For a good time and some good instruction, too, check out the Woodwrights School, run by Roy Underhill. Located Pittsboro, N.C., Underhill’s classes will focus on traditional joinery techniques.

A historian, story teller and accomplished woodworker, Underhill has the perfect skill set to provide useful and entertaining instruction.

The school has room for up to 10 students at a time. Introductory one-day classes in hand tool joinery (mortise and tenons and dovetails) cost $95, preregistration required.

For more information and to register, contact Underhill directly at [email protected].

If you can’t make it down south to see Underhill in person, videos from the show are available online at http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/schedule/video.html.