Learning Woodcraft in Practice
Starting your woodworking journey is best done through the “Woodworking from Scratch” course. During this one-day workshop, you’ll handcraft your own magnetic knife rack, but more important than the finished project are the fundamental woodworking skills you’ll gain – from handling hand tools to understanding the unique nature of working with solid wood.
A Personal Journey into Craftsmanship
Many years ago, when I first became interested in woodworking, my path began almost by accident — a casual curiosity that grew into fascination. There were moments of excitement, disappointment, and eventually a clear realization: what I needed wasn’t another machine with a green button, but knowledge, focus, and manual skill.
Today, I share this understanding with people who, like I once did, want to develop their passion for woodcraft, slow down, and rediscover the essence of traditional hand-tool woodworking.
Why Amateur Woodworking Is More Than Simple Projects
Many people associate hobby woodworking with simple tasks — a shelf, a pallet table, a cutting board. Larger, more ambitious projects are often seen as the domain of professionals with expensive machinery. But must it really be that way?
At Bensari Workshop, I show that tools are important, but knowledge matters even more. With the right understanding of materials and techniques, you can build high-quality projects even without a large workshop or power tools.
Instead of investing in more machines, you’ll learn how to make the most of simple hand tools — achieving precision, satisfaction, and a connection to craftsmanship that machines can’t provide.
If you’d like to learn more about basic woodworking tools, visit:
- Essential Woodworking Tools – Basic Woodworking Tools — Where to Begin? – Bensari Workshop
- Hand Tools for Mortise-and-Tenon Joints – Complete List and Tips
Inside the Workshop
The course takes place in my personal woodworking studio — Bensari Workshop in Wrocław, where I design and build collectible furniture pieces shipped to clients around the world. Participants can often observe the process behind these pieces, see completed works up close, and realize that I build them using the same traditional techniques taught in my courses.
Most of my early furniture was made in a small home garage — proof that ambitious woodworking doesn’t require large investments, but rather patience, curiosity, and passion.
What You’ll Learn During the One-Day Course (7–8 Hours)
You’ll go through every stage of a real woodworking project:
- Creating recesses for magnets using hand tools — an introduction to accuracy and feel for wood grain.
- Fitting walnut strips — mastering tight joinery and fine adjustments impossible to achieve with power tools.
- Cutting traditional mortise and tenon joints — learning the foundation of strong, lasting construction.
- Shaping and rounding edges by hand with chisels, rasps, and files — discovering the sculptural side of woodworking.
- Planing and smoothing surfaces with a traditional hand plane — achieving precision up to five times greater than with a sander or machine.
The result: a functional magnetic knife rack, handmade from start to finish — a project you’ll take home with pride.
What You’ll Gain from This Course
- Confidence in using basic hand tools.
- Practical knowledge of classical woodworking techniques used by master craftsmen.
- The ability to create high-quality furniture without expensive machinery.
- Understanding how to plan, mark, and execute precise projects.
- A tangible, functional object as proof of your new skills.
This experience will help you discover whether woodworking is just an interest — or a lifelong passion.
Join the Course
If you’d like to start from the very beginning and experience woodworking hands-on, join our one-day woodworking workshop for beginners. Learn through doing, develop traditional craft skills, and take home an object that reflects your own effort and attention to detail.
Before signing up, explore our full range of courses: Woodworking Courses at Bensari Workshop – A Complete Guide to Woodcraft Workshops in Wrocław.
You can gradually expand your skills — from learning to use hand tools and mastering traditional joints, to advanced techniques such as hammer veneering or steam-bending wood.
See you in the workshop!
Tom Bensari
About the Instructor
Tom Bensari – Polish designer and master woodworker specializing in traditional hand-tool techniques. Founder of the design studio Bensari Ébénistes and the woodworking school Bensari Workshop, where he teaches professional woodworking and design courses for all skill levels.
His collectible furniture pieces are represented by STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN in New York, placing him among the few Polish designer-makers recognized on the international scene. He is also the only Polish co-author published in Fine Woodworking magazine and has been a finalist of the Dobry Wzór Award (2024) and recipient of the Creative Wrocław 2025 distinction for his contribution to contemporary craftsmanship and craft education.
