April 9, 2018

The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America now offers a variety of tools for training students and entry-level woodworkers. Unlimited access to the online vault of training resources is a new benefit that comes with the $250 annual fee for EDUcation and MANufacturing membership in the WCA.

While most of the training tools were developed to help high school woodworking instructors implement the WCA’s Sawblade credential program, woodworking businesses can readily adapt them to address their specific training needs.

“Developing a structured program for training new hires from scratch is both time consuming and costly, especially for small shops,” said Patrick Molzahn, director of the Cabinet & Millwork program at Madison College in Madison, Wisconsin. “Businesses can use the WCA’s sawblade credential program and resources to train someone who is new or has limited woodworking experience on some of the most basic, yet important fundamentals of woodworking.”

Each of the training modules includes a step-by-step learning plan and corresponding learning tools. For example, the learning plan for operating a table saw covers recommended reading assignments, instructional videos, and a checklist of saw safety, key parts and functions. The learning plan also features a series of table saw operator activities such as tapering, beveling and mitering. Rounding out the table saw module are evaluation tools for assessing the quality of the cuts.

Other training modules available to WCA members include Layout and Measurement, Milling, Shaping, Boring and Sanding.

“We plan to add new resources as often as possible,” Molzahn said. “We welcome contributions from industry, academia and others who are willing to help us build out our library.”