Develop your furniture making skills

Chairs, tables, cupboards and other furniture can be made from different types of wood, metal, plastic, fibreglass, fabric and other materials. The ultimate durability, aesthetics, function and maintenance needs of any item of furniture will always depend upon the materials it is made from, the way it is designed and the craftsmanship used to make it. 

Study this course to:

• Work with different materials to make furniture.
• Understand how to interpret and make construction drawings.
• Plan, prepare and assemble furniture parts.
• Find out how to select and operate different machinery.
• Understand the manufacturing process.
• Learn how to repair and renovate damaged or degraded furniture.
• Discover how to use different materials, including upholstery.

This course provides a foundation in all these things. Study and then build your expertise on this solid foundation. You can aspire to become an expert and become better working with furniture whether making, repairing, maintaining, marketing, or doing anything else with it.

Course Content

Ten lessons as follows:

Lesson 1. Nature & Scope of Furniture Making 

• Introduction - types of furniture for sitting, lying, tables, desks & storage
• Materials
• History
• Evolution of Manufacturing
• Design and Designers
• Scope of Furniture Making - contemporary, flatpack
• Small business opportunities- making, selling, repairing
• Measurements and drawings
• Taking measurements 
• Measurement Equipment - tape measure, rulers, marking gauge, square, combination square, bevel, spirit level
• Understanding technical drawings - scale, lines on drawings
• Types of drawings - sketches, sections, elevations, detailing
• Making drawings for clients
• Drawing instruments
  
  

Lesson 2. Tools and Equipment

• Furniture making workshop
• Assessing & setting up the space
• Ventilation
• Workshop safety
• Workbenches - bench dogs, holdfast, planing stop, vices
• Tool store and organisation
• Toolboxes
• Hand tools
• Measurement
• Clamps
• Spirit level\Drills, Drilling machines
• Routers
• Sawing machines - bench saws, types of saw blades, band saws
• Specialised tools for wood furniture - cutting, mitre saw, saw stool 
• Shaping
• Drills
• Finishing
• Specialised tools for Metal Furniture - centre punch, die grinder, drill bits, English wheel, saw blades, welders, welding magnets
• Specialised tools for plastics - acrylic cutter/knife, countersinks, cutting mats, drill bits, router bits, saw blades
• Tools for other materials -fibreglass, carbon fibre, resin
  
  

Lesson 3. Wood Furniture – Indoors

• Timbers for indoors - solid hardwood and softwood
• Composites
• Design considerations
• How to join wood - joints, glues, nails
• How to make wooden furniture
• Common finishes on indoor furniture
• Filling holes, sanding, cleaning, use of primers, using colour in design, varnishing paint, surface preparation
• Applying primer then varnish, varnish/ glaze, lacquer
• Applying a veneer using an iron
  
  

Lesson 4. Wood Furniture – Outdoors

• Introduction
• Timbers for outdoors
• Design considerations
• How to make wooden outdoor furniture -step by step
• A seat
• BBQ Cart/Table
• Common finishes on Outdoor timber
  
  

Lesson 5. Metal Furniture

• Introduction
• Characteristics of metals
• Types of metals
• Welding metals
• Fusion welding
• Arc welding - TIG, MIG etc
• Gas Welding - Oxy acetylene, Oxy hydrogen, Low temperature gas welding
• Resistance welding - spot welding, seam welding
• Solid state welding - Forge welding
• Shaping metals - casting, shearing, rolling, punching, bending
• Assembling metals - brazing, soldering, riveting, bolting
• How to make metal furniture
• Common finishes on metal furniture
  
  
• Lesson 6. Plastic Furniture
• Introduction
• Pros and cons of plastic furniture
• Plastic types - acrylic, polycarbonate, polythene, etc
• Design considerations
• Construction Methods - 3D printing, moulding plastics, using recycled plastics
• How to make plastic furniture
• Common finishes
  
  

Lesson 7.  Other Materials

• Introduction
• Glass
• Fibreglass
• Ceramics
• Concrete
• Design Considerations
• How to make furniture with other materials
• Finishes
  
  

Lesson 8. Covering Materials & Upholstery

• Introduction
• Nature of Upholstery
• Types of Upholstery - traditional, modem, commercial, marine, automobile
• Upholstery fabrics - natural vs synthetic fibres
• Natural fibres - leather, wool, cotton, linen, silk, others
• Synthetics - polyester, nylon, rayon, acrylic, velvet, microfibre, polypropylene, vinyl
• Classification of fabrics
• Fabric rub tests
• Thread count
• Fire resistance
  
  

Lesson 9. Upholstery Work

• Introduction
• Upholstery tools
• Materials and equipment - upholstery tacks, nails, nail strips, gimp pins, staples, webbing, springs, snuffing/ wadding, linings, etc
• Choosing appropriate fabrics
• Deciding whether to Reupholster
• Step by step basic upholstery
• Reupholstering a chair
• Upholstering without springs
  
  

Lesson 10. Furniture Care & Maintenance

• Introduction
• Care and maintenance of timber furniture
• Waxing
• Polishing
• Care and maintenance of Metal furniture
• Care and maintenance of other materials
• Care and maintenance of furniture fabrics
• Fibre structure and appearance\The effect of moisture
• Chemical properties
• Resistance to insects & microorganisms
• Electrical properties
• Sunlight effects
• Thermal properties
• Upholstered students
• Cleaning