1/6/16: Build Your Own Shave Horse

Short courses, useful skills. For a small investment in time and money, become more self-reliant.  

For the first Self-Reliance Workshop of 2016, taking place January 6th, we’ll be offering a build-your-own shave horse class. Also known as a draw shave, it’s a bench vise where pressure from your feet hold what you’re working on, so you have both hands free to manipulate tools. You can see one in use in the picture above. We use them when making bows, canoe paddles, carving basket rims, etc. Generations ago, every homestead had at least one. We’ve had a variety of them over the years, and will be making them using our new design specifically created to stop the bench from wobbling. The design comes from a homemade weight bench we made that’s incredibly sturdy.  The cost for the class, which will take place in Wolfeboro, NH, is $15, plus the cost of materials. We don’t have that materials cost just yet, but will post it as soon as we do.

The Self-Reliance Workshop Series is a collaboration between the Jack Mountain Bushcraft School and GALA (Global Awareness, Local Action), and runs the first Wednesday of every month from 5:30-8:00 pm. Tuition is $15, plus a materials fee when making a take-home item. Group size is limited and they fill fast, so register early. Call 603-539-6460 or email contact@galacommunity.org to register or for more information. Join us for fun and little bit of dangerous, liberating knowledge.

2016 will be our fourth year of working with GALA, a local non-profit, in putting together a series of self-reliance, homesteading and bushcraft courses.  They take place the first Wednesday of every month, and cover a variety of topics. The tuition is only $15, and goes toward helping achieve GALA’s goal of Global Awareness, Local Action on sustainability.

This is an amazing organization actively working toward a sustainable future. When so many people are pessimistic about the world, but whose actions are limited to posting their laments on various social media outlets, this is a group of people doing tangible work toward positive change. It’s an honor to be a part of it.

What about you? Will 2016 be another year of despair and social media or empowerment with real people in the real world? There are many ways to get involved.

If there’s something you’d like to see in the future, or if there’s something you’d like to teach, contact us.

We’ll have the entire 2016 schedule available soon. Here’s a list of past workshops:

2016

• 1/6 – Build Your Own Shave Horse

2015

• 1/7 – Backyard Beekeeping
• 2/4 – Seed Saving
• 3/4 – Fermenting And Sprouting Foods
• 4/1 – Pruning And Grafting Fruit Trees
• 5/6 – Native Landscaping And Permaculture
• 6/3 – Basic Bike Maintenance
• 7/1 – Fly Fishing
• 8/5 – Cold Frame Construction
• 9/2 – Preserve Your Harvest
• 10/7 – Compass And Map Navigation
• 11/4 – Campfire Cooking
• 12/2 – Chaga And Winter Herbs

2014

• 1/8 – Traditional Winter Gear, Snowshoes And Snowshoeing
• 2/12 – Soap Making 101
• 3/12 – Organic Cosmetics: Treat Your Skin To Chocolate
• 4/9 – Intro to Fly Fishing: Gear, Knots & Casting
• 5/14 – Fire By Friction
• 6/11 – Book Binding: Coptic Stitch Bound
• 7/9 – Natural Building Methods
• 8/13 – Edible Wild Plants – Wild Food Walk
• 9/10 – Sewing Machine Intro & Make Your Own Tote Bag
• 10/8 – Beer Brewing Basics
• 11/12 – Campfire Cooking; Dutch Oven, Reflector Oven And Pot Suspension Systems
• 12/10 – The Simple Sauna; Making And Using