laying things out.

This morning the contractor building the new Eureka Springs School of the Arts wood shop is beginning to pour the floor of the building, including the 2 in. recess above which a resilient floor will be built. The idea of the resilient floor is to provide cushion underfoot for those of us who may be old enough to suffer from foot, knee, back or hip problems or any combination thereof, and also to provide a place to run conduit for electrical supply that will not have to be mounted on the ceiling with suspended wiring.

When I proposed the idea, it was a head scratcher at first, as the architect and builder wondered about how much the idea would add to the cost. For this plan to work, a central conduit will be brought into the center of the room from which electrical power can be branched to clusters of tools.

The sketch of tool layout shown above was very preliminary, done prior to the architect's design.

Yesterday we held a fundraiser for the Clear Spring School scholarship program, and I also attended a fundraiser to battle the hog farm wrongfully in operation in the headwaters of the Buffalo National River. The Department of Interior has legal authority to protect the quality of its waters, but the state agencies, driven largely by the antiquated insistence that corporations can do no wrong, stand in the way of the river's preservation.

In the woodshop this afternoon, I will have students grades 1-6.

Make, fix, create, and extend to others an understanding that they may also learn likewise.

messy...

Messy! I clean up my office, finish room and workshop, and in a matter of days, it's messy. So is messy a bad thing? My students come to woodshop, wearing black, and observe, "I'm wearing black, AGAIN." And then they also note, that's not a bad thing. In getting sawdust on black clothing, they've evidence of having done something in school, evidence that does not come in their other subjects.

Being messy is also the consequence of  and evidence of doing more than one thing at once at the occasion risk of being distracted.

An article in Time Magazine this week, suggests the many benefits of being Messy.

Two leading creativity researchers, Howard Gruber and Sara Davis, have argued that the tendency to work on multiple projects is so common among the most creative people that it should be regarded as standard practice. Gruber had a particular interest in Charles Darwin, who throughout his life alternated between research in geology, zoology, psychology and botany, always with some projects in the foreground and others in the background, competing for his attention. He undertook his celebrated voyage with the Beagle with “an ample and unprofessional vagueness in his goals.”

So, there, I've said it, and I make no apologies.  I am irredeemably messy and while I'm not necessarily proud of it, it goes with the territory and is related to attempting to do several things at once.

So what did I have in mind when I asked readers to help me establish the outline of the WOH book? the answer is simple, though it might be too much work for most. Simply read old episodes of this blog, and post a  date or a link in the comments section if you think one of the important points of the Wisdom of the Hands concept (as you understand it) is well made on that date. So, for example, If you like what you read on June 1, 2009, post that date or a link to the post on that date. Mention, what you think might be the important of it. I hope to be doing the same thing myself.

Yesterday I again spent the day at my desk, so have little to actually show for it. I might as well have been wearing black. But I did get photos off to my editor for 3 chapters of the book on making box guitars.

Make, fix, create, and suggest to others the joy of learning likewise.

WOH feedback

I have been re-examining the scope and proposed contents of the book that I hope to write about the Wisdom of the Hands, and anyone who follows the blog would realize that over 10 years of content needs to be edited to its most compelling form.

That leads me to ask you to tell me what things you read here have been most important to you, and what things you will want me to emphasize to what I hope will be a broader audience.

In other words, as I revisit the outline of a proposed book, you, my first readers, have an opportunity to help. Thanks!

One thing that came up in email yesterday was a request for plans for the trains we are making at CSS with first, second and third grade students. I have started working on that.

Make, fix, create, and offer others the challenge of learning likewise.

bridges and nuts...

I spent most of the day yesterday continuing writing chapters and captions for my book on making box guitars. The particular chapter's I'm working on now are on electrifying the guitar and on making bridges, tail pieces and nuts.

My preferred local wood for bridges is persimmon, the only North American member of the ebony family. Persimmon in the Ozarks is noted for the persimmon fruit that ripens just about the same time the leaves are falling from the trees. The wild persimmon fruit has an astringent taste until just after the first frost, so be prepared to pucker up on the first bite.

Yesterday I showed one of my students using a shooting board, a subject I had shown before in the blog. Follow this link for instructions.

The bridges shown are (at top) ukelele style bridge made of persimmon and routed for a bar type peizo to fit, and another electrified bridge, also of persimmon.

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

trees and forests.

Yesterday the Diane Rehm show on PBS was about "Celebrating and understanding our urban forests." The program featured guest Jill Jonnes, historian and author of  Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape. Some might be amazed at how powerful trees can be in healing and protecting the human psyche. My daughter, a resident of New York City, noted how healing it was for her to come home briefly to the forests of Arkansas, and it is a shame that so manyothers do not have that kind of opportunity. Along those lines, my wife provided this link to a site that offers free tools to analyze the health of forests and urban trees, Itreetools.org

It is time that we acknowledged how important our trees are to us, but to also acknowledge how important whole forests are. I have been reading Peter Wohlleben's book, the Hidden Life of Trees, What they Feel, How they Communicate. The story he tells is that forests are actually communities very much like human ones, although the communication between trees is slowed to a forest's pace, barely discernible to human observation. As I have said, it can take well in excess of a hundred years for a hardwood forest to mature. In light of Wohlleben's information, we learn that the real culture of the forest may take thousands of years to mature. Mere centuries are not enough.

The forests we have now are fractured, having been  clear cut and abused any number of times. And the human culture we inhabit? The same can be said of it. Friedrich Froebel, having grown up in the Thuringian Forest, having served as a forester's assistant, and seeking to reinforce the child's sense of wonder and wholeness, would have known a great deal about this.

I found it interesting that Peter Wohlleben lives and works near the forest where my father was encamped during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.

Yesterday in the woodshop, I introduced one of my students to the shooting board, with which he could square his stock and bring individual hand sawn pieces to exact uniform length. He has become my star pupil in that he fully grasps the importance of square cuts and is excited about the effort taken to achieve quality in his work. Unlike some of my students, he appears to understand the value of practice and is therefor willing to do it.

Make, fix, create, and thereby suggest the possibility that others may learn likewise.

the power of the real...

Yesterday I was tied to my desk as I wrote one chapter of my guitar book, and started the text and captions for another. That, I guess could serve as a reminder of what so many face. It is extremely important to get up now and then to do real things. Students and adults alike spend too much desk time. Fortunately I will have something to show for my desk time, in that in about a month and a half, my book will be ready for the editors and book designers to put it in shape for publication.

On another subject, I have been supplying text and photos to a web designer for the first attention my website has gotten in years. It is being completely redesigned, to be accessible from all devices and to provide regular updates from this blog. I have been working on the text for the page about education, and found this:

To reclaim the real, both in the way we encounter other people and in the way we encounter things, would have implications on education. They are crystallized in the following quote from Doug Stowe, a woodshop teacher and first-class thinker about education: 'In schools, we create artificial learning environments for our children that they know to be contrived and undeserving of their full attention. Without the opportunity to learn through their hands, the world remains abstract, and distant, and the passions for learning will not be engaged.' –Matthew Crawford, author of Shop Class as Soulcraft, from his new book The World Beyond Your Head.

Today, I will continue desk time to get another chapter wrapped up, but then go to school to work with first, second and third grade students in the afternoon.

Make, fix, create, and offer others the opportunity to learn likewise.

trains...

Today I plan to spend the day writing text and captions for a chapter or two on making box guitars for the deadline is now just over a month away.  In the process, I go through my step by step slides, describe the processes involved and indicate where captions and photos are to be inserted in the running text.

Yesterday my first, second and third grade students began finishing their toy trains as you can see in the photos.

Make, fix, create, and offer others the likelihood they too, can learn likewise.

a note about wood...

A collection of 27 individual species of Arkansas woods

Each crafts person working in wood has the opportunity to give voice to our forests. Just as human beings tell our own stories in words and through the things we make, trees are storytellers, too. Where there’s a knot, there had been a branch, and each day in the life of the tree and of the forest is recorded in color, figure and grain.

The story told by and through wood is of the interconnectedness of all life. In the hands of a caring craftsperson, that story is then preserved and passed through to new generations.

Woodworking can be done in such a way that the story of the forest is more clearly expressed and understood. In order to use my craftsmanship to better effect:

• I strive to use woods that are sustainably harvested from my local area and present them in their natural colors. 
• I make use of natural edges and textures to enhance design. 
• I attempt to use the technical and aesthetic properties of various woods to their best advantage in the work. 
• I attempt to make useful work that will last for generations. 
• In signing my work, I identify the types of woods used so that others may learn to recognize them and know their beauty, usefulness and value. 
• I make certain that by-products (sawdust and scraps) of my work are recycled to best use. 
• And through the creation of useful beauty, homage is offered to the spirit of the trees that have taken part.

If, by chance, however, you are not a woodworker, there are things you can do to help.
Planting trees is a really feel-good-deal. If you don't have a spot to do it yourself, Global Releaf can help. If you have a need for some shade, you can get free trees by becoming a member of the National Arbor Day Foundation.

But there is no way to plant a true hardwood forest. Our existing hardwood forests are extremely complex eco-systems that we must preserve and protect. One of the best ways to protect our forests is to support the environmental organizations that focus on the protection of natural habitat. You might consider the National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, or the World Wildlife Fund.

Our forests are our most important line of defense against climate change. Human induced Global Warming has placed them at great risk. Rather than conserving energy and building new solar capacity, conventional utilities have been building “green energy” plants that are not truly green. These generation plants in Europe and the US burn pellets made from American hardwood forests that are assumed “renewable” even though it may take centuries for a forest to mature.

Chipper mills process thousands of acres of immature hardwoods each year. New mills have been built all across the Southeastern United States, and more are being planned. These mills convert hardwoods to pulp for paper mills and fuel pellets for export. While the industry touts their efficiency, the conversion of hardwood forest to pulp and pellets is a serious threat to those who have enjoyed working with these woods and who hope to leave a legacy of that work to future generations.

Woodworkers and those who have enjoyed the benefits of their craftsmanship look to a bleak future if the chipper mill expansion is not stopped. The Dogwood Alliance is an association of environmental organizations that is working to educate the public about the threat posed by chipper mills. I endorse the activities of the Dogwood Alliance and encourage your support.

The most important consideration for the future of our forests is the way we live now. We must learn to become more conservative and caring in our use of resources of all kinds. We must learn to look beyond surface effect and low price to seek quality, integrity, and meaning in the things we buy. It is also important to go out into nature and experience it and allow ourselves to become transformed by it.

The wood thrush that sings from the treetops on my eleven acres of woods has a winter home in forests of other nations far to the south. When she returns in the spring, her song brings relief. I am concerned for the world's forests and hope that together we can do more to protect them.

Make, fix, create, and inspire others to learn likewise

quadrant hinges

As you can see my attempt to install quadrant hinges using my flipping story stick technique on the router table was a success. I've been telling my box making students for years that this is possible, and having done it once will make the next time easy. I made a small keeper story stick that will assist in setting up the router and stops anytime I want to use this particular type of hinge. As long as I use the same kind of hinge, and keep the story stick available, the process will be made easy.

Kim asked for a list of tools that would be useful to elementary school students in learning to do woodworking.

The following is from Jean Lee Hunt's 1918 book, Catalog of Play Equipment:

The carpenter equipment must be a “sure-enough business affair,” and the tools real tools—not toys. The Sheldon bench is a real bench in every particular except size. The tool list is as follows:

• Manual training hammer.
• 8 point cross-cut saw.
• 9 point rip saw.
• Large screw driver, wooden handle.
• Small screw driver.
• Nail puller.
• Stanley smooth-plane, No. 3.
• Bench hook.
• Brace and set of twist bits.
• Manual training rule.
• Steel rule.
• Tri square.
• Utility box—with assorted nails, screws, etc.
• Combination India oil stone.
• Oil can.
• Small hatchet.

A more modern starting out list might be somewhat shorter. Instead of having all these tools at each individual workbench, my preference is that the tools be put away in the classroom at large when not in use and so smaller numbers of each tool will suffice.

Make, fix, create, and offer others the opportunity to learn likewise.

making it easier...

Quadrant hinges are among the most difficult to install in small boxes due to the fact that three routing operations are required for each corner of the box. Normally they can be installed using a router template that can be purchased from the manufacturer, but these may not be interchangeable between brands of hinge.

I had become convinced that using the flipping story stick approach on the router table would be the easiest way to address the complication of this hinge and without having to purchase an expensive jig.

So what you see in the photo is the start. I am using a piece of 1/8 in. thick Baltic birch plywood with the first router mortise formed as my flipping story stick. The stop block on the right has been clamped in place, and I am ready begin routing the hinge mortises.

This is a technique that I hope will inspire yet another article in Fine Woodworking and allow those who have these complex hinges stored in their hardware drawers, dust them off and put them to use.

All tools and technologies are intended to take difficult and challenging operations of various kinds and make them easier for the common folk with little or no skill. If we want our children to learn, and grow into fulfillment, however, we must launch them into doing difficult things, that require their full attention and interest.

Make, fix, create, and make it likely that others will feel inspired to learn likewise.

how easy it is...

Yesterday, Dillon Ryan and I spent the day in the shop and finish room. Dillon needed to take hundreds of photos of boxes against a white background so that the artists at Fine Woodworking can do a beautiful layout of boxes and hinge types. While Dillon was occupied with the camera and finished boxes, I did preparation work,  and set up work to bring various boxes up to the point that hinges could be applied. We finished the day at 5 PM, and now Dillon gets to enjoy the beauty of the Ozarks in a leisurely fashion as he heads to the airport for an afternoon flight.

We have other articles for the magazine in the hopper, so I expect he will be back. We talked about the challenge it an be for want-to-be authors to get their work featured in Fine Woodworking. The point is that people first of all need to just send in their ideas. If that one simple step is not made first, nothing follows.

We had three pigs perusing the trap last night that did not go in. So we know they are still out there in large numbers, capable of doing the damage they did to our gardens again and again.

Some months ago, I had described the Dunning-Kruger Effect and the Peak of Mount Stupid, and an article has mentioned it in relation to the Trump Campaign.

Today at school, my high school students will work on their shaker boxes.

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

packrat...

I try not to promote the benefits of being a packrat, but having a few unfinished projects lying around can be an advantage at times. For instance, when Fine Woodworking editor Dillon Ryan arrived yesterday for an article about boxes, and we realized the need to have a few boxes available to work on while he's here, I simply had to dig into a few places to find unfinished boxes that will fill the bill. This photo shoot gives me the excuse to now tidy up throughout the shop.

Today, while Dillon is taking shots of finished boxes with various hinge types, I'll be bringing various unfinished boxes up to snuff so we can take additional shots of hinges being installed.

My suggestion for your day?

Make, fix, create, and encourage others to learn likewise.

today in wood shop.

Anaxagoras: Man's wisdom comes from his hands

This afternoon, m students in first, second and third grades will work on their toy trains. With the engines nearly complete, they are planning the various cars their trains will pull. Some want "box cars" that can carry other things, so I'll prepare stock before class.

This afternoon Dillon Ryan from Fine Woodworking will arrive to take photographs for an article. I'll be blogging on the light side for the next couple days. I'll remind readers that there is a search feature connected with this blog. It is at the upper left. I've been writing this feature for over 10 years now, so there is plenty of content to keep you reading things you might enjoy for the next few days without my adding much more.

Here are some suggested search terms... Sloyd, Nääs, Helsinki, Froebel, Wilson, Crawford, brain, research. Play around and see what you find. If there's anything that you read that strikes your fancy, use the comments feature to respond.

Make, fix, create, and encourage others to learn likewise.

the advantages of wood shop.

Yesterday in wood shop I neglected to take photos. My 7th and 8th grade students have decided to help the school with our "social media presence," so in addition to gluing shaker box sides and sanding parts for making hand bells, we used clamps and sticks to make a tripod to hold an iPhone so that interview videos could be taken. One student is taking still photos and another video clips of woodworking in action.

The exercise revealed one of the many advantages of wood shop. No tripod? Make one.

My first, second and third grade students worked on making toy trains, and are very excited about their work.

Around the shop, I'm getting ready for Dillon Ryan from Fine Woodworking to come and take photos for an article about hinges for wooden boxes. Dillon will the third editor from Fine Woodworking to come here to visit my shop, with Tom Begnal being the first in about 2006. The photo above is from that visit.

Make, fix, create and make the case that others learn likewise.

get on the bus

I was reading in the local paper that our neighboring public school in Berryville had three buses for sale and the board approved the sale of one for $1700, leaving two unsold that they hope to sell later in the year. That brought to mind what can be done with an old bus. I had assumed that the major impediment to starting a woodworking bus would be the cost of the bus, but there are two buses in Berryville, Arkansas that can be acquired cheap.

For many years Sheila Dawson in San Diego, CA has operated a woodworking bus, taking woodworking and projects for kids to public schools throughout her area in California.

The photo shows how a bus can be fitted out for woodworking with kids, and it makes me wonder why every small town and every small school in Arkansas (and the US) does not use its old buses to launch an adventure.

So here is a simple idea: Buy an old (still working) school bus for $1700, spend an equal amount to equip it with benches and tools, and instead of buying that Harley you always wanted, give something real and meaningful to the lives of children in your community.

Today in the Clear Spring School woodshop, students will be making shaker boxes, trains, and whittlings.

Make, fix, create, and offer others the joy of learning likewise.

bikes and brews

This has been Bikes, Blues and Barbecue weekend in Northwest Arkansas, and Eureka Springs has been overrun with thousands and thousands of motorcycles. The event is one of the largest motorcycle rallies in the US, and my small town of Eureka Springs is a hot destination for hot bikes, carefully uniformed bikers and their gals and cold beer. Eureka Springs fits the perfect formula for a biker destination: Long winding roads with valleys deep enough and hills steep enough so that the gut rises as you come up over the top––followed by cold beer and hanging out with others in biker dress when you hit town. The steady roar of loud bike pipes is astounding, and interrupted only by the occasional siren whine of the EMTs racing to the latest crash.

I have other things in mind. For about the same money as a new Harley, you can equip a top quality wood shop with new tools. I drove by some bikers this morning who were lovingly wiping the dew from their expensive machines, and its obvious that they take a certain pride in their rides. For the price of a used Harley, you can buy all the used equipment to do woodworking that you would ever need. In the event you don't have the money for an old Harley, you can start out with only a very small collection of tools... whatever your small budget allows. But you would also need to develop some skill and patience in your tool use and use your imagination to know what to make. In any case, it is probably unfair to draw comparisons. There is a difference between motorcycling, and the deliberate effort to create useful beauty.

From another angle, the unnecessary revving of motors just to hear the echo from our hillsides is unfair to those of us who have chosen to live here to avoid all that noise. We like the money they spend here. We also like the fact that they will be gone on Monday. This morning many of the motorcyclists have gotten back into normal garb, have loaded their Harleys in trailers behind SUVs and are headed home wherever that might be. May they all find their way safely and come back again but with quieter pipes.

The box shown above is one from my new book, Making Classic Toys that Teach. I was reviewing photos for one to be used in the 2017 catalog of classes for Marc Adams School of Woodworking, advertising a class on making Froebel's classic gifts.

Make, fix, create, and guide others toward the likelihood of learning likewise.

the power of something you've made yourself

Little man with big meaning. He made it himself

On Thursday when I was not at school, my student Jack was looking for me. A foot had come loose on his little toy man he had finished on Wednesday, and it had to be fixed. Fortunately, his main teacher had a hammer and was able to come to the rescue. She told me that he plays with it constantly, as I could see for myself.  At the time, Jack was in the volleyball court with it, digging and burying his little man only to pull him up again and again triumphantly from the sand. I was watching a symbolic resurrection drama taking place in his hands and mind.
How can a thing crudely made be so full of meaning? But the loveliness and power of it comes from his having made it himself. If you've not made something yourself, try making something and see if you can discover what I mean.

The following is a brief excerpt from my new book Making Classic Toys that Teach, and may help to explain:

Mademoiselle Albertine Necker de Saussure wrote the following in the early 1800s: “It is a matter of surprise to some, that children are satisfied with the rudest imitations. They are looked down upon for their want of feeling for art, while they should rather be admired for the force of imagination that renders such illusion possible. Mold a lump of wax into a figure or cut one out of paper, and, provided it has something like legs and arms and a rounded piece for a head, it will be a man in the eyes of the child. This man will last for weeks; the loss of a limb or two will make no difference; and he will fill every part you choose to make him play. The child does not see the imperfect copy, but only the model in his own mind. The wax figure is to him only a symbol on which he does not dwell. No matter though the symbol be ill chosen and insignificant; the young spirit penetrates the veil, arrives at the thing itself, and contemplates it in its true aspect. Too exact imitations of things undergo the fate of the things themselves, of which the child soon tires. He admires them, is delighted with them, but his imagination is impeded by the exactness of their forms, which represent one thing only; and how is he to be contented with one amusement? A toy soldier fully equipped is only a soldier; it can not represent his father or any other personage. It would seem as if the young mind felt its originality more strongly when, under the inspiration of the moment, it puts all things in requisition, and sees, in everything around, the instruments of its pleasure. A stool turned over is a boat, a carriage; set on its legs it becomes a horse or a table; a bandbox becomes a house, a cupboard, a wagon—anything. You should enter into his ideas, and, even before the time for useful toys, should provide the child with the means of constructing for himself, rather than with things ready made.”

I had a simple breakthrough during the week with a new high school student who had been unwilling to express himself. He began asking questions in wood shop, and I learned he was taking a more open attitude in his other classes as well. I wood shop, he wanted to know why a shaker box would be made in one way, and not another. I suggested he try his own method, and he did, learning for himself the efficiency of traditional methods.What comes next? We will see. I overheard some of the high schools students telling each other that wood shop is their favorite subject, and I don't think it was because they thought I might hear.

Today I'll work on the text for the Fine Woodworking article on hinges, and power wash the deck in preparation for staining.

Make, fix, create, and demonstrate for others the potential in learning likewise.

forming a socialized disposition...

A secret to safe use. Read below.

I spent nearly the whole day yesterday at my desk, writing a chapter about my box guitar book. I took a break to do some organizational/materials preparation work at Clear Spring School, to take a few more photos in the wood shop and to attend the Thursday open house at ESSA where friends have been engaged welding steel all week. It is truly amazing how much energy people have for learning when they are engaged in learning what they want to learn. They work until they are physically exhausted and then come back the next day for more.

Sadly, that is often not the case when you cram 25-30 kids in a class and propel them forward in directions they would choose not to go if the choice was their own. The old saying is that you can't push a rope, but you can pull one anyplace you want to lead. Children are led in learning best by tapping into their own inclinations.

The following is from this classic paper by Korwin and Jones: Do Hands-On, Technology-Based Activities Enhance Learning by Reinforcing Cognitive Knowledge and Retention?

John Dewey, known for his many innovative educational philosophies and support of industrial arts education, was of the strong opinion that experiences, specifically hands-on activities, were imperative in the educational process. Students could blend theory and practice, success and failure, and school and society into a mental foundation for future thought. Furthermore, activities allowed them to see, raise, and seek out solutions for personal and motivational questions. Dewey believed, however, that teaching skill for skill's sake was "...illiberal and immoral" His ideas concerning skill training in education are summarized as follows:

The educator is to engage pupils in activities in such ways that while manual skill and technical efficiency are gained and immediate satisfaction found in the work, together with preparation for later usefulness, these things shall be subordinated to education -- that is, to intellectual results and the forming of a socialized disposition.

Changing the subject slightly, one of the secrets to safe and accurate use of the compound miter saw is to stop the saw while it is in the down position. This keeps the blade from recutting the stock, prevents it from jamming the wood against the stop block, and prevents the cut off stock from being thrown at the operator. Good work on all three counts, and a lesson I learned by teaching at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking.

Make, fix, create, and offer others a legacy of learning likewise.

little say.

Under most teaching situations, children have little say as to what they do, or how their learning will work out. In classes they have little or no choice as to what books are to be read. They sit when told to sit, stand when told to stand.

But when we give some say to children as to what to do, what to learn, what to read and what to make, the level of enthusiasm grows enormously. There is a wrongful assumption that children are different from adults and must be taught. Whereas, learning is actually an innate human function, that can be successfully forced into repression through classroom learning.

Yesterday my 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students decided they wanted to finish their toy people, and finish them they did. With gusto. Marco decided to add "jet packs" and when those were finished, adding wheels became the obvious necessity. Marco's rocket man will be played with, broken, fixed and broken again, but no toy from Walmart could elicit as much genuine excitement.

With my book about making Froebel's gifts complete, I am getting back to box guitars. I am selecting, organizing and naming photos, writing captions and text. Drawings must be done also. I hope to bring that book to a stage at which it can be laid out and edited within the next two months.

Next week, an editor from Fine Woodworking will come to take photos for an article on hinges for boxes.

Make, fix, create, and let your own life suggest the likelihood that others learn likewise.

what we could learn from the Finns...

Richard Bazeley sent a link to this article on Finnish education: No grammar schools, lots of play: the secrets of Europe’s top education system.

Those who read here regularly will remember the relationship between Uno Cygnaeus, the inventor of Educational Sloyd, and Friedrich Frobel, inventor of Kindergarten, and the founding of the Finnish Folk Schools, that were first created as a gift from the Russian Czar. In the Finnish schools of today, children begin reading and math at age 7 and thereby surpass American readers in both subjects in 25% less time, without homework, and with a huge amount of time devoted to creative play, while they are also learning English.

When I visited at the University of Helsinki, I inquired whether there was a proven link between their continued use of Educational Sloyd and the success of the Finnish model of education. I was told there was none that had been proven by research. My query had not gone deep enough. The link is there at a much more philosophical level that still defies the imagination of all those who struggle to understand the success of Finland's education. How can a country that ignores standardized testing consistently beat those countries like the US that have slavishly submerged learning to a regimen of regularly administered standardized tests?

It is all right there in a single word, play. Children love learning. They may not necessarily like being  taught. And play, whether structured or unstructured, captures the child's attention at a deeper level than drill baby drill.

My book on making Froebel's gifts is down to that last thing that I hope to add, acknowledgments. So I plan to quickly compose those before classes this afternoon.

On the subject of education, it is time to simply rise up against educational policy makers and confidently take matters into our own hands.

Make, fix, create, and extend to others the hope of learning likewise.