projects for kids...

Richard Bazeley, my shop teacher buddy from down under, sent a link to Paul Meisel's woodworking projects for kids on the Wood Magazine website. There are some very good ideas there, that my readers may find useful. Using Local Resources to Teach Wood Carving to Kids. Readers can find a short article about Paul Meisel here.

The greatest and most important local resource would be you, since it is unlikely that most school administrators will come to an understanding of hands-on learning any time soon. Those who make beautiful and useful things bear the responsibility to pass human intellect and character in the form of craftsmanship to future generations.

This week I begin meetings with staff at Clear Spring School, so that we all start off on the same page. In my own shop, I finished installing the inlay for post office banks, and cut the miters and then routed for hidden spline joints as shown in the photo above.

The work piece in the photo is placed inside out on the jig so that I can assess the location of the cut and set the stop blocks to control the length of the groove for the hidden spline to fit. The shop made jig simply holds the stock at the correct angle as it slides back and forth between stops. This again is a simple technique of my own discovery that came from puttering about in my wood shop and attempting to teach others how to do quality work.


Make, fix and create...