Man I want to find one in Jersey. I know m*** is pretty close ,but I can't take 2 or 3 days to go to a cl***.
Everything I have learned has been from reading forums and asking questions.The key is you have to take the information that was given to you and practice it for your self. There is so much information on the Internet now,Practice hard on the basics,shrinking ,stretching,cutting,bending,welding and patterns.Learn those first and then get polished with a cl***. You will not become a metal shaper with one or two cl***es.If so everyone would be a metal shaper.I have put a hard two years into metal shaping and I have just now scratched the surface. Cl***es I would like to intend are John Kelly's and Wray Schelins.
Have taken both Lazze cl***es, only two in my cl***es, and was lucky enough to be able to buy the machines. Also took cl***es at The Crucible in Oakland with Evan Wilcox and a variety of welding and metal art cl***es- well worth it, one guy even flew in from Florida for the Wilcox cl***. Only challenge is the difference in techniques - floppy english wheel vs. stiff wheel. Minimal hammer work vs. all hammer with wheel finishing. Sorta feels like karate vs. kung-fu - you kick the same a$$ but with different techniques.
Most of the cl***es you will find, taught by different people, will show you different techniques. I've always felt that the more ways that you know to do a particular task, the better off you are; it might help you get out of trouble sometime. Several weeks ago I was at Craig Naff's shop, in Virginia. He uses an English wheel and a power hammer. Some things he likes to do on the wheel and others on the hammer. Everyone has their preferences. I know some that have an English wheel and would never have a power hammer; and others that have hammers and would never own a wheel.
I did Kent 'The Tin Man' White's The Original 4-day Metalworking Intensive workshop this last weekend. It was an absolutely fabulous cl***, and a completely overwhelming amount of info. Was located in Northern California (Nevada City) Kent is very approachable, and is a wealth of information. If anyone has the opportunity to go to one, I highly recommend it. Even though I was only 1.5 hours away from the cl***, we had people as far away as Alaska coming down for the workshop. https://www.tinmantech.com/html/trainings.php Oh, and Kent's wife Renee provided breakfast and lunch, I must have gained 5 pounds over the weekend. LOL
Check the workshops calendar at metalmeet.com. I attended theirs in New York and it was great. Lots of hands-on.
A friend of mine took cl***es at Lazze and learned a lot! Check out Lazzes web site: http://lazzemetalshaping.com/ And here you can see him in action: http://lazzemetalshaping.com/index....merican-hot-rod&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=11
Another one for the list is Bobby Walden. 2 day weekender for $695. If the courses are anything like his work it's got to be a steal! I attended a 2 day Ron Covell course here in the UK. I was initially a little downhearted when i learned it wasn't a hands on deal. But the amount covered and simply watching a master at work and being able to get a handle on how gentle, rough or just voilent you need to be was of m***ive value. I've now just got to get out there and put some of this to use - quite a bit of the gear and some idea! Chris
I have attended Fay Butler's cl***, I think you would have to go to it 3 or 4 times to even touch the surface of how much this man knows! Money well spent, I have attended numerous Ron Covell cl***es, very good and I will attend more when possible. Mark Kennison from Ohio has some very good cl***es too, I have attended one of his. I hope to attend Lazze's cl*** later this year, one of my past students went there and said it was excellent. I have talked to Lazze a few times, he is a very nice guy and always eager to answer questions. I helped on a motorcycle project with Bryan Fuller once, I learned a great deal from him too. Almost everbody I meet doing this kind of work is very helpful and mostly nice guys. It's a great hobby/sport/ profession!!!!
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