Unplugged Woodshop in Toronto
Tom Fidgen's Unplugged woodshop in Toronto has been now opened for a few months now and operates both online through a membership site and also within it's local out of Toronto were he offers different classes. All is available on the web site
What got me interested
Well for one I've been following Tom on youtube for a little while through his project videos. I also got both of his books and had a chance to get his latest title signed at the Woodworks conference 2014 (See my post here for this event).
When I heard that he was to open an online tutorial site, I was interested to see what he had to offer.
What really got me intrigued was an interview with David Charlesworth that I got to preview on Tom's youtube Channel. I've got about all David's DVD title from Lie-Nielsen and I like his style of teaching.
The content
I've been a member for the past 2 months now and really enjoy the content that has been put out so far. I specially like the review of the different tool makers that send in products for the school so that student can try out the tools, which in some cases, would be not available to them.
Yes the content is hand tool based, exclusively hand tools. This is not for everyone. Granted. But that is OK, that is the approach that he has taken and is now one of the only, if not the only school that operates exclusively using hand tools that offers both an online presence and a physical place to take class in person.
The content keeps evolving as Tom gets more tools and gets going. I believe that he does a pretty nice job so far.
One last note about some content that Tom put out in 2014 at the woodworks conference. I really liked his 5 points to an unplugged life which I try to keep in mind through different situations of life.
- Know the goal, acknowledge the goal
- Take small steps
- Note the change
- Get to see others, get feedback
- Prepare the fix
He prepared a document that documents pretty well these 5 points. I'm pretty sure that you can find the document on his web site, but if you can't find it and you'd want a copy, send me a line and will send it to you.Keep up the good work Tom and best of luck.