Build real furniture with six hand tools and a kitchen table.
For people with no shop, no power tools and no experience
The Hand Tool Starter Course walks you through six weekend projects, from a cutting board to a small bench. Quiet enough for an apartment, simple enough for your first try.
You want to make things. Your apartment says otherwise.
Every woodworking video seems to start in a two-car garage with a table saw, a planer and a dust system that costs more than your rent. So you watch, you save the video, and you never start. Or you buy a cheap power tool, scare yourself and the neighbors, and it goes in the closet. The truth is that people built beautiful things for centuries with a saw, a plane, a chisel and patience. You can too, at a kitchen table, in an evening.
How this started
I taught myself on a fire escape in Philadelphia, with a $20 handsaw and a lot of bad cuts. Twelve years later I teach a weekend class in a small shop, and the question I get most is: can I do this at home? Yes. This course is everything I show people in that class, slowed down and filmed up close, so you can pause, rewind and try again as many times as you need.
What this means for you
- Start this weekend The tool list costs under $150, and every tool earns its place. No saw bench, no workshop.
- Quiet enough for an apartment Hand tools are about as loud as chopping vegetables. Neighbors stay friends.
- Finish six real pieces A cutting board, a bookshelf, a step stool, a serving tray, a box with a lid and a small bench.
- Learn the why, not just the how Each project teaches one skill you'll use forever: sawing straight, planing flat, cutting a joint that holds.
Everything you get
- Six project videos 4 hours 20 minutes, filmed up close, with captions. · $79
- Printable plans and cut lists One page per project, with every measurement. · $24
- The under-$150 tool guide Exactly what to buy, new or used, and what to skip. · $15
- Sharpening, start to finish A 50-minute class on keeping every edge sharp. · $29
- Ask Theo Send a photo of your project and get an answer within two business days. · $19
From Theo's in-person class
- I came in thinking I'd ruin a board. I left with a step stool my kids now fight over. A student from the spring class
- He explains why a cut goes wrong, which is the part every video skips. A student from the fall class
From people who bought the course
Help unlock the live Q&A
If 30 people join during the launch, everyone who joined gets a live Q&A with me. Bring your questions and your crooked cuts.
Start this weekend
Pay once and the course is yours for good. Your welcome email has your login and the tool list, so you can order tools tonight.
One payment. No subscription.
What you're promised
- Lifetime access All six project videos and every future update, for as long as the course exists. If it ever closes, you get the videos to keep.
- Plans you can print A one-page plan and cut list for every project, as PDFs.
- Answers from Theo Within two business days, by email, for as long as you have the course.
- A new project each season Four a year, added free. The next one is a wall-hung coat rack.
- 30 days to change your mind Reply to your receipt within 30 days and get every cent back. No forms, no questions.
Try it for 30 days
Watch the lessons, build the cutting board, see how it feels. If it isn't for you, reply to your receipt within 30 days and I'll refund the whole $59. You keep the plans.
What's holding you back?
Tap the one that sounds like you.
- I don't own any tools Most people start with none. The tool guide lists six hand tools and two clamps, about $140 new or half that used, and shows which cheap ones are fine and which aren't worth it.
- I live in an apartment So did I when I learned. Hand tools are about as loud as chopping vegetables, and every project fits on a kitchen table with a towel under the board.
- I'm not handy at all Lesson one assumes you've never held a saw. If you can follow a recipe, you can follow these. And if it isn't for you, the 30-day promise covers you.
- It costs too much It's $59 during the launch, once, with no subscription. A single finished cutting board sells for more than that at a craft fair, and you'll make six pieces.
What you'll get
Questions people ask
- I've never built anything. Is this really for me? Yes. The first project assumes you've never held a saw. Each one adds one new skill, so by the bench you'll be cutting joints that hold.
- What tools do I need, and what do they cost? Six hand tools and two clamps. New, about $140. Used, often half that. The tool guide shows exactly which ones, and which to skip.
- I live in an apartment. Will this bother my neighbors? Hand sawing and planing are about as loud as cooking. Most people work at a kitchen table with a towel under the board.
- How long does it take? Most people finish a project in a weekend, working a few hours each day. Go at your own pace; there's no schedule.
- How do I get it after I pay? Right away. Your receipt has your login, and the lessons work on a phone, a tablet or a computer.
- What if the sale ends while I'm deciding? The price goes back to $79 when the countdown ends. The end time is locked, so it won't secretly come back tomorrow.
Your first project is a weekend away
P.S. You don't need a shop to start. You need a table, a few tools and an afternoon. The cutting board in lesson one takes about three hours, and you'll use it every day after.
P.P.S. The launch price ends when the countdown hits zero. After that, it's $79.
Theo Marsh