Monthly Archives: October 2011

This Week in the Shop: The Tool Chest

If I haven’t made clear prior to this post, I have space issues at work.  I hold wood-shop classes in the great outdoors, rain or shine (ok, just shine), cold or hot.  Morning and afternoon.  I’ve been looking for a storage solution for the many “wood-centric” tools that end up in the outdoor space but away from the our tool storage trailer.

My solution looks something like this:


It’s not a pretty thing, but the design has a long gestation.  Chris Schwarz has been promoting his conversion to hand tools for years now – and he finally documents the slow spiral in “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest”.  He’s got a book, I guess I have this blog.  Either way, I decided on a 24″ by 18″ by 18″ dovetailed box.  The moldings and bottoms were nailed and glued on, while the top has a split piano hinge as it’s method of movement.   Most of the dovetails and dadoes are splined for strength (because I can’t cut a tight dovetail) and I used a L-N low angle block plan to get the pins and tails even.  I only used power tools for milling the wood.

Let’s take a trip inside.  First, a tool tray with a small selection of hammers, nail sets, wrenches, etc.

A chisel/gouge/trisquare rack,

a saw till,

and some places for hand plane storage.

Over the next few weeks, I will be attaching handles, finding some storage solution for safety glasses, paint & varnish and carrying handles.  I’ll keep you posted.

Make it safe & keep the rubber side down.

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Filed under Storage, This Week In the Shop, Workbench, Workshop

Community Watch: Lie Nielson Toolworks Show, Oct. 21st-22nd

I took my students to the Lie-Nielson Toolworks show being held at the Kellogg Furniture Studio on Fri, Oct. 21st.  My students were able to use some pretty expensive and sweet-working tools from Lie-Nielson and Glen-Drake tools were there.  I especially got a thrill watching a student get pointers from the man that created the tool…

Make it safe and keep the rubber side down this weekend.

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Filed under Community Watch, Education, Safety, Uncategorized, Workshop

The Bike Shed

Four hours, eight kids, fifteen bikes.

Make it safe & keep the rubber side down.

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Filed under Classroom Project, This Week In the Shop

Funny Moments in the Classroom…

Half of the students in my 3rd period crew found themselves taking the PSATs today.  Which meant I had eleven students in my classroom rockin’ and rollin’ in the CAD courses.  It doesn’t seem like much, I know, but when you have a 45 min “plan” and you end up with twice the time and twice the students…it gets a little hectic.

As a soak activity (a project you have in your back pocket) I hooked up an Arduino microchip board and asked two students to get the LED to light.  The boys wrote the code, but didn’t have time to upload the results onto the board.  The result is a file sitting on my work laptop labeled “LED light program DON’T TOUCH IT MR. P”.

I love being a teacher.

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Filed under Education, Teaching Strategies, Technology

Painting a Table Top

Here’s a quick shot of my “draft” top for the dining room table.  I’m playing with the paints a bit, yah?  Wondering what you think – I’m on the fence about the whole idea but the more I play, the more this stormy landscape comes into being.  Just like when I write poetry, I can’t do it too long or I get worried about myself!

So what next?  Some details, patterns, leave-it-be, oh-god-that’s-ugly?  Where’s the hive-mind at?

Make it safe and keep the rubber side down this weekend.

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Filed under Furniture, Workshop

The Art Crate Lockers

Over the past month my mind (and workshop) has fissured into a melting pot of tools, projects, class planning and plan ol’ creative fury.  I have nothing to show for my troubles right now.  I have recently completed a “house” style table – craftsman lines with painted accents – and I failed to take pictures of the build process.  At work, students have created walnut-maple boxes, shipping crates, catapults, computer animations, floorplans and straight-edges from yard sticks.

Few, if any, pictures.

New planer, new jointer in the shop.  You know the drill.

I do have pictures of my most recent workshop project.  I was able to divert some rather large shipping crates from the landfill and convert them into storage space in my home shop.  The build, somehow, took most of the day.  I simple used a circ saw to cut out the doors and then cut 1x6s to length for the shelving.  I really don’t know why it took so long, but it did.

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Oh, yeah.  Now I remember.  Because I had to put a load of stuff into the shelves!

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Filed under This Week In the Shop, Workshop

This Week in the Shop: Guy Clark and Boxes

From Guy Clark’s song, “The Carpenter”:

He was tough as a crowbar, quick as a chisel
Fair as a plane and true as a level.
He was straight as a chalkline and right as a rule.
He was square with the world.  He took good care of his tools

The early results of my box making class in 1st period…

Make it safe & keep the rubber side down.

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Filed under Classroom Project, This Week In the Shop, Workshop