StretchLearn Course

Build Real Things from Real Wood

Master the tools, joints, and finishing techniques professional woodworkers use — starting from scratch.

Beginner9 hrSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

Woodworking Fundamentals teaches you to work confidently with both hand tools and power tools, understand how wood moves with humidity, and cut the joints that make furniture last decades. You will complete four progressively complex skill exercises — a shooting board, a mortise-and-tenon sample, a dovetailed box, and a finished shelf — that double as portfolio pieces. Every lesson uses named tool models, real dimensions, and species-specific advice rather than generic instructions.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Select, sharpen, and tune hand tools and power tools appropriate to a given task

Read grain direction and predict wood movement to prevent cracking and warping

Cut mortise-and-tenon, dovetail, and pocket-screw joints to assembly-ready tolerance

Plan a project from rough lumber to cut list using a story stick and rod

Apply and troubleshoot three finishing systems: oil/wax, waterborne polyurethane, and Danish oil

Identify and control the five main workshop hazards: dust, kickback, noise, fumes, and eye injury

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: Tools, Safety, and the Prepared Workshop

Set up a safe, functional shop space; select, sharpen, and tune the essential hand tools and power tools; and understand PPE requirements for woodworking's five main hazard classes.

3 lessons

Hand Tool Selection and SharpeningContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

Power Tools: Capability, Setup, and Safe OperationContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Workshop Layout, Workbenches, and PPEContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Wood Science: Species, Grain, and Movement

Understand how trees grow into lumber, how to read grain to predict planing and splitting behaviour, and how moisture content governs all wood movement calculations.

3 lessons

Lumber Anatomy and the Cut ListContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Wood Movement: Calculating Seasonal ChangeContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Milling Rough Lumber to Flat, Square StockContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Joinery: Mortise-and-Tenon, Dovetail, and Pocket Screws

Cut three foundational joints by hand and by machine, understand the mechanical and aesthetic logic behind each, and choose the right joint for the load and visibility requirements of any given project.

3 lessons

Mortise and Tenon: The Strongest Frame JointContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Through Dovetails: Aesthetic Joinery for Boxes and CarcasesContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Pocket Screws: Fast, Functional Joinery for CaseworkContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Project Planning and Finishing

Plan a complete project from concept to cut list using a story stick, then apply and troubleshoot three finishing systems to produce a durable, professional surface.

3 lessons

Project Planning: Story Sticks, Rods, and DrawingsContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Surface Preparation: Sanding, Scraping, and Pore ManagementContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Finishing Systems: Oil, Polyurethane, and Danish OilContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

woodworkinghand toolsjoinerywood finishingshop safetydovetailmortise and tenonwood movement