Tag: bench

Education, Furniture, Furniture Projects, Home Makerspace, Maker Eduation, This Week In the Shop, WoodworkingLeave a comment

This Week in the Shop: The Split-Top Bench with Plans

woodshopcowboy

split-top-bench

This week in my home shop I finished up a new bench project I developed for class at Nova Labs in Reston, VA.  While simple in design and execution, it does involve the full suite of woodworking tools and a custom jig to complete.  This great intermediate project uses the Fab Five of a powered woodshop:  table saw, band saw, miter saw, jointer and planer.

starred-photos1I built the entirety of this project at Nova Labs, Inc using their woodworking tools.

Nova Labs is a membership-driven all-volunteer makerspace based in Reston, Virginia that was founded in 2011 with the purpose of empowering everyone to Rediscover the Joy of Making Things!

The current 10,500 sq. ft. facility located at 1916 Isaac Newton Sq West houses classrooms, workspace, incubator offices and a shop that includes both common tools and advanced fabrication equipment. Members enjoy 24-7 access and help co-manage our space by teaching classes, maintaining equipment, and promoting making in the community.

I cannot say enough good things about the membership and openness of the culture they have built up.  It’s rare to find a makerspace that has such a grassroots structure and active volunteer culture.

If you are interested in learning woodworking, you can join me in class in 2017.

Nova Labs members support a wide range of open source development projects that benefit both the local community and the world! Consider joining today to learn how and meet the people behind these projects!

Continue reading “This Week in the Shop: The Split-Top Bench with Plans”

Classroom Project, Education, Furniture, Outdoor & Environmental, This Week In the Classroom1 Comment

This Week In the Classroom: The Simple Bench

woodshopcowboy

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve let y’all into the woodshop at work.  We’ve been building the “simple bench”.  If you’ve been reading this blog long, you know I love building benches – butterfly benches, green benches, small benches and long benches.  My boys have been working off this pattern: And I give them lots of flexibility in said pattern.  We started with three 3 foot lengths of 1×12 stock.  The students then cut their bench seats to any length as I rip the rest of the stock into 3 1/2″ strips for the aprons and 5 1/2″ strips … Continue reading This Week In the Classroom: The Simple Bench

Classroom Project, Furniture, This Week In the ShopLeave a comment

New School Year: Boxes, Trays and Benches

woodshopcowboy

This week, I’m proposing and planning projects for the 2011-2012 school year.    According to the Mayans, it should be a killer.  I’m attached to the Math/Sci crew as a “Technology Resource” – meaning I’m running a CAD workshop, an Electronics course and probably some sort of Lego Mindstorms-based course.  In my traditional role as a woodshop teacher, I’ve developed a 3-project pipeline.  Small butt joint boxes based on this tutorial grow into larger tool trays which eventually turn into the Butterfly Bench.  I am also proposing a Bike Mechanics service project – students build, curate & service a bike fleet … Continue reading New School Year: Boxes, Trays and Benches