today in the wood shop

I am working on the small cabinets from the DVD so they can be safely finished and put out of the way until they are either sold or exhibited at the Historic Arkansas Museum in 2012. I have been troubled by outfeed roller markings on the wood passed through my Grizzly planer, and a call to technical support informed me that I needed to make adjustments that had not been made at the factory. Now will some messing around, I am getting a better finish with less sanding, and I should be more satisfied with the product now that it is working better.

In the CSS woodshop today, Les Brandt is teaching an ESSA class on wood turning as shown at left.

Philadelphia charter schools are suffering from financial mismanagement and fraud. Which reminds me that schools are complicated, and that people often have objectives in mind other than just the education of our children. Charter school boards are often set up using the friends of the founder as board members, and they tend to take a hands-off approach to school governance, when hands-on is required.

I received a gift in the mail this last week from a wood worker-machinist at the Kansas City Woodworker's Guild, which you can see in the photo at left. It is a set of adjustable box maker's clamps, having a range of up to 24 inches. It is finely crafted by John Van Goethem, who began as a machinist/tool maker in 1960 and has been self employed since 1975. He says, "I was fortunate to have a high school experience that fostered my interest and provided opportunities." If you would like to order a set, you can contact John at jvangoethem@everestkc.net

I have been thinking about part two of my book Wisdom of the Hands, which will deal in greater depth with education. What better thing is there to do when we fully understand the fullest implications of our hand-mind partnership than to take on the future, through making life better and more meaningful for our children.

I have also begun as an official blogger for Fine Woodworking with my first blog post about Beth Ireland's Turning Around America.

Make, fix and create.