This Week in the Shop: Safety Posters
A number of safety posters for a variety of woodworking tools. Continue reading This Week in the Shop: Safety Posters
Category: Woodworking
Home #Makerspace: DIY Knock Hockey Set
When the ice melts from the first burst of spring, the hockey fun doesn’t have to stop. Take hockey inside with DIY Knock Hockey, a wood table-top game which makes for hours and hours of fun.
This tutorial utilizes a table saw to create the necessary rabbets and miter joints. These are great intermediate table saw skills to learn, practice and utilize in your work flow. Strong, clean joinery really sets your project apart from the pack. While kid-focused, this project isn’t really designed to be made with young maker help.
I use this game to help teach basic concepts of physics, such as momentum, rebound angles, and friction. Game play teaches turn-taking and sportsmanship. Lastly, the rules are incredibly simple…but “house” rules unleash cooperative play and teach fairness.
Home #Makerspace: DIY Street Hockey Sticks
It’s winter here in Northern Virginia and my sons discovered a strange and wondrous sport of the North:
Hockey!
To help them become familiar with the game, we’ve watched a few movies, plan on attending a game or two and we built a pair of matching shafts to fit a pair of hockey blades.
This is a quick technique to build a shaft with minimal tools. Shafts built with this technique can be used in tool handles, lacrosse sticks, shovels, poles, furniture, etc.
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: DIY Street Hockey Sticks”
Home #Makerspace: Build a Pinewood Derby Car With #YoungMakers
Every winter, millions of families prepare for serious bonding time at kitchen tables, in garages and in workshops across the country. We enter with dreams of speed, beauty and glory. With a little luck and skill, we leave with pride, joy and a completed Pinewood Derby Car.
Here’s how to generate that little bit of luck and skill for your family so you too can guide your young maker with confidence.
Too Much Weight!
The Pinewood Derby is a race between small gravity-powered model cars. Each official Scouting kit contains a solid pine block, four nails and four plastic wheels but specialized kits are available online. Official rules vary from organization to organization, and in Scouting, district to district.
This guide will show you how to support and help your young maker design, make and race their derby car.
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: Build a Pinewood Derby Car With #YoungMakers”
Home #Makerspace: How to Saw (for Young and Beginning #Woodworkers)
I use Japanese-style saws exclusively in my classroom and home shop because I have young makers. I love the quick bite and accuracy of a pull stroke, the low cost and high quality, but mostly, enjoy handing my saw to … Continue reading Home #Makerspace: How to Saw (for Young and Beginning #Woodworkers)
Home #Makerspace: Simple Kid’s Game Boards for Young Makers #Woodworking
This week, we made a quick foldable checkerboard inspired by my youngest child’s love of the game. This basic folding design can expanded and modified to play any board game. Just let your imagination run wild!
This project incorporates measuring, marking boards square, using a hand drill and hand saw, and an all natural, no-fuss stain (although it is stinky!). Super quick, super cheap and super easy for young makers between K – 3rd grade. Continue reading Home #Makerspace: Simple Kid’s Game Boards for Young Makers #Woodworking
Home #Makerspace: Miter Boxes for #Woodworking #Makered
Sometimes, young (and old…) woodworkers can use a little help sawing a board accurately, especially if the board must have a specific angle or length. A miter box helps a woodworker saw a 90 or 45 degree angle into a piece of wood. They are cheap to make, easy to modify and cut accurately.
Miter boxes are channels with slots cut into them. The slots guide the hand saw blade for accuracy and precision. The sides allow the user to clamp down the miter box and work pieces to the table or work bench, which greatly increases safety.
To use a miter saw, place your work piece in the channel, with your cut line against the kerf of the wood. Use a clamp to clamp the work piece and miter box to the table, as shown. Then place the saw in the cutting slot and saw away!
Take the jump to build your own.
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: Miter Boxes for #Woodworking #Makered”
Home #Makerspace: The Bread Box Project #woodworking #makerEd
Completed, ready for sanding.
Close up of the camfer detail.
Lid assembly ready to go.
Measure the long side, then secure with glue and nails.
Clamping the Assembly
Parts of the bread box project laid out.
This quick project makes a great starter box for grown woodworkers, but it especially shines as an approachable young person skill builder. This slick box teaches three major skills: measurement, accuracy in manufacture of parts and joinery. A teacher or parent can use this simple project to differentiate between beginning, intermediate and expert woodworkers by adding complexity in the appropriate areas.
The following instructions describe how to build this project with pre-k to 2nd or 3rd graders. The adult preps the wood, while the student assembles the pieces, learning to use a hammer, nail set, hand drill and hand plane. Older students can measure and cut their own wood using appropriate tools.
Continue reading “Home #Makerspace: The Bread Box Project #woodworking #makerEd”
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