how to bend a nail.

Readers, particularly those interested in starting woodworking programs in school and coaching kids in the process of making things may enjoy an earlier post on the subject of hammers and hammering before I move on. How to bend a nail.

The post explains why nails bend, and I can assure you, it's not through some malicious will of their own. Nail bending is due to operator error and inattention. It can also be caused by attempting the impossible, like driving a nail into a hard knot.

Cultivating the powers of attention and observation are of extreme importance in school and in life, and there should be little distinction between the two. School and life, that is. Observing why nails bend and then adjusting technique so they do not bend is a valuable lesson involving both physics and physiology.

I have learned that while we've set things up so my blog posts are being posted for facebook readers on my facebook business page, pictures come through there in a restricted manner, with only one image making it to the page and often away from its intended location.  So if you are following this blog on facebook and a post appears confusing or incomplete,  go to WISDOMOFHANDS.BLOGSPOT.COM and you can read it as written and intended. My wife Jean has been editing the facebook posts to help them be more coherent, but sometimes the challenges are too great.

If you like what's written here, there are over ten years worth of posts on the blogger site. My illustration on this page shows the real nature of learning which I am compelled to repeat over and over again. This simple diagram is based on the theory of progressive education passed to us and refined through  centuries of observations by noted educational theorists. I can name them if you want to study them yourself. The relationship between the concrete (real) and the abstract (academic) provides a clear and compelling rationale for insisting that the hands be purposely engaged in learning. The lack of adherence to this principle explains why we've gotten into such a terrible mess with widespread acceptance of fake news and the like.

Today I intend to begin preparing materials for my high school students to make veneered boxes and to make a few boxes myself to test an Infinity dovetail spline system for Fine Woodworking Magazine. In my review of the Infinity system, I could simply say, "Oh, this is nice." Or I could test it by making a box and base my writing on its actual application in the wood shop. Which would be honest and true? If you don't get the difference, I'm losing hope.

Make, fix, create, and increase the likelihood that others learn likewise.