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Randy J. Arnold will be teaching a tool making workshop October 20 – 21st
during the Friends of Dard Hunter conference.
The workshop will be located on the campus of the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Participants should leave with three simple but essential tools crafted during the workshop.
Registration is now open.
For more information, please visit the Friends of Dard Hunter.
Tool Making
Using simple tools such as a bone folder or a nipping press is essential for bookbinding. Learning to design and build these tools can have a great impact on the ease and quality of the work produced. The class will include an introduction to hand tools: saws, rasps, hand drills, chisels, and sandpaper; how to build a simple jig that will help us create the book binding tools; making a wooden “bone” folder custom shaped to your hand; building a simple nipping press; and building a punching cradle that will be functional and beautiful. I will bring my personal tools to share with the class. For those interested in purchasing hand tools for the class, or bringing their own tools, we will be using a crosscut carcass saw, a hand drill, various rasps, and assorted chisels (or carving knives). This workshop is intended as a connection between the worlds of bookbinding and woodworking, and to take some of the mystery out of woodworking, ultimately empowering the bookbinder with the necessary skills to create any tool they might need. The building process will focus primarily on hand tool use, and no experience with woodworking is required.
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Randy J. Arnold is a luthier living in Northport, Alabama, and the third generation in his family to work with wood. In addition to musical instruments, Randy also creates handcrafted bookbinders’ tools. Randy works in the wood shop that his grandfather built in the early 1940’s, using many of his grandfather’s tools.
