what's that?

My first grade students are particularly industrious and ambitious in wood shop, but they have minds of their own.

I salvaged plywood crating material from machinery delivered to ESSA last spring, and cut up into smaller pieces, it's been perfect for platforms on which to build who knows whats. The photo shows an example.

I can't tell you what it is. It came from a student's imagination. It involved managing to glue long sticks onto a board in a manner stable and secure enough to support a complex structure, and in that, there is engineering involved.

In the making of this particular project, I made a small discovery of my own. The student wanted me to hold the tall sticks in place while she went to do other things.  The sticks were not square on the ends and gravity would not allow them to stand for even a moment on their own. I remembered a supply of small blocks of wood in a drawer. The blocks with glue were the perfect way to prop up the sticks and give them sufficient strength so that more could be done. A supply of square blocks will provide a new way to strengthen wood working projects in the days to come.

Today an editor from Fine Woodworking and I will take photos to complete two articles for the magazine, helping adults to find ways to improve their box making.

Plywood for boat building has arrived in Harrison, Arkansas for me to pick up.

Make, fix, create, and adjust education so that others may learn lifewise.