This Week In The Shop: Jewelry Box

One of my MasterClass students finished a jewelry box just in time for Mother’s Day.  He’s been working for close to three months on it. We began with a design consultation, in which we researched various box designs on the web.  I want to give a big thank-you to Andy, an extremely talented and generous woodworkerContinue reading “This Week In The Shop: Jewelry Box”

Bookshelf in Mission Style

This bookshelf recently left the workshop at school.  The bookshelf started life as an illustration in The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mission Furniture, by H. H. Windsor, otherwise known as the good fellows at Popular Mechanics. Which the student modified to suit the schools current needs.  The CAD mock-up looked like this: In the end,Continue reading “Bookshelf in Mission Style”

This Week in the Shop: Art Car

This Week In the Shop, 80% of our students left for an overnight camp.  I stayed back and worked with a small group of seniors building senior gifts.  One of those senior gifts happens to be an Art Car, which you can follow along on the Art Car 2011 page.  This week’s pictures: And then:Continue reading “This Week in the Shop: Art Car”

Teacher Tip: Use Pilot Holes for Hammering!

When installing finishing brads and nails, I usually chuck the nail into the bit and punch a hole through the lumber.  This results in a minimal hole (the length of the nail minus the depth of my drill’s chuck jaws) which prevents most splitting. I recently “discovered” a secret – the deeper the pilot holeContinue reading “Teacher Tip: Use Pilot Holes for Hammering!”

This Week in the Classroom: The 2×4 Shaving Horse

In preparation for a walkin’ cane project, I built a dirty looking 2×4 shaving horse.  It ain’t named Trigger, though I might name it Jimmy Stewart.  Whenever I think of the description “long face”, I think of Jimmy Stewart. I’ll walk you through my build after the jump…

This Week in the Shop: Refurbish A Children’s Bike

The 16″ childrens’ bike project has cleared my outbox.  I’m busy in reflection mode with the students, examining all the different parts of our work for ways to improve the product, teaching and quality next time.  I thought the bike itself came out well: If you’ve followed the blog over the past two months, thenContinue reading “This Week in the Shop: Refurbish A Children’s Bike”

This Week In the Classroom: Quadracycle In Progress & DIY Wood Bongo Drums

It’s that time of week again – I’ve had some personal living arrangements wetness and have been living out of a dufflebag and a smile.  Reminds me of college, but at that time I didn’t have two in diapers… At the home workshop, I’ve been banging away. So, in one project, my segmented tube experimentsContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: Quadracycle In Progress & DIY Wood Bongo Drums”

This Week In the Classroom: The Garden & Experiments in Wood

It’s been quite a week here on the range.  My sawing post made Make Magazine’s Blog. Traffic soared.  My father finally subscribed to my blog, which is intensely gratifying.  He taught me most of what I’m passing along. At work, we had some great stuff happen.  The kids worked very hard and made great stridesContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: The Garden & Experiments in Wood”

This Week in the Classroom: SNOW DAY!

It’s going to be a snow day in Houston! we canceled school two days early…. The last big piece of work I’ll do this week: I can’t really explain this one.  Context is nothing when you have a big cow sculpture hanging out the back of your truck.  It’s like trying to explain missing homeworkContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: SNOW DAY!”

This Week In the Classroom: Computers Ain’t Everything

Took over our conference room to work through some design challenges today.  My students used Google SketchUp to start creating jewelry boxes, art car vehicles and bookshelves. During the Art Car class, I led the group building a 3D model on the big (like 50-60″ screen) TV.  Computers+big screen TV+3d modeling software+we are building aContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: Computers Ain’t Everything”