About the School

Yadanut is the first woodworking school in Israel for traditional woodworking to use handtools only, without any use of machinery

This approach to woodworking is rooted in the desire to sanctify working with hands and to create a work environment clean of noise and machine dust. It is also an attempt to get closer to the material, since we believe that working with hands allows for the most intimate meeting with the wood, as well as with ourselv

Working with wood directly is like seeing a beautiful view as one walks down the path, as opposed to seeing the outside through a car’s window shield. The way in which the material and the tools are held, the subtle communication between the wood and the woodworker, the vibrations that pass through the blade of the tool to the hand that holds it, and the endless information that is transmitted during the process… all these join together to the realization that our body is the main tool that we possess. Therefore, one of the principles of the school is to give back to students the confidence in their own innate abilities and talents: to see with the naked eye if a board is flat, to feel with the fingertips if a surface is smooth, to drill, or saw, or chisel accurately. In our attempt to connect better with ourselves, we sanctify and enliven the craft, which otherwise would have probably disappeared from the world

Among our other guiding principles are building with natural wood only, avoiding using plywood and wood-like materials. We build to preserve the purity of the joinery, without using screws or nails, and we subscribe to natural finishes, without the use of synthetic lacquers

The school offers a variety of classes, from introduction to traditional woodworking, to advanced classes that teach furniture-drawing and guitar-building

For additional information don't hesitate to contact us at : 0544841277

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About Gil Arad

Gil is a maker of fine furniture and of musical instruments (luthier) and one of the pioneers of the field of traditional woodworking in Israel. He is the founder of Yadanut. Gil has been building furniture for the last 20 years and teaching for the last 8 years

To see some of his work, please click here