ribs

Yesterday my upper elementary school students turned wood on the lathe, making small candle sticks as Christmas presents. My high school students began work on the insides of the Bevins Skiffs, forming the ribs that support the seat risers and strengthen the sides.

Fitting the ribs was perplexing at first until it dawned on me that all the chines were cut on the top edge at the same angle and were the same thickness of wood. So all we had to do to get them to fit was to make a bandsaw cut into the end of each and then use a sliding t bevel and pencil to mark the angle cut for it to fit the top edge of the chine.  Making the final cut required using a pencil and thin shim to cut the end to angle and length. The students quickly picked up the trick and the process that they believed would take hours was quickly done.

By the end of this process I will have learned a lot. In contemplating a career for myself, I had wanted to do something that provided constant learning. Woodworking can be that.

Over the weekend, I'll prepare more stock by taking pieces of catalpa and scarf joining them into longer strips for the seat risers and top rails.

This evening I will be at Lux Weaving Studio for a sale of my work.

Make, fix, and create...