woodshopcowboy

Tool Primer: How to Finish Your Project: Film Finishes

This is the third Tool Primer article on finishing your woodworking project. You can find Part One: Sanding here and Part Two: Penetrating Oils here. In this article I will discuss the film finishes available for woodworking projects at most local big-box hardware stores. The first step is creating a clean, dust-free uniform surface byContinue reading “Tool Primer: How to Finish Your Project: Film Finishes”

This Week In the Shop: The Simple Cutting Board

They say when it rains, it pours. For the past six months, I’ve inundated myself with cutting boards at every turn, in every one of my woodworking shops. At home, I made cutting boards as Christmas presents. At work, cutting boards as a fundraiser. At TX/RX Labs, I’ve tweaked my intro course to include aContinue reading “This Week In the Shop: The Simple Cutting Board”

This Week In the Shop: Dining Bench Made from Upcycled Bed Frame

The newest piece to walk out of my home workshop. A dining bench up-cycled from a bed frame. If you are interested in seeing plans, drop a line to me, my contact is below. Make it safe & keep the rubber side down this week. Thank you for visiting my practice zone and project showcase. Continue reading “This Week In the Shop: Dining Bench Made from Upcycled Bed Frame”

This Week in The Classroom: The Simple Coffee Table in Spalted Red Oak

Earlier in the year, the great folks at Canyon Mesquite donated a number of spalted red oak boards to make furniture out of. It took a while, but we finally made some great use of them. Finished with Howard’s Feed-N-Wax. Make it safe & keep the rubber side down this week. Thank you for visitingContinue reading “This Week in The Classroom: The Simple Coffee Table in Spalted Red Oak”

Making a Makerspace: Top Five Materials in an Educational Makerspace

This is part four in my “Making a Makerspace” series. You can catch the other articles here. Makers use stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Sylvia Libow Martinez & Gary Stager dedicated an entire chapter to the various materials necessary for a makerspace to function in their book, Invent to Learn. I’m just going toContinue reading “Making a Makerspace: Top Five Materials in an Educational Makerspace”

Tool Primer: How to Finish your Project: Penetrating Oils

This is the second Tool Primer article on finishing your woodworking project. You can find Part One: Sanding here. In this article I will discuss the finishes available for woodworking projects at most local big-box hardware stores. The first step is creating a clean, dust-free uniform surface by sanding all a parts to a highContinue reading “Tool Primer: How to Finish your Project: Penetrating Oils”

This Week in the Classroom: Build Your Own CO2 Rocket Cars & Launching System

When I look at the popularity of CO2 rocket cars in STEM programs, its ubiquity and age hide a lot of potential for makers and project-based learning opportunities. The biggest drawback, as I see it, is the high cost of entry. Launching systems cost somewhere in the hundreds of dollars, tracks take up teaching spaceContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: Build Your Own CO2 Rocket Cars & Launching System”

Community Watch: TX/RX Labs’ New Woodshop Build

In a few short years, TX/RX has grown from a small collective to one of the largest hackerspaces in TX, if not the US. It holds spring and fall semester classes in all sorts of cool subjects: computer programming, electronics, fabrication, crafts, art, etc. You can see the whole list at http://www.txrxlabs.org/classes. Last Sunday, aContinue reading “Community Watch: TX/RX Labs’ New Woodshop Build”

This Week in the Classroom: Aerial Photography via Balloon for Under $30

This quarter, my students have been building an incredible number of STEM-based projects in preparation for a show-and-tell science fair in March. Every year, I often recycle two or three projects, assigning particular journeys to particular students for particular reasons. And every year, I try to introduce something new. This year, a student suggested unmannedContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: Aerial Photography via Balloon for Under $30”

This Week in the Classroom: The Simple Coffee Table

Some quick pictures of coffee tables that the kids and I built at school this fall. We sold six of these pieces at $60 each as a fall fundraiser for my classroom. With the proceeds, we were able to buy mounds of safety equipment, a new drill press and some VOC respirators for finishing. ThisContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: The Simple Coffee Table”