Contact time: 140 hours

This module is designed to enable students to select and care for the tools they will use as boatbuilders, and to practise their use in the preparation and jointing of timber to make a personal item, such as a tool box or workshop item, which will remain their property. (The Materials Levy, absorbed in the fee for the course, covers basic materials)

As some students will be less familiar than others with hand tools and their use and care, various categories will be introduced including measuring and marking tools, hammers and mallets, saws, boring tools, chisels, planes, axes and adzes, scrapers, spokeshaves and drawknives. Students will learn about the sharpening, maintenance and safe use of these tools.

Students will be taught how to make and fit the joints most commonly used in the building and fit-out of wooden boats. Students will also be instructed in the adjustment, sharpening, maintenance and safe use of static and hand-held power tools.

The aim of the subject is to assist students in choosing and maintaining their own set of hand tools and providing practice in their use towards the achievement of the standards needed for boatbuilding.

This subject also aims to familiarize students with their chosen material, timber - especially Tasmanian species. The subject content will enable students to identify major Tasmanian boatbuilding timbers in the workshop, to season timber with minimum wastage, select timber for various parts of a boat, and use a variety of hand tools to prepare that timber for use.

The process of conversion from raw logs to boatbuilding material will be explained during a visit to local sawmills.

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