Tag: green

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Community Watch: Build a Bench this Memorial Day Weekend!

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Are you in the Houston area?  Ever wanted to get started woodworking?  Maybe you just enjoy benches as much as I do? Join me for the Wood Workshop at TX/RX Labs on Sat. & Sun. May 25th & 26th (5/25 & 5/26) from 9am-5pm.  The Finished Bench I will be walking you through how to build the simple bench project, start to finish.  As TX/RX so elegantly put it: Build a simple bench using both hand tools and power tools. A perfect intro to woodworking, we will cover basic tool usage both hand and power along with learning the basics of … Continue reading Community Watch: Build a Bench this Memorial Day Weekend!

Classroom Project, Education, This Week In the Classroom1 Comment

This Week in the Classroom: Try Squares

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My new “little” project obsession:  try squares.  These guys mark boards square.   That’s it.  All they do.  The try, not tri, comes from the act of “trying” an angle to see if it’s square, not three, or tri. This slideshow punctuated by a few of my favorite song titles, puns and lyrics in no particular order. These tools come together quite easily.  First, I rip a 2×4 into 1/4″ or 3/8″ inch thick strips.  Then I flatten one side of the strip using a hand plane.  After checking each strip for flatness, I rip the piece again on my … Continue reading This Week in the Classroom: Try Squares

Classroom Project, FurnitureLeave a comment

Check Out the Shutter Table Project on Recyclart.org

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Recyclart.org is a site dedicating to showing off recycled and salvaged projects from readers around the world.  If you’ve followed WodoshopCowboy for a while, you know I make the most of the Houston ReUse Warehouse’s offerings.  Here’s another shot at how my boys and I used louvered shutters and fence posts to create some pretty sweet little coffee tables last semester.  Check it out there or at the original post here… Remember to make it safe, keep the rubberside down this week and like WoodshopCowboy on Facebook! Continue reading Check Out the Shutter Table Project on Recyclart.org

Classroom Project, Education, Furniture, Outdoor & Environmental, This Week In the ClassroomLeave a comment

This Week in the Classroom: Swingin’ Chalkboard Signs

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Here’s a few shots of a project build I did a few months ago.  The challenge was to build a recycling container from completely recycled materials.  I picked up some nice crepe myrtle branches and immediately saw a V shaped stand with a small basket to collect recyclable goods. To bad we never did finish it.  We got all the way to the crossbeam.  Spring break came with all the lassitude of a wilted Texas flower in August.  We never stood a chance. Eventually, I snookered a student into repainting an old cabinet door into a chalkboard sign.  Then I parked … Continue reading This Week in the Classroom: Swingin’ Chalkboard Signs

Classroom Project, Education, Furniture, Outdoor & Environmental, This Week In the ClassroomLeave a comment

This Week in the Classroom: The Conversation Bench

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Students with autism, people with neurological disorders and people with two eyes and ears and a brain often need a place to talk.  For my students with autism, the act of conversation can be harrowing, heartwrenching and terrifying.  On a … Continue reading This Week in the Classroom: The Conversation Bench

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This Week in the Classroom: Boomerangs and Chalkboard Slates

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Two projects really took off this summer – chalkboard slates and boomerangs.  The boomerangs, of course, took off a little bit more. Back in the fall I built a bike barn.  It’s more of a third-world shanty, but it housed the bikes and kept them sort of organized.  Either way, I picked up a large number of cedar shingles as a roofing material.  Time got away from me – I never roofed the barn.  Instead, I used the shingles to create these cool little chalkboard slates.  I used an exterior paint as primer, then covered them in green chalkboard paint. … Continue reading This Week in the Classroom: Boomerangs and Chalkboard Slates

Classroom Project, Education, Furniture, Outdoor & Environmental, Technology, This Week In the Classroom2 Comments

This Week in the Classroom: Up-Cycled Shutter Coffee Table

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A few shots of the shutter table project.  My students & I created these (there were four completed tables) tables using up-cycled window shutters & salvaged fence posts.  Finished with spar urethane.  Pocket hole joinery throughout. Continue reading This Week in the Classroom: Up-Cycled Shutter Coffee Table

Classroom Project, Education, Maker Eduation, Maker Project, Making a Makerspace, Music, This Week In the ClassroomLeave a comment

Making A Makerspace: Top 10 Tools in a Maker’s Classroom (2012)

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This year was a big year in the STEaMworks (STEM focus, art driven, work/project centered: the STEaMworks), my self-styled Maker classroom.  We (and the Math/Sci Team) built a lot of projects: rockets, rocket cars, derby cars, catapults, simple robots, box-making, bench-making, bridge-building, sail-testing, music making, spirographs, pendulums, 3D prototyping, CAD models, Arduino projects, Alice computer programming, Art Cars, shed construction, a digital STEM Fair and more.  I’ve just typed that up and still can’t believe it!  Nine months and so much sweat, math, science, art and tears.  How did we (my co-workers and rock-solid team, my students and my very … Continue reading Making A Makerspace: Top 10 Tools in a Maker’s Classroom (2012)

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

This Week in the Classroom: 2×4 Xylophone

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I ended the year with an exploration of music.  I used xylophones, pendulums and windchimes to explore frequency, wavelenght, pitch, volume, etc.  I probably should have found a way to incorporate physical waves, but a trip to the beach was out of the question and I met disaster in my attempts at building a wave pool.  We did, however, create a pretty sweet 2×4 xylophone and frame. Make it safe & keep the rubber side down this weekend. Continue reading This Week in the Classroom: 2×4 Xylophone

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

This Week In the Classroom: Pendulum Art (Swinging From the Rafters)

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A quick video of our last major math project in my co-taught Math/Sci course.  I will take no credit, Ms. J took the project out of my clumsy claws and completely rocked it! We nicknamed this the spirograph project and you can tell from the wikipedia link that we are WRONG!  It should probably be described as pendulum art.  In reality, it’s just plain fun. The original prototype… And a great slideshow of other sandart created by our students. Continue reading This Week In the Classroom: Pendulum Art (Swinging From the Rafters)