Friday, May 10, 2013

more pens...

Today the CSS high school students spent their time in wood shop to finish projects while those who were finished with things began turning wooden pens. They are studying civics in their current block, so the pens fit in with such things as the Declaration of Independence. No one these days write with old fashioned ink pens. Few are engaged in any kind of thoughtful deliberation that would have such consequences. It is far easier to make a pen than to write in cursive and it is harder to write well than many other things in life.

We grow from our strengths. But we also grow from our failures. Sam broke 4 pens before he got one finished. And the important thing is not that he broke a few, but that he kept trying until he found success. And now that he knows that formula, and with some practice, he will get better yet.

I used a hand saw to resaw wood that was too wide to pass through my band saw as you can see in the photo above.I first made cuts as deep as the table saw could go into each edge and then finished the cut with a hand saw. Who needs to work out at the gym if you have lumber and a saw?

You can find a simple tutorial in how to make turned fountain pens in yesterday's post.

Make, fix and create...

3 comments:

  1. That looks like it was quite a workout!

    Mario

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  2. Mario, I remembered this morning that I have a recipro saw that would have done the same thing with a 6 in. blade. But what's the point in having tools if you don't exercise them. And it was a good work out. I let Greg try it, too.

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  3. I resawed a board that way once, but it was butternut, which is pretty soft. It was a workout, and the toughest part was finding a way to hold the board so I could saw comfortably.

    Mario

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