Author Archives: woodshopcowboy

This Week In the Classroom: What Am I Supposed to Make of This?

What exactly am I to make of this? It sits in the outdoor storage area at work.  What should I turn it into?  My co-workers grabbed it on a supply run I wasn’t invited on. Oh, and the bikes have been delivered, well some anyways, for the chop class.  Eventually we will get them inContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: What Am I Supposed to Make of This?”

This Week in the Classroom: The Butterfly Bench & Butterfly Growers

I missed Monday and Tuesday this week – my wife was in the hospital with a parasite.  Luckily, the parasite left on his own and we’ve named him Jack.  Jack is our second son, born on Sun 13 at 5:30am.  A whopping 8 lbs.  A beautiful boy. But this blog is about woodshop & teaching. Continue reading “This Week in the Classroom: The Butterfly Bench & Butterfly Growers”

Community Watch: Pine Wood Derby Clinics

Saw this during half-time in last week’s Jets-Colts game over at http://www.coptool.com. It seems Lowe’s and Dremel will be sponsoring clinics on how to make Pinewood Derby cars. I may have to take a spin by and see if I can snag a few kits. Might have a week-long science lab project there.  I shouldContinue reading “Community Watch: Pine Wood Derby Clinics”

This Week In the Classroom: Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It

In the spirit of my saw guide, I had the opportunity this weekend to build a few jigs for future use.   In about twenty min, here they are: From front to back: A bench hook, which I consider a necessity for students to learn to saw by themselves. A wooden speed square – just aContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It”

This Week In the Classroom: To Sand or Not to Sand…

Returned to school last week with so much to do and catch up on (I did make it to Boston and missed a long day full of meetings and schedule-making).  I had several gorgeous “woodworking-as-the-way” moments, only one of which I’ll share.  One of my neurologically different students asked to meet the teacher he wasContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: To Sand or Not to Sand…”

This Week in the Classroom: Squiggle ‘Bots

Here’s a line on what pre-school should be – I actually thought I invented this project a few years ago when I worked with primary school-age kids in VA.  Obviously, I did not – it’s just rumblin’ around out there in the knowledge sphere. Teacher Tom goes into some of the skills those little guysContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: Squiggle ‘Bots”

This Week In the Shop: A Little Me Time

Just missed my flight to Boston, but on the upside, I get a little me time.  I’ve been working pretty steady this weekend.  I re-organizedthe workspace.  Before: And then – a new storage bench and some rearranging: That new bench is a salvaged office door, ripped in half and cut to needed lengths.  It weighsContinue reading “This Week In the Shop: A Little Me Time”

This Week in the Shop: The Other Xmas Gifts

I never did get my wife an engagement ring when I should have six years ago now.  I finally picked up a diamond for her.  In order to make it a surprise and get an excuse for “what did you do all day on your week off”, I spent half a week building her aContinue reading “This Week in the Shop: The Other Xmas Gifts”