time Certificate III course (two nights per week) is completely different to the current TAFE courses offered.


Questions only you can answer are:

How important is a formally accredited course? I'd expect that a "formal" qualification is not that important if woodworking will only be a hobby for you.

What key skills do you wish to acquire? For starters I suggest you need to know how to use:
pencil and paper to generate or copy a design;
pencil and a board (or stick) to generate a rod;
NOTE that creating a design from a client brief is a separate skill set altogether;
measuring and marking out;
Optional -- a computer CAD package (SolidWorks, Fusion 360, Sketch-up, etc.) and printer to generate a CAD design;
optional -- using a CAD package to generate a 3-D model for CNC machining -- maintaining currency with the software will likely be a major challenge;
Joint cutting -- rebate, half-lap, mitre, dovetail, etc. -- you would want to learn hand tool and machine techniques;
component assembly;



Perhaps the "fastest" way to learn is to build a real relevant to you project starting with the drawing and progressing to material selection, marking out, cutting out, etc.


As part of my TAFE Certificate III, we built:
wooden holder for a sharpening stone;
tool box with biscuit reinforced mitre joints;
bedside cabinet using solid wood and manufactured board;
writing table with two dovetailed drawers, the table top was veneered particle board edged with solid wood;
Chippendale style chair;
mirror stand with sunburst veneer top, a solid wood dovetailed drawer dovetailed into a curved laminated front;
entertainment unit made from veneered board with solid wood edging and a pair of caul moulded doors and shelves;
corner storage cabinet with solid wood doors;
Formica laminated counter top with a sink cut out using two pieces of laminate;
installed bathroom cabinet;

apart from the Formica laminated counter top, each project involved first drawing the plan on paper or MDF board.

Great response, Ian. Whoever planned that list of projects (Cert III) really knew how to design a joinery workout in the right sequence.

I did a combined 3D design - woodworking course at university and one of my first lecturers thought that computers were a passing fad and insisted that eveything be designed on paper and then transferred to full size drawings on paper of MDF. In retrospect that was a mistake for me. I just don't relate to a paper drawings.

Later we did CAD drawing and that was enlightening. Being able to manipulate a concept and embrio drawing in 3D space massively enhanced its meaningfulness for me. I could visualise and refine easily, try new ideas and erase screwball ones. It worked for me. (The for me emphasis is important.)

One regret was learning Sketchup - it is so limitting and hard to unlearn. Later I learned Rhinoceros, Autocad and Fusion 360. My preference now is Rhino, but Autocad is so ubiquitous in CNC machining.

May I also suggest an addition to your recommendations. When one designs an object one should simultaneously design how to make and assemble that object. (eg: some shapes are extremely difficult to clamp => assemble before shaping.)