What projects did you make in HS woodshop class?

It was called Industrial Arts at my high school. Sophomore year it
consisted of wood shop. I made a bookshelf. It took all year. I remember
it wasn't very square. I think it earned a C grade. I had those shelves
for many years after. Junior year was all drafting. Only 2 juniors in
the class, myself and one other. All the rest freshmen. Didn't do so
good in that class either. Senior year was shop again. More BS than
anything else. Did learn about pinhole cameras though. This was in the
early '70's.
Joe

I made a small, 8 inch tall jewelry box fashioned after an upright piano,
with a drawer in the knee area, keyboard, and a lift-off top, lined with
felt. I won the coveted Golden Hammer Award, for outstanding student in
carpentry, two years running. That was 36 years ago, and I'm looking at both
on a nearby shelf right now. We built the first separate classroom on campus
in this area that was not done by the county staff. Design was done in the
drafting class, carpentry by the woodworking class, and wiring by the
electrical class. I was fortunate enough to be in all three. The local area
high schools here now build a house on the school grounds each year as a
student project. It is then auctioned off to pay for the next one, and
someone gets a house for a reasonable price. My son helped build two of them
during high school. He is now an electronics engineering student in college.
Go figure. Then again, I'm not a carpenter, either. <G>

RJ

"Jim L." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I had woodshop in Junior High. Constructed two end tables and one napkin
> holder. Instructor built a bed in his spare time. We were only allowed to
> operate the Delta 24" scroll saw. Instructor milled stock to size and cut
> dados. This was in the late 40's. Jim
> "Owen Lawrence" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
>> woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was that
> our
>> projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due to
>> overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14.
>> But anyway, two questions come to mind:
>>
>> What did you make?
>> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>>
>> I got to make
>> - candle holders (three pieces of wood, two holes)
>> - lamp, styled like an old water pump
>> - model rocket nose cones (our own individual design)
>> - adjustable record rack (our own collective design)
>> (That's it? Less than I thought after three years! Last year was wasted
> in
>> a metal shop with a new teacher in a new school. Can't remember even
>> lifting a single tool. Sigh.)
>>
>> My teacher was making some double-helix carved lampstands. Very
> inspiring.
>>
>> Maybe you can give me some age-appropriate ideas that my own children
>> will
>> like to try. So far my 13 year old has had NO formal shop instruction at
>> school. But that's a separate thread.
>>
>> - Owen -
>>
>>
>
>

Sun, Feb 20, 2005, 9:36am [email protected] (Owen=A0Lawrence) claims:
<snip> We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14. <snip>

We had SHOP, period. None of this pansy "industrial arts" stuff.
Tood shop from grade 4, it was mandatory, up thru grade 12, stopped bing
mandatory at grade 9, I believe. Shop covered everything, woodworking,
metal working, welding, automotive, all the fun things.

I still have a welded magazine rack, from maybe grade 11-12. And,
a solid cherry bookcase, designed, and made by me in grade 10, I believe
it was.

Started out in grade 4 with a wall hanging plant holder. Neat
lille thing made of wood to hang on the wall, and the "pot" it self, was
made from a motor oil can, cut, and soldered. Pretty basic then,
apparently pretty advanced now. All hand tools until grade 10, as I
recall. Ah yes, we also had the use of a forge, from about grade 7 or
8. Made a cold chisel with that, should still have that too, it was/is
as good, or better, than any you can buy.

I remember sanding the tip of a finger or two off, in about grade 8
or 9. "Everyone", including my parents, put it down to carelessness on
my part. Which it was. Lesson learned? Don't do that again, and I
haven't. The shop teacher also demonstrated kickback on the table saw,
when I was in grade 9 (that's we moved into the new school, and had a
saw available). He said, don't do that, and stand out of the way, just
in case. I listened, and no kickback, and stand out of the way, just in
case. Then he proceeded to turn us loose, and went in his office, and
smoked his pipe. We survived nicely.

Back then it was considered that if you did something stupid, it
was your own fault if you got hurt, especially if you had already been
told not to do it. Nowadays, it seems to be the norm to put the blame
on someone else for your own stupidity, regardless of how many times
you've been told not to do it.




JOAT
Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong.
- David Fasold

"Owen Lawrence" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> What did you make?

I took shop off & on from 6th grade up... first thing I remember making was
a classic pukeyduck, which for some unfathomable reason still sits in the
bottom drawer of our entertainment center. Then I moved on to a pencil
holder, complete with routed base.

A few years later, I hit the big time :). In high school, got to use a
lathe -- never actually made any project with it, just fooled around making
various turnings. Shop was pretty varied at that school -- we were also
taught welding (I passed, but that's the best I can say). The highlight
though was getting to make a cedar sea chest (about 4'x2'x2'), with box-
jointed corners & curved slatted top.

Of course, a few years later I gave it to my then-fiance... and another
year after that we broke up, but I never did get the chest (get your minds
out of the gutter!) back to get to my "true" SWMBO. Oh well...

-Richard, who couldn't bring himself to type "seaman's chest" for some
reason.

Australopithecus scobis wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:36:43 -0500, Owen Lawrence wrote:
>
> > What did you make?
> > What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>

Made a chess board out of walnut and maple (still have it, I'm 36 now).
A Spice rack that my parents still use, and a wall rack that they
still have in their basement!

When I was probably 10-12 yrs old, my dad was a VP for a lumber
company. He used to bring home pine cutoffs and I'd build bird houses,
all with hand tools. I remember sawing my ASS off. Back then I don't
believe I ever heard of wood glue, as everything was held together with
big nails!!

I also remember that my neighbor gave me a few shingles to put on one
of the bird houses... Man, was I thrilled!

In article <[email protected]>,
Owen Lawrence <[email protected]> wrote:
>Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
>woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was that our
>projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due to
>overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14.
>But anyway, two questions come to mind:
>
>What did you make?
>What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>

In my school district, 1 year of "industrial arts" for guys (home econ. for
girls) was mandatory -- 8th or 9th grade.

The Industrial Arts class was one semester of mechanical drafting, and one
semester of 'shop'. "Shop" was a smorgasbord -- learning how to set
hand-set type, and running a manually-powered printing press; sheet-metal
work -- building simple metal box (learning to use break, shear, tin-snips,
and the 'spot welder'), also a funnel, with a rolled-wire rim (other tin-
knocker tools, also forge-heated soldering iron, for water-tight joints in
the body/spout; 'Forge' -- made a cold-chisel; *and* "wood shop". everybody
did the same things: 1st project was one of those three-piece book racks.
You know the type.

|
|
|
|
======================
|

Second project was a hand-carved bowl. shape, etc, up to the student,
although overall dimensions were constrained.

For those who took shop in 8th grade, there was an 'optional' course for
9th grade. Hey! *power* tools. 1st two projects were 'required' ones:
#1 was a knick-knack shelf/box. Not a terribly _practical_ thing, but you
had to use quite a variety of joints -- miter, rabbet, dado, butt, "egg
crate" (I forget the proper name of that one), and "I forget, completely"
for the sixth one. :) And a five-sided piece of Masonite for the back.
(to prove you could cut proper 'non-square' cuts when you needed to.

Second project was the traditional checkerboard. Underlying lesson was
precision measuring _and_ cutting "counts". :)

2nd semester you could make 'what you wanted' -- had to have plans, and
the teacher had approve it first. This was mostly to keep things down
to a scope that _could_/_would_ get finished by the end of the school year.

I built a magazine table. working solely from an about 2"x2" picture from
a 'kit' ad which ran in the Wall Street Journal.


For the 2nd question, the teacher didn't make *anything* -- he was *fully*
occupied: (a) _asking_ questions of the students -- *LOADED* ones, like
"what are you going to do about ....?" when somebody was about to barge ahead
with something they hadn't thought all the way through. (b) _answering_
(not necessarily "constructively", but forcing 'education') questions from
the kids -- "how do I do ..."; (c) _helping_ as needed -- there were
frequent situations that called for "more than two hands", he provided
an extra pair. Sometimes he even got a few minutes to just stand around
and look at everybody "productively occupied". *grin*


Wood shop in high-school was more of the same -- "find a project you like,
and build it".

I had discovered R/C model airplanes, and built a field toolbox for flying.
from _my_own_ design and plans.

Also a faux "King George V" Library table.

And, senior year, a full-blown solid mahogany Dining Room table. Fixed
frame, expandable top, with 4 drop-in leaves. Seated up to 14 people.

*MOST* of what the teacher did in the H.S. shop, was 'safety steward',
stopping people from "doing something dumb" _before_ they did it. (In
three years, I believe the *worst* injury was of the 'hit the nail on the
thumb' variety.) And 'check testing' kids on the proper use of the various
pieces of power equipment, to make sure they knew the proper safety procedures,
before letting them use the gear themselves.

He was also available to answer questions about 'how to' perform a particular
task, or assist in reading plans, or help in design/drawing ones own project.

"shop" _was_ an elective, so everybody present _did_ have at least a moderate
background in woodworking, one way or another. This reduced the need to
'instruct', considerably. Many worked 'within the scope of their knowledge
and/or experience', the rest were not afraid to *ask* for help/guidance when
appropriate.

An apt description of the teaching 'style': lots of "guidance", very little
"instruction".

Admittedly, this was all 'cabinetmaking', not 'construction trades'. And
there is a big difference. :)

In article <[email protected]>,
Bill Waller <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 20:02:25 GMT, [email protected] (Doug Miller) wrote:
>
>>In article <[email protected]>,
>[email protected] wrote:
>>>On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:06:10 GMT, [email protected] (Doug Miller) wrote:
>>
>>>>My hat is off to you, sir. Most people *without* a vision disability
>can't do
>>>>one-tenth of that.
>>>
>>>Thank you for your kind words. I really enjoy doing the things that I do. You
>>>can also find another example of one of my other hobbies on
>>>alt.binaries.pictures.rail, where I post daily.
>>
>>Oh my goodness! I was expecting to see pictures of *model* trains!
>>
>>WOW! I love those old locomotives (pics you posted on 2-22-05).
>
>Actually the model trains have faded into the past. This is the first house
>that I have had in a long time that would even begin to support such a venture,
>but, then, I would have to give up space in my workshop, and that's not gonna
>happen. :-)
>
>So in the meantime, whenever I can hitch a ride with a friend, we go hunting
>for the real thing. The old steam locomotive that I posted is on the East Broad
>Top, the last narrow gauge railroad in Pennsylvania. I make a semi-annual
>pilgrimage there early each summer and fall.
>
>As you evidentially surmised from my earlier post, I do a lot of things that I
>am not supposed to be able to do. :-)

Faugh!! As a friend of the family used to put it "Blindness is a damn
nuisance, nothing more. It is *NOT* a handicap!" He was totally blind,
It didn't even slow him down.

I took EVERY woodshop class offered all through Jr. and High school.
That amounted to 6 straight years.

Some of the stuff I made:

Jr. High school - The obligatory 3 board slanted mahogany bookshelf.
They made us butt it together with countersunk screws. Was only allowed
to use hand tools. Took it home and cut dadoes on the tablesaw to sturdy
it up better(graces the back of my dunny, currently - perfect fit :) )

An upright guncase of my own design out of knotty pine with a danish oil
finish. Black felted every surface a gun could touch and the inside of
the drawer.

High school - A very nice custom computer desk with a formica laminated
half oval top. Made it out of pine with a danish oil finish. Replaced
the one of the same design I made the summer before out of plywood.

A custom wall cabinet for my bedroom. Built to hold all the electronic
gear (TV, VCR, Video games, Stereo, etc) with raised panel doors to hide
it all.

Spent a year on the lathe turning out all sorts of bowls and canes. My
favorite being a set of candy dishes made out of scraps. Turned a few
billy clubs too, when the teacher wasn't watching ;-)

Spent the last half of my sr year helping out others get their projects
finshed up before we graduated.

> Maybe you can give me some age-appropriate ideas that my own children will
> like to try. So far my 13 year old has had NO formal shop instruction at
> school. But that's a separate thread.
>
> - Owen -
>
>
In Junior High, a chessboard, that I still have. Take 8 alternating
strips of light and dark wood, 2" wide. Glue together, then re-cut them
90deg. to the original seams/joints. re-arrange checkerboard style.
Plane flat, build a frame with a plywood backer underneath the checkerboard.

Also learned how to weld, something with the forge that I've forgotten,
plastic keychains, metal sugar scoop, turning on a lathe, and a pad
holder (parents still have that one if they haven't chucked it when I
wasn't looking ;) Also learned about girls, but that wasn't part of the
curriculum!

"Owen Lawrence" wrote in message

> What did you make?

Woodshop: cutting board(s), tall bookshelf and, of course, the requisite for
that day and age, a counter top cookbook holder for Mom.

Metalshop: cast aluminum skillet, cast aluminum feed scoop, 6' tall
birdcage.

> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?

Mostly baseball bat paddles for the other coaches in the district ... this
was about 47 years ago and, unlike today, discipline was applied topically
to the area where it was thought likely to make the most memorable
impression.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 18:38:15 GMT, Phisherman <[email protected]> wrote:
> This thread reminded me about a "safety" film shown in HS metal shop.
> A sliver of metal was driven to a man's eye by a machine cutting
> metal, the man was rushed to emergency and to the operating room where
> the metal was surgically removed (the embedded metal was aluminum, do
> a magnet was no use). The flick showed a close up of the operation,
> blood and all, and a boy in the class collapsed, hit his head on the
> work bench, and got a concussion. Needless to say, it did drive home
> the importance of wearing safety glasses with side shields. I guess
> hard hats should be recommended for safety films.

Heh...we had a guy faint during a (not so bad) portion of a film
in EMT class. He didn't finish the course, decided that blood and
guts wasn't his idea of a good time. Nothing like going to a
convention where they schedule "traumatic amputations" for
right before lunch.

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 16:15:27 -0500, George <george@least> wrote:
>
> "Dave Hinz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>
>> Heh...we had a guy faint during a (not so bad) portion of a film
>> in EMT class. He didn't finish the course, decided that blood and
>> guts wasn't his idea of a good time. Nothing like going to a
>> convention where they schedule "traumatic amputations" for
>> right before lunch.
>
> Sadly, a lot of freshly minted EMTs leave the field early after a
> particularly gruesome event. Can't argue with their choice, but a lot of
> them could row the boat and let the other shoot the ducks.

Thing is, the rates of people quitting for that reason go _way_ down
with a post-incident stress debriefing program. But, even with that,
there are some that stick with you more than others, eh?

> We have a 12-year veteran on our squad who cannot stand vomit. Which is
> pretty much everywhere when you think about it. I just let her drive and
> make sure there's a towel (deflector) loaded after remaking the cot.

Heh. Maybe ten years ago, we had a guy with an upper-GI bleed.
Crew capatain was interviewing him, I was the new guy so I was
hauling equipment. Bill asked the patient a question, he turned
to answer, and projectile-vomited full square into Bill's chest.
Didn't miss a beat, kept up the interview, "...and how long have
you been vomiting today?".

Puke, I don't mind so much. Grey matter just oogs me out, though.

"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> >
> >> What did you make?
> >> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
> >

> I took a four day course at a Woodcraft store and we made a CD shelf. It
is
> a fairly simple design, but you had to:
> Select the wood
> joint
> plane
> layout
> cut curves on the bandsaw
> scrape and sand
> round over edges
> cut a tenon
> cut a dado
> fit everything with handplane and chisels
> drill and dowel one shelf
>
> Ten people to a class and we learned basics of wood movement, sharpening
> tools, story sticks, safety, saw demos of tool use, etc. Instructor (or
his
> assistant) did all the setups. Finishing was not done in class but some
> time was spent discussing various finishes.
>
> I would think most high school students would be interesting in having a
CD
> shelf or similar item. this was about 30 hours of class time but could be
> done in more or less depending on what the kids already know.
>
>

Yep. The first semester was tools and material, culminating in a box, a
bracket shelf and a spice rack, which I considered a reasonable analog of
most furniture. Those who cared made box-jointed drawers, those who didn't
made dadoed shelves.

HS made pretty much what they cared to, ranging from Armoire to Futon to -
spice racks and chessboards. Grades included "degree of complexity" points.

I made time to help the kids. Some of them made time to help me keep the
machines in repair and help in the little kid classes.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
>
> "Dustmaker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> >
> > In 1954 as a freshman at Lane Technical High School (Chicago) we had a
> > sadist woodshop instructor. He gave us a 4x4x12 block of pine, an 8"
> > Pocket Square and a piece of crap plane with a dull blade. Instructions
> > were to plane all four sides smooth, level and square to each other. I
> > wasted a whole damn semester and ended up with a toothpick. Flunked
> > woodshop. Didn't do any woodworking for 15 years after that.
>
> Damn, I thought I missed out on shop. I guess two years of Latin was not so
> bad after all.

Only two??? :)

But I did get in one year of "hand" shop (either 7- or 8-th grade, I
forget which) and one year of "machine" shop (what we kids called it,
not the actual name). Was fortunate to have had kindly if not expertly
talented instructors. Did a few simple projects--didn't seem to have
much real "knack" at the time...stayed interested and started actually
trying to do woodworking after ending up in VA after college where the
abundance of inexpensive hardwood was just too tempting...

"Dave Hinz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> Heh...we had a guy faint during a (not so bad) portion of a film
> in EMT class. He didn't finish the course, decided that blood and
> guts wasn't his idea of a good time. Nothing like going to a
> convention where they schedule "traumatic amputations" for
> right before lunch.
>
>

Sadly, a lot of freshly minted EMTs leave the field early after a
particularly gruesome event. Can't argue with their choice, but a lot of
them could row the boat and let the other shoot the ducks.

We have a 12-year veteran on our squad who cannot stand vomit. Which is
pretty much everywhere when you think about it. I just let her drive and
make sure there's a towel (deflector) loaded after remaking the cot.

"Dave Hinz" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Puke, I don't mind so much. Grey matter just oogs me out, though.
>

Only one more month until the snowmobilers quit contesting the right-of-way
with (OBWW) maples. You learn quickly why they call them "brain buckets."
Question I have is why didn't they use what they seem to have to drive with
care?

Wow!

It was shop class in Junior HS (7th-9th) 1975-ish

We had a buttload of scary stuff, monster jointer, planer, old Unisaw with
several acres of table surface and a wall full of old, super dull planes. I
wish I could have bought all that stuff, the shop is probably gone now...

I remember chess boards, speaker cabinets, and gobs of turnings.

We had a large wood locker with only three woods to choose from. Clear pine,
$0.10 bf, Honduran Mahogany, $55 bf, and the "premimum" stuff, black walnut
for $1.25 bf.

Crusty old instructor with missing finger tips. No real safety lessons but
always 10 minutes (1 hour period) for shop cleanup, initiated by ringing a
horrendous bell. Really made you jump!

Never a single accident more serious than a nicked finger from a handsaw in
my three years of neophyteness.

-Bruce

"Duane Bozarth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> >
> > "Dustmaker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > >
> > > In 1954 as a freshman at Lane Technical High School (Chicago) we had a
> > > sadist woodshop instructor. He gave us a 4x4x12 block of pine, an 8"
> > > Pocket Square and a piece of crap plane with a dull blade.
Instructions
> > > were to plane all four sides smooth, level and square to each other.
I
> > > wasted a whole damn semester and ended up with a toothpick. Flunked
> > > woodshop. Didn't do any woodworking for 15 years after that.
> >
> > Damn, I thought I missed out on shop. I guess two years of Latin was
not so
> > bad after all.
>
> Only two??? :)
>
> But I did get in one year of "hand" shop (either 7- or 8-th grade, I
> forget which) and one year of "machine" shop (what we kids called it,
> not the actual name). Was fortunate to have had kindly if not expertly
> talented instructors. Did a few simple projects--didn't seem to have
> much real "knack" at the time...stayed interested and started actually
> trying to do woodworking after ending up in VA after college where the
> abundance of inexpensive hardwood was just too tempting...

Sissies! I had two years of shop _and_ four years of Latin. Of course it
was uphill all the way with cardboard in my shoes to keep out the snow....

"Dustmaker" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> In 1954 as a freshman at Lane Technical High School (Chicago) we had a
> sadist woodshop instructor. He gave us a 4x4x12 block of pine, an 8"
> Pocket Square and a piece of crap plane with a dull blade. Instructions
> were to plane all four sides smooth, level and square to each other. I
> wasted a whole damn semester and ended up with a toothpick. Flunked
> woodshop. Didn't do any woodworking for 15 years after that.

Damn, I thought I missed out on shop. I guess two years of Latin was not so
bad after all.

I made a cedar chest in my shop class. It was 30"X30"X60" in size which my
teacher told me was "too big" and would "take too long to make". Being the
hard-headed-know-it-all that I was at that time, I did it just to prove to
him (and myself) that it could be done.


Jim



"nick moore" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Owen Lawrence Wrote:
>> Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
>> woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was
>> that our
>> projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due
>> to
>> overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to
>> 14.
>> But anyway, two questions come to mind:
>>
>> What did you make?
>> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>>
>> I got to make
>> - candle holders (three pieces of wood, two holes)
>> - lamp, styled like an old water pump
>> - model rocket nose cones (our own individual design)
>> - adjustable record rack (our own collective design)
>> (That's it? Less than I thought after three years! Last year was
>> wasted in
>> a metal shop with a new teacher in a new school. Can't remember even
>> lifting a single tool. Sigh.)
>>
>> My teacher was making some double-helix carved lampstands. Very
>> inspiring.
>>
>> Maybe you can give me some age-appropriate ideas that my own children
>> will
>> like to try. So far my 13 year old has had NO formal shop instruction
>> at
>> school. But that's a separate thread.
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Hi I work in an Aussie MDT ie Materials Design Technology workshop. As
>> technician/ problem solver.Have done so for 7 years.
>> Ages 13 to 16 years here.
>> Comments re teaching your 13 year old
>> Start using soft pine easier to work
>> Avoid man made boards / customwood/ mdf board.. Won't learn anything
>> plus dust a problem.No grain. Ok for pic/ mirror frames to paint but
>> that's all.
>>
>> Make a gift for mum/ dads birthday. They're more likely to finish it
>> plus put some of their own design/ ideas in.
>>
>> Use basic design eg wooden spoon/ stirrer -cut out with coping saw.
>> They can decorate with paint/ wood poker burner ( very popular) using
>> computer designs for neatness or logos of eg a favoutite band/ car/ toy
>> etc etc.
>> Start with a set size wood. Push marking out concept. If they learn it
>> young it will stay with them. Most kids not taught this make rubbish
>> jobs all of their school workshop life. I know, I cut the jobs up for
>> firewood regularly when they give up . Hundreds of them each year.
>>
>> My teacher was making some double-helix carved lampstands. Very
>> inspiring.
>> Ok for world wood champion . No good for young kids though.
>>
>> The younger kids I see despise smart arse teachers who try too hard
>> with adult made jobs..Better a well made simple job than a 1/2 hatched
>> adult job thrown out..
>> Kids like jewellery eg perspex bangles / ornaments. Get scraps from
>> local glazing factory .. easily moulded in household oven too.
>> A bit older can make wood cd racks--popular. Small colonial type shelf
>> units.
>> Keytags/ tin toys ok for metal class. Rivets and spot welders better
>> here. Solder and brazing no gos for most as they just won't follow
>> procedures and hence get crap joins. Use mechanical joins.
>> Make out of colourbond( coloured sheetmetal ) nice colours and user
>> friendly.
>> Keep parts taped over to stop scratches in making.
>>
>>
>> Think of tools suited to kids. They have much less power. So an adult
>> needs to think on their level. eg young girls can't use tin snips.. too
>> weak.
>> We use a falcon power nibbler mounted upside down in a box. Just feed
>> sheetmetal job through. Few burrs and user friendly.
>>
>> For bigger jobs get eg 2/ 3 kids to help each other good way to learn
>> cooperation. Faster/ easier building too if you keep onto them.
>> Eg metal / wood billy cart.
>>
>> A kreg jig to join eg small stools has been popular as it is easy to
>> get fast good joins. They then decorate stool in various ways.Inlays/
>> chessboard/ shelf etc...
>>
>> Sorry to say most kids won't apply themselves to fitted joints like the
>> good old days.
>>
>> Start small work upwards as skills increase.
>>
>> Nick Australia
>
>
> --
> nick moore

"George" <george@least> wrote in message
> Sissies! I had two years of shop _and_ four years of Latin. Of course it
> was uphill all the way with cardboard in my shoes to keep out the snow....
>
>
You had cardboard? One of them spoiled rich kids.

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 04:38:13 GMT, the inscrutable "Keith Carlson"
<[email protected]> spake:

>
>"J T" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>Sun, Feb 20, 2005, 9:36am [email protected] (Owen Lawrence) claims:
><snip> We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14. <snip>
>
>> We had SHOP, period. None of this pansy "industrial arts" stuff.
>
>Was it a 4-mile walk to school? Uphill both ways?

I had Wood Shop and Metal Shop in 1968. I also have a 1916 book by
Varnum titled "Arts & Crafts Design" which was originally titled
"Industrial Arts Design: A Textbook of Practical Methods for Students,
Teachers, and Craftsmen." Tell JOAT there were no pansies back then.
;)

--
***********************************************************
"Boy, I feel safer now that Martha Stewart is behind bars!
O.J. is walking around free, Osama Bin Laden too, but they
take the one woman in America willing to cook and clean
and work in the yard and haul her ass to jail."
--Tim Allen
***********************************************************

Glen wrote:

> Larry Jaques wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>
>> Thanks for the mammaries.
>>
> Is there you're trying to tell us?
>
> ;-)
> Glen
Make that "Is there something you're trying to tell us?"

;-)
glen

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>
>My shop experience in school was very different. In fact, it is probably
>because of my shop experience that my entire education was different.
>
>I am visually impaired (that' the PC way of saying legally blind).
[...]
>Wood shop was a lot of fun for me. I mad the usual knickknack shelves
[...]
>What I wanted to do was learn to use the lathe. We did not have one at home.
>The school had a real live bowling alley with real wooden pins. As they became
>unusable in the alley, they made their way to the shop. Bowling pins made great
>blanks for small table lamps. Hmm, my first experience with wiring at the ripe
>old age of eleven.
[...]
>Okay, I blew it, I only got a 98%.
[...]
>For my other certification, I chose machine shop. That was a real hoot.
[...]
>I learned to
>use them all. Toward the end of my tenure, I became the chief of maintenance
>for the shop.
[...]
>My educational experiences and my father's requirement for assistance lead me
>into a lot of very interesting things. I have reconstructed an 1884 farm house
>that had fallen to rack and ruin. I also redid the carriage house on the same
>property. I have wired several houses, from the service in. I have set up a
>small manufacturing company with used three phase equipment (No, I did not do
>that service, although, when the company moved, I did disassembled it [hot]). I
>have restored antique reed organs, And now, I just enjoy making small things
>for around the house and for family members.

My hat is off to you, sir. Most people *without* a vision disability can't do
one-tenth of that.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

>
>> What did you make?
>> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>

I made nothing. No shop in our school. Probably because it was before the
iron age and the only tools we had was a rock.

My son made a box with a hinged lid. My grandson made a shelf with a curved
pack and angle brackets. It is hanging in the downstairs hallway.

I took a four day course at a Woodcraft store and we made a CD shelf. It is
a fairly simple design, but you had to:
Select the wood
joint
plane
layout
cut curves on the bandsaw
scrape and sand
round over edges
cut a tenon
cut a dado
fit everything with handplane and chisels
drill and dowel one shelf

Ten people to a class and we learned basics of wood movement, sharpening
tools, story sticks, safety, saw demos of tool use, etc. Instructor (or his
assistant) did all the setups. Finishing was not done in class but some
time was spent discussing various finishes.

I would think most high school students would be interesting in having a CD
shelf or similar item. this was about 30 hours of class time but could be
done in more or less depending on what the kids already know.

One.

The test block. Plane off one surface, chisel a square, round a corner,
a couple of other operations.

Showed my completed (perfect to me) test block to the shop teacher with
a proud look on my face. He claimed I had not planed the surface. For
some reason this completely burst my bubble. I did not return to that class.

I did not pick up another woodworking project, at least of any
significance, until I was well into my 2nd marriage.

Oh What memories.

As a kid my main hobby was model railroading. Learned a lot about
woodworking, scale drawing, wiring and painting. I was kind of a handyman
and had a workbench in my bedroom (we lived in an apartment). I was really
looking forward to the shop classes in High School.

In 1954 as a freshman at Lane Technical High School (Chicago) we had a
sadist woodshop instructor. He gave us a 4x4x12 block of pine, an 8" Pocket
Square and a piece of crap plane with a dull blade. Instructions were to
plane all four sides smooth, level and square to each other. I wasted a
whole damn semester and ended up with a toothpick. Flunked woodshop.
Didn't do any woodworking for 15 years after that.

Now my SWMBO won't allow a workbench in our bedroom so I have taken over
half of the two car garage with my shop. One day, just for the heck of it,
I'm going to take a 4x4x12 block of pine
and.....................................

Dustmaker



"John Hofstad-Parkhill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> One.
>
> The test block. Plane off one surface, chisel a square, round a corner, a
> couple of other operations.
>
> Showed my completed (perfect to me) test block to the shop teacher with a
> proud look on my face. He claimed I had not planed the surface. For some
> reason this completely burst my bubble. I did not return to that class.
>
> I did not pick up another woodworking project, at least of any
> significance, until I was well into my 2nd marriage.
>

"J T" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
Sun, Feb 20, 2005, 9:36am [email protected] (Owen Lawrence) claims:
<snip> We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14. <snip>

> We had SHOP, period. None of this pansy "industrial arts" stuff.

Was it a 4-mile walk to school? Uphill both ways?

I had woodshop in Junior High. Constructed two end tables and one napkin
holder. Instructor built a bed in his spare time. We were only allowed to
operate the Delta 24" scroll saw. Instructor milled stock to size and cut
dados. This was in the late 40's. Jim
"Owen Lawrence" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
> woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was that
our
> projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due to
> overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14.
> But anyway, two questions come to mind:
>
> What did you make?
> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>
> I got to make
> - candle holders (three pieces of wood, two holes)
> - lamp, styled like an old water pump
> - model rocket nose cones (our own individual design)
> - adjustable record rack (our own collective design)
> (That's it? Less than I thought after three years! Last year was wasted
in
> a metal shop with a new teacher in a new school. Can't remember even
> lifting a single tool. Sigh.)
>
> My teacher was making some double-helix carved lampstands. Very
inspiring.
>
> Maybe you can give me some age-appropriate ideas that my own children will
> like to try. So far my 13 year old has had NO formal shop instruction at
> school. But that's a separate thread.
>
> - Owen -
>
>

"Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>
>>
>>> What did you make?
>>> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>>
>
> I made nothing. No shop in our school. Probably because it was
> before the iron age and the only tools we had was a rock.
>

This month, I've spent each Saturday with a bunch of Boy Scouts, who,
for the most part, haven't had any shop class either. One of them, now
16, is working on an Eagle project.

We started a year ago January. The head woodchuck in our woodworker's
club has an Alaska chainsaw mill. Someone from church had a goodsized
(for suburban California) Western Red Cedar, that had to come down.
Bill cut up the cedar into slabs, and the boys carried and stickered the
wet slabs for drying.

A year later, we've got them built into two benches for the John Muir
National Monument. These are vaguely based on a design from the Shaker
Hancock village, which is in one of the major museums. The kids have
learned what it takes to go from a big tree to a finished piece of
outdoor furniture, and have something to donate as part of the process.
Except for the BSA-precluded power tools, they built them themselves.
Handsaws, chisels, mallets, and some big, honking Stanley planes,
wherever possible.

I could have built a couple of benches between breakfast and lunch, if
that's what it was about.

Shop never was really about building things, if done right. It was, and
should be, about opening minds to creativity and capability. That's why
Owen's questions brought back recollections many decades old. Mostly
good ones, too. At least amongst those who 'got it'.

BTW, back in the 60's, I was a potter, at school. Carpentry, and
masonry, I did with my dad, on weekends. Thrice blessed.

Patriarch

Lazarus Long <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> I remember only going to an 8th grade woodworking class once a week.
> In it, I made a gravity bookshelf.

Sorry to show my ognorance, but I'm not familiar with a "gravity
bookshelf". Could you explain, please?

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Lazarus Long <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 15:13:19 GMT, Han <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Lazarus Long <[email protected]> wrote in
>>news:[email protected]:
>>
>>> I remember only going to an 8th grade woodworking class once a week.
>>> In it, I made a gravity bookshelf.
>>
>>Sorry to show my ognorance, but I'm not familiar with a "gravity
>>bookshelf". Could you explain, please?
>
> It's a board held at an angle by putting a cleat on the underside at
> one across it's width. The other lower end gets a bookrest on the
> upper face of said board. In this case, it was three dowels joined at
> the top with a small block.

Thanks LL!
I've seen them, now you describe it.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

> I took EVERY woodshop class offered all through Jr. and High school.

Back in Jr and High school, woodshop was just a "filler" for me. I took
woodshop, metal shop, art, and choir whenever I could, because they were
easier than learning a foreign language... :)

I wasn't real motivated or talented for that matter...

I remember my first woodshop project in 7th grade, a "drafting" board. This
was nothing more than a piece of plywood, sanded smooth, and my name
stamped in the lower right corner. No edge trim or anything, just a piece
of plywood. :) It was my first time to use a table saw, and I really
thought I was doing something. I'm sure the teacher thought I was lazy and
a bit nuts! Ironically, I used that piece of plywood as a laptop writing
desk all through high school, and years later my wife wrapped it in
decorative foil and served cakes on it! :) Who knew what a USEFUL project
it would end up being... :)

One school I went to in 7th or 8th grade had the teachers rotate instead of
the students. I remember the woodshop guy coming around with his cart of
wood and tools each day. Obviously, we were limited to hand tools, but I
somehow managed to build a halfway decent bird house.

In high school I built some bookends, a small desk organizer with an out-
of-square drawer, and a few other goofball projects. I somehow managed a
passing grade, and many of these projects had years of use, despite
being horribly constructed.

Ironically, about 2-3 years after high school, I built my wife (girlfriend
at the time) a beautiful cedar hope chest out of mill scraps, using nothing
more than hand tools. We still use it today and it is one of her most
prized possesions.

From those unmotivated beginnings, I went on to build virtually every piece
of furniture in our house, and in the last couple of years we actually
built our own home and all the cabinetry as well. Not bad for the kid who
made a "drafting board" in school... :)

I certainly wouldn't win any awards, or be considered a "craftsman" today
either. But I like to think my skills have improved slightly... :)

Anthony

Larry Jaques wrote:

<snip>
>
> Thanks for the mammaries.
>
Is there you're trying to tell us?

;-)
Glen

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:36:43 -0500, "Owen Lawrence" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
>woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was that our
>projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due to
>overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14.
>But anyway, two questions come to mind:
>
>What did you make?
>What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>
<snip>

My shop experience in school was very different. In fact, it is probably
because of my shop experience that my entire education was different.

I am visually impaired (that' the PC way of saying legally blind). I attended
public school until the beginning of the seventh grade. Back in the 50s, there
was no such thing as mainstreaming and the school district wanted me out and in
a special school in the worst way. But that has no relevance to shop in school.

I started the seventh grade and the shop teacher was not happy with a kid who
had a disability. The irony was that I had been working in my father's shop for
many years...my first and last table saw ding happened when I was about ten.
Blood is a good teacher.

Part of the shop class involved a classroom setting with lectures about the
things used and the terms involved with woodworking. Mr. Mitchner (yeah, I
still remember his name) did not like the fact that the "blind kid" knew as
much as I did. He really became nasty toward me. Oh well.

The district finally got its way, an no it was not just wood shop, there were a
few other teachers at the junior high that made things miserable. So, off I
went to the special school. No, it was not a problem for me. I kind of enjoyed
being away from home and doing for myself.

As for the shop program; it was not your typical school set up. There were
several different kinds of whop classed available, wood, caning, basket
weaving, and machine shop to name a few. The way the program worked was that
you had to certify in two shops if you were in the college prep program.

Wood shop was a lot of fun for me. I mad the usual knickknack shelves, on of
which still graces the wall in the entrance to my shop area. a place for
glasses, gloves, and anything else that needs a temporary home when I walk in
the door.

What I wanted to do was learn to use the lathe. We did not have one at home.
The school had a real live bowling alley with real wooden pins. As they became
unusable in the alley, they made their way to the shop. Bowling pins made great
blanks for small table lamps. Hmm, my first experience with wiring at the ripe
old age of eleven.

The instructor in the seventh grade was great. He was patient and did not hang
over anyone's shoulder, but was there if help was needed. When he wasn't
helping someone, he would sit at his desk in the corner, read the paper, drink
coffee and smoke cigarettes. It was the 50s you know.

Unfortunately, he left at the end of my seventh grade year. The person who
replaced him was just plain strange. I spent a couple of weeks under this guys
lack of guidance and finally went to the assistant principal's off and
indicated that I wanted to "test out' of wood shop. It did not take a whole lot
of convincing. The assistant principal had substituted for the block head shop
teacher and had an idea of what I knew and could do. When I took the signed
request to the shop, the teacher laughed at me and said that I could never pass
his test. Okay, I blew it, I only got a 98%. I was done with the wood shop. Too
bad because the new teacher, the next year, was a lot better and lasted until
after I graduated.

For my other certification, I chose machine shop. That was a real hoot. Unlike
most school metal working shops, we only had a couple of machines. They were
all big. There was and automatic screw machine, a horizontal milling machine,
an 8' South Bent lathe with taper and threading capabilities, a monster dual
spindle drill press, and a couple of other ex-production pieces. I learned to
use them all. Toward the end of my tenure, I became the chief of maintenance
for the shop. I also became good friends with the various machine shop
instructors. These guys did not sit at the desk and drink coffee, smoke
cigarettes, and read papers. That meant that the desk was available for naps
(for me) whenever I decided to cut a study hall.

I guess the best thing I learned in wood shop was turning. The best thing from
machine shop was learning how to take care of equipment, although nothing I
have today requires a #10 tin of grease and a two inch paint brush to apply is.
:-)

My educational experiences and my father's requirement for assistance lead me
into a lot of very interesting things. I have reconstructed an 1884 farm house
that had fallen to rack and ruin. I also redid the carriage house on the same
property. I have wired several houses, from the service in. I have set up a
small manufacturing company with used three phase equipment (No, I did not do
that service, although, when the company moved, I did disassembled it [hot]). I
have restored antique reed organs, And now, I just enjoy making small things
for around the house and for family members.

Now that I am retired, I have dedicated my time and effort to building up a
complete workshop at home. Last Christmas, when asked what I wanted, I could
not think of a single large power tool that I needed.

Sorry for being so verbose. The drawback of majoring in English in college. :-)

Bill Waller
New Eagle, PA

[email protected]

The high school I went to had 2 carpentry classes. One was for
woodworking (grades 10&12) and the other was more for home building
(11&12).

Some projects I got to make in the woodworking shop were:

3 drawer jewlery box
6 in high step stool
Router table
Some clocks
And we did somethings for the school itself

In the Home building shop:

We got to build a scaled down (but almost full scale) model of a
house. Get this it was big enough to fit in the shop.

And in my 12th grade year we contacted by a local fire company and
built a Fire Saftey House. They could take to local elementry schools.
That was probably my best project I ever worked on.

Bill

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:36:43 -0500, "Owen Lawrence"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
>woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was that our
>projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due to
>overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14.
>But anyway, two questions come to mind:
>
>What did you make?
>What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>
>I got to make
>- candle holders (three pieces of wood, two holes)
>- lamp, styled like an old water pump
>- model rocket nose cones (our own individual design)
>- adjustable record rack (our own collective design)
>(That's it? Less than I thought after three years! Last year was wasted in
>a metal shop with a new teacher in a new school. Can't remember even
>lifting a single tool. Sigh.)
>
>My teacher was making some double-helix carved lampstands. Very inspiring.
>
>Maybe you can give me some age-appropriate ideas that my own children will
>like to try. So far my 13 year old has had NO formal shop instruction at
>school. But that's a separate thread.
>
> - Owen -
>

"Camelot Bakery" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I made a cedar chest in my shop class. It was 30"X30"X60" in size which my
>teacher told me was "too big" and would "take too long to make". Being the
>hard-headed-know-it-all that I was at that time, I did it just to prove to
>him (and myself) that it could be done.
>
>
> Jim

Most of the people posting to this group seem to have had an interest in
woodworking going way back to their teen years or earlier. Not me.

Thinking of HS shop class reminds me of 3 big regrets:

1) I didn't really give a shit about the class or school in general. As a
consequence, I learned only about a tenth of what I could have learned had I
been curious and listened and asked questions.

2) One of my grandfathers was active in woodworking through my teens and
into my early 20's. He made probably hundreds of things from small wooden
games to rocking chairs to gun cabinets for family and friends. I had the
opportunity to learn from someone with great skill. Again, I didn't give a
shit.

3) In HS shop, I made a cabinet for my stereo, including partitioned
compartments sized for Hot Rod magazines and 8-track (!) tapes. Took it with
when I moved to TX for college. When we packed up all our belongings into a
utility trailer to move, the cabinet waited till near the end, so I couldn't
find a safe place for it without taking the load apart. So, I left it by the
curb. Guess I didn't have enough respect in my own work to care that much
about it.
(and as we drove away, before we got 100 yards down the street, in the
side-view mirror I saw two other students come out to the street and carry
it back to the apartments).

Now, years later, I appreciate woodworking. Along with learning basic
skills, I'm learning to have much more respect for the skills that really
talented woodworkers have.

Tip of the hat to all those woodworkers who get their kids interested early!

Hash pipes and zip-guns...just like evrybody else.

"Owen Lawrence" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
> woodworking experience might differ from others. > What did you make?
> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>

Aaaaah, yes. I attended a private school called University High School that
was attached to the university. Only 120 in 9-12. The main purpose of UHS
was to train teachers. Mr. Sonderman was the shop teacher. He was working
on his doctors degree at the time and spent a lot of his in-class time
working on his desertation ...something about Drivers Education... My very
first ww project was a letter wood letter opener with a dutch shoe for the
handle. Then I made a test tube rack. Mr. Sonderman helped with my maple
and walnut cutting board. I brought some walnut from home that my dad had
recovered from a demolished barn. Mr. Sonderman said he would cut the
walnut down to size for me on the weekend because we were not allowed to use
the table saw. I remember coming to class on Monday and there he was taking
the blade out of the saw. "L'Hote!!!! Come here!!!! Why didn't you tell
me there were nails in that wood??" Later on that year a girl in my class
got her hair caught in the drill press and she was left with a bare spot
down the top of her head..like a reverse Mohawk.. The next year I took
drafting and we worked in the Biology room more-or-less unsupervised while
Mr. Sonderman watched the students in the shop. I got into big trouble that
year when David Brown and I were running down the lab tables sword fighting
with some meter sticks and Mr. Sonderman caught us. The place closed in
1974. I wish I had gone to the local public school.

Larry

--
Lawrence L'Hote
Columbia, MO
www.llhote.com

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:06:10 GMT, [email protected] (Doug Miller) wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>>
>>My shop experience in school was very different. In fact, it is probably
>>because of my shop experience that my entire education was different.
>>
>>I am visually impaired (that' the PC way of saying legally blind).
>[...]
>>Wood shop was a lot of fun for me. I mad the usual knickknack shelves
>[...]
>>What I wanted to do was learn to use the lathe. We did not have one at home.
>>The school had a real live bowling alley with real wooden pins. As they became
>>unusable in the alley, they made their way to the shop. Bowling pins made great
>>blanks for small table lamps. Hmm, my first experience with wiring at the ripe
>>old age of eleven.
>[...]
>>Okay, I blew it, I only got a 98%.
>[...]
>>For my other certification, I chose machine shop. That was a real hoot.
>[...]
>>I learned to
>>use them all. Toward the end of my tenure, I became the chief of maintenance
>>for the shop.
>[...]
>>My educational experiences and my father's requirement for assistance lead me
>>into a lot of very interesting things. I have reconstructed an 1884 farm house
>>that had fallen to rack and ruin. I also redid the carriage house on the same
>>property. I have wired several houses, from the service in. I have set up a
>>small manufacturing company with used three phase equipment (No, I did not do
>>that service, although, when the company moved, I did disassembled it [hot]). I
>>have restored antique reed organs, And now, I just enjoy making small things
>>for around the house and for family members.
>
>My hat is off to you, sir. Most people *without* a vision disability can't do
>one-tenth of that.

Thank you for your kind words. I really enjoy doing the things that I do. You
can also find another example of one of my other hobbies on
alt.binaries.pictures.rail, where I post daily.
Bill Waller
New Eagle, PA

[email protected]

This thread reminded me about a "safety" film shown in HS metal shop.
A sliver of metal was driven to a man's eye by a machine cutting
metal, the man was rushed to emergency and to the operating room where
the metal was surgically removed (the embedded metal was aluminum, do
a magnet was no use). The flick showed a close up of the operation,
blood and all, and a boy in the class collapsed, hit his head on the
work bench, and got a concussion. Needless to say, it did drive home
the importance of wearing safety glasses with side shields. I guess
hard hats should be recommended for safety films.

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 20:12:20 -0700, Bruce <[email protected]> wrote:


I enjoyed High School Shop, albeit when not perfecting truancy...

In Automechanics - We blew our vice-principles new exhaust off his
yellow caddy with crossman Co2 cartridges. Who would have thought
exhaust manifolds would ever get that hot...

We had a combined "Small engine - Metal Shop" class. That was good
for a galvanized metal spice rack.

My favorite was Wood Working. I think of the tools and can only
imagine the money. We had a 30" wide surface planer. Four big
lathes. Three bandsaws. Jointer, big table saw. The lumber
stack "all hardwoods" was floor to ceiling and at least 200 square
feet of floor area.

Sadly, the best "us" 15 year old kids could do was make flying bowls.
You know, five slabs, cut in a circle, glued up, and mounted on a
lathe.

Back then (1977), safety was a five minute issue. No explanation on
how to setup or use any of the tools. Four weeks learning how to
draw a 2d diagram. Then go to it. None of the kids got hurt, but I
saw one bowl get launched towards the teachers desk, missed.

Probably explains my personal preference for the quieter and gentler
approach of using hand tools.

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:36:43 -0500, "Owen Lawrence"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
>woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was that our
>projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due to
>overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14.
>But anyway, two questions come to mind:
>
>What did you make?
>
>Maybe you can give me some age-appropriate ideas that my own children will
>like to try. So far my 13 year old has had NO formal shop instruction at
>school. But that's a separate thread.
>
> - Owen -
>

I remember only going to an 8th grade woodworking class once a week.
In it, I made a gravity bookshelf. I think my mom still has it.
Funny to think how long it took to make then, compared to now when it
might take an hour or two.

There was an exploratory shop class in HS, but not much time spent in
it due the relatively large number of shops the school had.

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:06:10 GMT, [email protected] (Doug Miller) wrote:

>>My hat is off to you, sir. Most people *without* a vision disability can't do
>>one-tenth of that.
>
>Thank you for your kind words. I really enjoy doing the things that I do. You
>can also find another example of one of my other hobbies on
>alt.binaries.pictures.rail, where I post daily.

Oh my goodness! I was expecting to see pictures of *model* trains!

WOW! I love those old locomotives (pics you posted on 2-22-05).

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

The two I remember were the walnut crescent moon lamp and the
wooden-based hammered copper ashtray. It's been a looooong time
since I made them. 1967 for the ashtray, and Mom asked me if I
wanted the crescent lamp back 2 years ago when she moved. (I didn't)

Thanks for the mammaries.

--
***********************************************************
"Boy, I feel safer now that Martha Stewart is behind bars!
O.J. is walking around free, Osama Bin Laden too, but they
take the one woman in America willing to cook and clean
and work in the yard and haul her ass to jail."
--Tim Allen
***********************************************************

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 17:03:48 -0500, Bill Waller <[email protected]>
wrote:

>The old steam locomotive that I posted is on the East Broad
>Top, the last narrow gauge railroad in Pennsylvania.


I assume that you've been to the railroad museum somewhere
in that area.

Owen Lawrence Wrote:
> Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
> woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression wa
> that our
> projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly du
> to
> overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 t
> 14.
> But anyway, two questions come to mind:
>
> What did you make?
> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>
> I got to make
> - candle holders (three pieces of wood, two holes)
> - lamp, styled like an old water pump
> - model rocket nose cones (our own individual design)
> - adjustable record rack (our own collective design)
> (That's it? Less than I thought after three years! Last year wa
> wasted in
> a metal shop with a new teacher in a new school. Can't remember even
> lifting a single tool. Sigh.)
>
> My teacher was making some double-helix carved lampstands. Ver
> inspiring.
>
> Maybe you can give me some age-appropriate ideas that my own childre
> will
> like to try. So far my 13 year old has had NO formal shop instructio
> at
> school. But that's a separate thread.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hi I work in an Aussie MDT ie Materials Design Technology workshop. A
> technician/ problem solver.Have done so for 7 years.
> Ages 13 to 16 years here.
> Comments re teaching your 13 year old
> Start using soft pine easier to work
> Avoid man made boards / customwood/ mdf board.. Won't learn anythin
> plus dust a problem.No grain. Ok for pic/ mirror frames to paint bu
> that's all.
>
> Make a gift for mum/ dads birthday. They're more likely to finish i
> plus put some of their own design/ ideas in.
>
> Use basic design eg wooden spoon/ stirrer -cut out with coping saw.
> They can decorate with paint/ wood poker burner ( very popular) usin
> computer designs for neatness or logos of eg a favoutite band/ car/ to
> etc etc.
> Start with a set size wood. Push marking out concept. If they learn i
> young it will stay with them. Most kids not taught this make rubbis
> jobs all of their school workshop life. I know, I cut the jobs up fo
> firewood regularly when they give up . Hundreds of them each year.
>
> My teacher was making some double-helix carved lampstands. Ver
> inspiring.
> Ok for world wood champion . No good for young kids though.
>
> The younger kids I see despise smart arse teachers who try too har
> with adult made jobs..Better a well made simple job than a 1/2 hatche
> adult job thrown out..
> Kids like jewellery eg perspex bangles / ornaments. Get scraps fro
> local glazing factory .. easily moulded in household oven too.
> A bit older can make wood cd racks--popular. Small colonial type shel
> units.
> Keytags/ tin toys ok for metal class. Rivets and spot welders bette
> here. Solder and brazing no gos for most as they just won't follo
> procedures and hence get crap joins. Use mechanical joins.
> Make out of colourbond( coloured sheetmetal ) nice colours and use
> friendly.
> Keep parts taped over to stop scratches in making.
>
>
> Think of tools suited to kids. They have much less power. So an adul
> needs to think on their level. eg young girls can't use tin snips.. to
> weak.
> We use a falcon power nibbler mounted upside down in a box. Just fee
> sheetmetal job through. Few burrs and user friendly.
>
> For bigger jobs get eg 2/ 3 kids to help each other good way to lear
> cooperation. Faster/ easier building too if you keep onto them.
> Eg metal / wood billy cart.
>
> A kreg jig to join eg small stools has been popular as it is easy t
> get fast good joins. They then decorate stool in various ways.Inlays
> chessboard/ shelf etc...
>
> Sorry to say most kids won't apply themselves to fitted joints like th
> good old days.
>
> Start small work upwards as skills increase.
>
> Nick Australi

--
nick moore

In article <[email protected]>,
Bob G. <[email protected]> wrote:

> I got it back and it now is
> "framed" and hung in my wives kitchen...

This just like your cars... can't have enough wives either?

--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
____

"Sure we'll have fascism in America, but it'll come disguised
as 100% Americanism." -- Huey P. Long

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 20:02:25 GMT, [email protected] (Doug Miller) wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>>On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 15:06:10 GMT, [email protected] (Doug Miller) wrote:
>
>>>My hat is off to you, sir. Most people *without* a vision disability can't do
>>>one-tenth of that.
>>
>>Thank you for your kind words. I really enjoy doing the things that I do. You
>>can also find another example of one of my other hobbies on
>>alt.binaries.pictures.rail, where I post daily.
>
>Oh my goodness! I was expecting to see pictures of *model* trains!
>
>WOW! I love those old locomotives (pics you posted on 2-22-05).

Actually the model trains have faded into the past. This is the first house
that I have had in a long time that would even begin to support such a venture,
but, then, I would have to give up space in my workshop, and that's not gonna
happen. :-)

So in the meantime, whenever I can hitch a ride with a friend, we go hunting
for the real thing. The old steam locomotive that I posted is on the East Broad
Top, the last narrow gauge railroad in Pennsylvania. I make a semi-annual
pilgrimage there early each summer and fall.

As you evidentially surmised from my earlier post, I do a lot of things that I
am not supposed to be able to do. :-)




Bill Waller
New Eagle, PA

[email protected]

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 15:13:19 GMT, Han <[email protected]> wrote:

>Lazarus Long <[email protected]> wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
>
>> I remember only going to an 8th grade woodworking class once a week.
>> In it, I made a gravity bookshelf.
>
>Sorry to show my ognorance, but I'm not familiar with a "gravity
>bookshelf". Could you explain, please?

It's a board held at an angle by putting a cleat on the underside at
one across it's width. The other lower end gets a bookrest on the
upper face of said board. In this case, it was three dowels joined at
the top with a small block.

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:36:43 -0500, Owen Lawrence wrote:

> What did you make?
> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?

Jr High shop: step stool* and poorly executed turned black walnut bowl.
Asked by instructor to make a new pattern for the sheetmetal scoop
project. He was impressed with what I produced, which was nice to hear.

HS shop: group project making toboggans--ply deck, conduit runners, man
that thing flew over snow and ice. Made hideously complex desk pigeonhole
thing of my own design. Don't know what happened to it over the years.

*That pine stool got a lot of use in parents' house, got it back when
swmboII came along. Took weeks in shop class. Whipped out a copy one day
recently, cuz the old one was finally cracking to pieces. Guess I've
learned something along the way.

Instructor spent his time making one of those lights that responds to
music frequencies. Cutting edge, back then.

--
"Keep your ass behind you"
vladimir a t mad {dot} scientist {dot} com

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:36:43 -0500, Owen Lawrence wrote:

> What did you make?
> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?

Woodshop & metalshop was in the 8th grade. Made a few small things I
can't even remember, and a potters whell for mum. It had a kick arm to
keep a flywheel going. Metalshop was a center punch and the "biggie" was
a firewood carrier/holder. It was a circular piece of sheet steel with 4
hunks of chopped off heavy aluminum angle rivetted to it for feet and a
beefy hunk of aluminum bar rolled into a circle that wrapped arount the
curved steel carrier for a handle. It was also rivetted to the steel
shell. The wood carrier is still in mum's house though no more in use as
she had a NG insert put in the fireplace. She's too old (93) to use the
potters wheel, and it disappeared a few years ago, hopefully to one of her
great-grandchildren.

- Doug

--

To escape criticism--do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." (Elbert Hubbard)

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:36:43 -0500, Owen Lawrence wrote:

> What did you make?

At my HS, freshmen had only one choice for shop, "Introduction to the
Industrial Arts". A quarter each of wood, metal, drafting, and electricity.

In that short quarter-long class, I made a simple bookshelf strictly with
handtools. I still have it.

Sophomore wood was a semester and I built a small cherry chest. The wood
teacher offered to buy it from me to give to his wife. I had real trouble
coming up with the money for the materials, so I almost took him up on it.
But, instead, it's sitting across the room from me. I also made my
Grandmother a cutting board.

Sadly, there was just no way that I could pay for materials in later wood
classes on my own. So I've had to wait for, oh, 15ish years to get going
with it again.

--
Joe Wells

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 12:29:58 GMT, the inscrutable Glen
<[email protected]> spake:

>Larry Jaques wrote:
>
><snip>
>>
>> Thanks for the mammaries.
>>
>Is there you're trying to tell us?
>
>;-)
>Glen

What, you haven't kept abreast?

--
***********************************************************
"Boy, I feel safer now that Martha Stewart is behind bars!
O.J. is walking around free, Osama Bin Laden too, but they
take the one woman in America willing to cook and clean
and work in the yard and haul her ass to jail."
--Tim Allen
***********************************************************

middle school: a small shelf consisting of a board and 2 plexiglass
shelves. disappeared. fox head sihoulette (sp??) which I still have. In
high school, for the beginning class, everyone made a bedside table out
of wood of their choice (mine was pine :). I still have it, and now I
understand why I got a poor grade on it! :). For the advanced class, I
made this humungous computer desk out of oak ply and oak facing. That
was a big heavy sucker. I designed it around my Atari 400 system at that
time. got rid of that. Also made a few small pieces.

We had both metal and wood class. Made a step stool, decorative
three-tier wall shelf, wall organizer (key hooks, paper roll, letter
holder), bud vase, lamp, small folding table. The bud vase and paper
cutter on the organizer were made from Plexiglas (somehow plastics and
woodworking can share many tools). In metal class I made a rotating
baby-jar organizer which my father put in his shop.

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 18:12:51 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>>
>>> What did you make?
>>> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?
>>
>
>I made nothing. No shop in our school. Probably because it was before the
>iron age and the only tools we had was a rock.
>
>My son made a box with a hinged lid. My grandson made a shelf with a curved
>pack and angle brackets. It is hanging in the downstairs hallway.
>
>I took a four day course at a Woodcraft store and we made a CD shelf. It is
>a fairly simple design, but you had to:
>Select the wood
>joint
>plane
>layout
>cut curves on the bandsaw
>scrape and sand
>round over edges
>cut a tenon
>cut a dado
>fit everything with handplane and chisels
>drill and dowel one shelf
>
>Ten people to a class and we learned basics of wood movement, sharpening
>tools, story sticks, safety, saw demos of tool use, etc. Instructor (or his
>assistant) did all the setups. Finishing was not done in class but some
>time was spent discussing various finishes.
>
>I would think most high school students would be interesting in having a CD
>shelf or similar item. this was about 30 hours of class time but could be
>done in more or less depending on what the kids already know.
>

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 09:36:43 -0500, "Owen Lawrence"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
>woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was that our
>projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due to
>overcrowding.

==============
I am now in my 60's and never took woodshop in High School BUT I was
lucky enough to take woodshop in Junior High... (Grades 7 8 & 9)

The only thing I remember is some dumb kid ahaking the "can" of glue
and dumping it on his own head...

However I did make my Mother a cutting board ...and she used it
reliously over the years ...when she died I got it back and it now is
"framed" and hung in my wives kitchen... (lol)... I can not cook worth
a damn ..unfortunately I learned to hit a baseball in my youth I
should have learned how to cook)

Anyway I do have to thank you for bring back some memories of my
mother... and I had a good laugh remembering the look on that kids
face after he dumped that glue on his head....

Bob Griffiths

By great good luck, I made an 8-foot sailboat called a Sabot. I took
woodshop in my senior year of high school because I knew I'd blow
calculus and hate it. Our teacher in coastal San Diego was a sailor and
had built a Sabot jig that one student per year got to use.

As I remember it, he spent all of his time helping students and never
made anything for himself.

Bill

Owen Lawrence wrote:

> What did you make?
> What did your teacher make while you were occupied?


We had to outfit our new HS workshop space with storage: shelving, bins,
racks, benches, etc. Made lots of box joints, torsion boxes, and
combination low shelving/workbench units. Our teacher was a combination
designer, foreman and screw up fixer. Those that came after us got to
make fancy stuff: decorative boxes, turnings, small tables.

J.