D-School Students as Woodworkers in the Woods – HDG Woodcraft Studio

Light streams through the forest-green leaves in patches of brightness and shade. This summer, D-School students from various departments at NTU have become aspiring woodworkers in a six-day workshop at HDG, hugging their finished pieces lovingly and grinning happily.

HDG Woodcraft Studio has blended itself into the forestscape for more than a decade; Prof. Dong-Yang Lin (林東陽), who had taught in the Department of Industrial Design of the National Taipei University of Technology for 25 years, is the biggest draw of the studio. He has mentored numerous apprentices, some of whom came from overseas.

Manual skills taught in the studio are things apprentices could use and enjoy throughout their lives. Each apprentice begins with making a simple chair, and that begins with instruction in the safe use of tools: the table saw, jointer, planer, and bandsaw. Also, when sorting through the lumber, the apprentices must learn the proper use of planers to develop the feel of adjusting the cut from coarse to fine.

Now comes the most fundamental joint in all wood construction: cutting a mortise and tenon joint, and then fitting a tenon into a corresponding mortise to create a solid, right-angle joint. Next, the apprentice operates a drill to join the surface to the support board. When that is interlocked in the leg, the apprentice learns to use assistive tools, which provide more variety and safety in the assembly process.

In the following days, the apprentices’ endurance is put to a greater test with new woodcraft components: the operation of a planer, a bandsaw, a disc grinder, and a power drill, which requires tremendous patience and eye-hand coordination. But, as long as you stick with the job and apply your elbow grease, well, you will be awarded with the smoothness and luster in your handmade piece.

The sanding process requires even more patience than the previous steps. Thankfully, the air of community-building has dominated the workshop by the time the apprentices reach this stage of woodworking. Teams are formed and jobs assigned, and work becomes much more endurable – even fun – for all the participants. And, the finishing process ups the enjoyment dramatically. Different coatings provide different final touches to the piece, and the master woodworkers allow the apprentices to choose the finishes they like.

D-School@NTU has always highlighted hands-on experience since its establishment. Possibilities are explored and envelopes pushed in the process. The old axiom remains true, that “a mess made in the workroom is not a mess; it’s creative freedom!”

This article will also be featured in No. 67 of NTU Highlights (August, 2018).