This is part of an occasional series by the Sanpete Country Travel and Utah Heritage Highway 89 Alliance on the people and places along U.S. Highway 89.

TBSI Announces 2004/2005 Workshop Schedule

Sept. 16-18, Log Cabin Restoration Participants will visit cabins that have been previously restored and those in need of restoration work. They will be provided with a basis for assessing log cabin structures, including foundations. Students will learn about: the historical background of structures; causes of building deterioration; traditional log construction including log notching, low hewing and dovetail cutting; log repair and replacement; floor construction and building assessment. This course will take place in Ephraim.

Integral to this training is tool handling, safety issues, preservation planning and conservation of historically significant features of all buildings. Cabin owners, contractors and others interested in log work will benefit from this program. Cabin owners should bring photographs of their cabin for discussion and assistance in solutions for current problems.

Sept. 23-25, Adobe Restoration The workshop provides classroom and on-site instruction in adobe building techniques and historic adobe restoration. Participants have a hands-on opportunity to work on a typical 1875 southwestern Utah pioneer home. Topics to be discussed include Earth architecture and types of construction around the world; contemporary use of adobe; molds for adobe bricks; mixing proportions and additives; drying, curing and handling of adobe; deterioration of adobe and wall construction techniques.

Participants will take a tour of both historical and modern adobe structures in Virgin, La Verkin, and Silver Reef.

Sept. 30- Oct. 2, Timber Framing This hands-on workshop will cover the history, philosophy, and traditional practices for the designing, manufacturing and construction of timber frame projects. Participants will design, then layout timbers from plans and fabricate timbers using standard joinery and pegs.

Topics to be covered include history and understanding of timber framing; tools and equipment; timber framed design process; characteristics and strength of wood, including loads and forces; layout and cutting timbers; joinery: mortise and tenon; and assembly and raising.

October 7-9, Decorative Plaster This workshop teaches students how to repair, conserve and preserve historic plaster walls and ceilings. Students learn about traditional materials, mixes and plaster application techniques. They also learn to create and install decorative moldings and medallions.

The course will cover tools and plaster mixes; techniques of flat plaster; wood, metal and gypsum lath ornamental plaster; medallions and crown moldings and plastering problems.

Nov. 4-6, Stained Glass The workshop covers leading, foiling, glue chipping and stained glass repair. Students learn documentation, tool usage, glass removal, cleaning, re-leading and protection. Open to all levels of experience, participants fabricate their own stained glass window. Participants are encouraged to bring stained glass repair projects to class for consultation.

This workshop will cover the history of stained glass; cleaning, edge gluing, foiling, and repair; good and bad repairs; photography; tools, glue chipping; stained glass fabrication and bracing, putty, cleaning and protecting glass.

Nov. 11-13, Wood Furniture Making, Part 1 Participants learn traditional joinery techniques by using chisels and saws to construct a small pioneer storage chest. Students learn the use, care and sharpening of hand planes. This workshop is a prerequisite to Furniture Making II.

Topics for discussion include traditional joinery practices; smoothing with hand planes; hand cut dovetail joinery; turning a hand plane; sharpening a hand plane and a chisel; squaring a board by hand and setting a hinge. Students will visit Peel Furniture Works in Mt. Pleasant.

Jan. 13-15, 2005, Blacksmithing The object of this three-day workshop is to teach traditional skills of artistic blacksmithing. The workshop includes the philosophy of historic ironwork and hands-on reproduction of forged hardware such as hooks, hinges, pliers and chisels.

The course will cover blacksmith shop and equipment; forging techniques; hammering, drawing out and bending; tools and heat treating; hand forge a center punch or chisel; various hands-on blacksmithing projects; hand forged pliers; forge welding and iron for blacksmithing.

Jan. 20-22, 2005, Woodcarving This workshop emphasizes the skills necessary for professional architectural woodcarving, including efficient timesaving techniques, control and use of carving chisels, accurate understanding of structure, design, and layout. Each student works on an acanthus leaf or letter carving to gain a better understanding of carving principles. Students learn proper methods for sharpening chisels. This workshop is open to all levels of carvers. Those who have taken the workshop before can move on to other projects.

Topics covered will include carving safety; individual carving instruction; tool care and sharpening; carving design and layout; lettering and woods for carving.

Jan. 27-29, 2005, Wood Windows This course is a hands-on workshop for the traditional building skill of wood window fabrication, repair, and restoration. It includes the history of wood windows, restoration and preservation techniques. The course also teaches traditional practices in fabrication of wood windows. Each student constructs a small wood window.

The workshop will cover window terminology; old wood window removal and repair; paint and paint removal; hardware and maintenance; preparation for paint and glazing and small window shop project.

Jan. 31- Feb. 2, 2005, Faux Painting Students will learn to execute paint finishes to transform their surroundings. Emphasis is placed on wall treatments using paint to achieve sophisticated effects with texture, pattern and color mixing principles. Students learn to simulate expensive materials, such as marble and stone. In a hands-on environment, students also learn old world painting techniques including fresco and sgraffito and European-dry-wash techniques.

Topics and experiences to be covered include color mixing principles; European dry wash technique; antiquing and adding ornament to walls; techniques of marble and stone finishes; Fresco art and gold leaf application.

Feb. 3-5, 2005, Wood Furniture Making Part II There is a certain nostalgia and charm when hand crafting a furniture project. It speaks of a time when craftsmen had few tools but an abundance of skills. This second part of this course emphasizes traditional hand tool techniques and provides a wood crafting experience that makes one more confident with hand tools, something indispensable in day-to-day woodworking.

Handcrafted projects students will create include an heirloom tool chest; desktop table w/ drawer; wall-mounted tool cabinet w/door and drawers or a cabinetmakers chair. This course will also incorporate many hand-cut joineries such as dovetails, mortise and tendon, dados and rabbits, moldings and miters.

March 10-12, 2005, Historic Masonry This workshop provides a comprehensive study of the conservation and restoration of historic masonry by providing classroom instruction and hands-on experiences. The hands-on project is a late 1800 s historic masonry house.

Students will be involved in evaluating aging masonry structures, identifying the causes of masonry deterioration, and selecting appropriate solutions for the problem. They will also learn proper cleaning and paint stripping techniques, how to repair cracked masonry, treatment for deteriorating stone, stone patching, the role of mortar in historic masonry structure, and basic historic mortar analysis. They will also learn techniques for matching color, texture, hardness and tooling of historic mortar, as well as study mixing procedures using lime and hydraulic lime mortars. Students will also learn how to apply penetrating and breathable water repellents, how to construct a small lime burning kiln, how repair historic masonry with prepared mortar.

April 7-9, 2005, Stone Carving and Restoration At this hands-on workshop, master stone carvers provide expert instructions as participants discover traditional techniques of stone carving. Students learn restorative skills including: repairing, pointing, patching, and stone splitting by working on a historic, stone house.

Participants will learn about techniques of stone splitting, pinning and patching and will tour the quarry site in Manti. They will also work on a stone restoration project, assess a project site and do hands-on restorative and stone carving work.

April 14-16, Millwork This traditional course covers the practices of millwork replication and repair. Hands-on experience includes repairing existing millwork by learning fabrication, installation, and replacement of missing or damaged sections on historic buildings.

Students will see a slide presentation on the restoration of Utah Governor’s Mansion. They will also learn about millwork replication, Dutchman repair, decayed wood restoration, moisture in wood presentation, and fabrication.