Workshop Overview.  Rob Cosman's Workshop: Intermediate Drawer Making is a 6-day intensive workshop that focuses on drawer and cabinet making (see below for workshop details).  The workshop is held at Rob's Workshop located in Grand Bay, New Brunswick, Canada.  If after reading through the information below, you have any questions about our Advanced Workshop: Drawer Making, please email your questions to: Robswebmaster@robcosman.com.

Cost:  The six-day Intermediate Drawer Making Workshop costs $2990 (USD), which is payable in two installments or all at once.  If paying with two installments, an initial deposit of $1500 (USD) reserves your slot in the workshop and a final payment of $1490 (USD) is due no later than 45 days prior to the start of the workshop.  We will invoice you for the final payment approximately 60 days from the workshop start date if using the installment method.

Your tuition covers all instruction, all materials except tools, a meet-and-greet BBQ, six breakfast meals and six supper meals. To reserve your workbench in the workshop select the workshop product page of the workshop date you want, fill out the registration question, select "deposit" or "full payment" from the drop-down menu and then add it to your cart. 

Refund Policy: $250 of your tuition is NON-REFUNDABLE.  Any remaining balance paid is refundable if you cancel no later than 60 days before your scheduled workshop begins.  Cancellations made within 59 days of the workshop start date ARE NOT refundable.

Registration. On the checkout page, there are registration questions to fill out which are automatically sent to the workshop registrar. Within 72 hours of checkout, you will receive an email welcoming you to the workshop and giving you additional detailed information.  If you do not receive this email in 72 hours, please contact the registrar at robswebmaster@robcosman.com

Seats Available.  There are a total of 16 seats avalible for this workshop.  Four seats are reserved for paying students and 12 seats are reserved for Rob Cosman scholarship students. 

Workshop Details.  This workshop is a project-based learning experience. Rob teaches his traditional approaches to drawer making and case construction.  Learning the art of drawer making and learning to fit the drawer to th ecabinet opening is the primary focus of this workshop with precision case construction a very close second.  The learning goals are that by the end of the week you can: 1) construct a complex and accurate case using dovetails, dadoes, and through wedged tenons.  2) Build an accurate drawer using half blind dovetails, with a fitted bottom, and drawer slips. 3) Achieve a piston fit of drawer into the case.  

Project Details.  The project is a simple but technically advanced single drawer case of Rob's design.  The overall case dimensions are approximately 11-5/16 inches (289mm) wide x 12-11/16 inches (317mm) long x 7-7/8 inches (200mm) tall.  Sized to be able to take your project home on an airplane.

We provide students with all the lumber needed for the case and drawer.  Primary wood is North American Black Cherry, secondary wood is Poplar and Northern White Pine.   The lumber comes already machine milled, slightly oversized.  Using all hand tools, students cut their lumber to size, six square the boards, and surface finish their wood. 

The case's top is attached to the sides with through dovetails with a miter edge front. The case's bottom is let into a shallow dados and secured to the sides with through wedged tenons.  The cabinet back is a solid panel that floats in grooves cut into the sides and top of the case. 

A traditional drawer is constructed with the front joined to the sides with half-blind dovetails and the back joined to the sides with through dovetails.  Drawer slips are added to the sides and a solid pine bottom panel is tongue and grooved into into the drawer front, half lapped on the back and butt jointed on the sides. The bottom sits in a groove in the slips.  The drawer is precisely fit to the case opening so as to achieve a "piston-fit." 

Woodworking Skills Covered:  This workshop builds upon the hand tool skills taught in the Training the Hand Workshop.  The new nad tool skills that you will learn and master are: 

• Drawer-making and fitting.
• Case construction. 
• Through wedged tenons. 
• Hand cut dados. 
• Miter edge dovetails.
• Drawer slips.

Workshop Schedule.  Instruction for this workshop runs daily from 07:30 am to 8:30pm.  The shop opens daily at 7:00am. and closes at 10:00pm.  8:30pm. - 10:00pm is self-directed workbench time. We serve a hearty breakfast lunch meal around noon.  Bring your own meal for supper or dine after the end of the day.  On Saturday, instruction ends at 7:00 pm, then we clean up and re-organize the workshop, pack-up tools, and depart.

This is a full week of intense woodworking that will take your drawer and cabinet making skills to the next level.  We guarantee it will be money well spent and you will go home a better hand tool woodworker. 

Cancellations.   To cancel a previously reserved workshop please contact us at Robswebmaster@robcosman.com or by using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page of our website RobCosman.com.

15% Tool Discount.  Students receive a 15% discount on tools purchased on RobCosman.com.

Location.  The Training the Hand Workshop is held in Rob's personal workshop, which is located at 275 River Valley Drive, Grand Bay, New Brunswick, E5K 1A7, Canada.  The nearest large city is Saint John, New Brunswick Canada, approximately 15 minutes east of Rob's workshop.  The nearest large U.S. city is Bangor, Maine, located approximately three hours south of Rob's workshop.

Woodworking Space.  The Training the Hand Workshop is held in Rob's  workshop in a specially designed teaching area approximately 2000 square feet.  Each student workbench has a sharpening station, anti-fatigue mat, overhead power cord, bench lamp, vise and bench dogs, shooting board, bench hook, and sawing bench.  The teaching room is abundantly lit with bright, white, LED lights.  An oversized monitor provides close-up views of Rob when he is teaching at his workbench.

Initial Meet-and-Greet.  For each workshop there is an initial meet-and-greet with a BBQ meal at Rob's Workshop for all students who can make it on the Sunday before the workshop begins at 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. (Atlantic Time).   This is so you can see the facility; claim your workbench; drop off any tools you brought; meet Rob, the assistant instructors, and the other students.  If you cannot make this Sunday meet-and-greet please let us know and we will see you on Monday morning.  

Daily Schedule.  Click on the red button below to see the typical daily schedule.

Travel and Transportation.  Plan to arrive at Rob's shop on Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m. (Atlantic time) for the initial meet-and-greet and BBQ meal.  The workshop concludes on the following Saturday after the supper meal.  Schedule your departure appropriately. Click the red button below for more detailed information on nearby airports and local transportation. 

Lodging.  There are no hotels in Grand Bay, NB where Rob's Workshop is located; however, there are several nearby short-term rentals (e.g. Air BNB and Verbo). To find these just search on your short-term rental website of choice for “Grand Bay-Westfield, New Brunswick, Canada.”   The closest hotels to Rob's workshop are about ten miles away, located on the west side of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick. We recommend the Travelodge hotel which is the closet hotel to Rob’s Workshop.  You can search your favorite hotel booking site for hotels in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada (Note: DO NOT use "St. John's" - that is a different Canadian city). 

Meals.  Your tuition includes exceptional home-cooked daily meals during the workshop and a BBQ at the meet-and-greet on Sunday prior to the workshop.  All meals are served on site in our M*A*S*H themed dining facility.  For more details on our meals or to determine if we can meet your special dietary needs, please click on the red button below.     

Required, Optional and Rental Tools. The Training the Hand Workshop is designed to teach students using their own tools; however, we do have complete tool kits that students can rent from us, instead of bringing their tools to the workshop.  Click on the red button below to see the list of required and optional tools, and to learn about renting tools. 

Medical Coverage.  Students are responsible for arranging and paying for any medical services required while attending the workshop.  While the risk of injury or illness at our hand tool workshop is very low, injuries and illness have and do occur.  While we can handle minor cuts and scrapes, we highly recommend non-Canadians purchase short-term visitor / tourist insurance for their visit to Canada.  There are numerous companies that offer this coverage.  We do not provide any recommendations.  We recommend doing an internet search for, "Tourist medical coverage in Canada."  That will return numerous results.

Basic Requirements to Enter Canada. Entry into Canada is solely determined by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials in accordance with Canadian law.   We have had students that have had difficulties and have even been denied entry into Canada.  We recommend you click on the red button below and carefully read the the requirements for entry into Canada. 

Workshop Location. The Advanced Workshop: Drawer Making is held in Rob's personal workshop which is located at 275 River Valley Drive, Grand Bay, New Brunswick, E5K 1A7, Canada.  The nearest large city is Saint John, New Brunswick Canada, approximately 15 minutes east of Rob's workshop.  The nearest large U.S. city is Bangor, Maine, located approximately three hours south of Rob's workshop.

Initial Meet-and-Greet.  We have an initial meet-and-greet and BBQ at Rob's Workshop for all students who can make it on the Sunday before the workshop begins at 7:00-9:00 p.m. (Atlantic Time).   This is so you can see the facility; claim your workbench; drop-off any tools you brought; eat some "Frick'n good BBQ", and meet everybody.  If you cannot make the Sunday meet-and-greet please let us know and we will see you on Monday morning.  As the workshop date gets closer we will email you with more details on this "meet-and-greet." 

Travel and Transportation.  We recommend you do not purchase airline tickets until after the cancellation announcement date (60 days prior to the workshop) has passed.

Please plan to arrive at Rob's workshop on Sunday evening at 7:00 p.m. (Atlantic time) for the initial meet and greet.  If you cannot make the meet and greet please be in the workshop on Monday at 07:30 am.  The workshop concludes on the following Saturday around 7:00 pm after clean-up.  We recommend scheduling departure on Sunday verses Saturday. Click the red button below for more detailed information on nearby airports and local transportation.   

Lodging.  Rob Cosman has several short-term rentals located on the workshop premises that are available to workshop students through Airbnb.  Please visit our Airbnb site to reserve, look at pictures, or find out more information about these accommodations.  Click the red button below to learn about other lodging accommodations near Rob's Workshop.

Required Tools. Each student is expected to bring their own tools to the workshop, unless they are renting a tool kit from us.  Click on the red button below to see the list of required and optional tools, learn about renting tools, and other tool information. 

 Medical Coverage.  Students are responsible for arranging and paying for any medical services required while attending the workshop.  While the risk of injury or illness at our  workshop is very low, injuries and illness have and do occur.  While we can handle minor cuts and scrapes, we highly recommend non-Canadians purchase short-term visitor / tourist insurance for their visit to Canada.  There are numerous companies that offer this coverage.  We do not provide any recommendations.  We recommend doing an internet search for, "Tourist medical coverage in Canada."  That will return numerous results.  

Basic Requirements to Enter Canada. Entry into Canada is solely determined by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials in accordance with Canadian law.   We have had students that have had difficulties entering and one or two have even been denied entry into Canada.  We recommend you click on the red button below and carefully read the the requirements for entry into Canada.