The article I had planned to write on how to setup a semi permanent table saw style guide and stop for a circular saw has taken a sort of a back seat. So has the actual build.
My focus has been distributed as usual between, the magic mirror, the kneeling chair, the basic woodworking classes, a visit to a sawmill and a photo bio reactor. That's a lot... not ofcourse to mention work. I manage to fit that too into my busy schedule.
Today I'll simply talk about my last "basic woodworking" class. As usual before the first session I was nervous as hell. It always happens, even though this was my 5th class. Maybe its the anticipation that I'm misconstruing as nervousness. Whichever it is though, the butterflies roost 3 minutes after the first good morning.
For this class I started something new. Instead of giving them a task upfront, like I did in the previous classes, I simply allowed these guys to play with the wood. They went at it with chisel, saw and plane. My three favourite tools and in my opinion all you need for woodworking.By 3pm, most except for 2 were tired of the unfocussed play, to them I gave the task of making mallets. I also had a special task in mind, making a sanding block. Without fail, this kept them busy till 7, which far exceeds the 5:30pm limit.
Watching a group of people eagerly discovering wood is always great fun, the joy of being able to stand in the middle of the lab and pick out the one person who is making the saw sing, by sound alone can never be equaled.
The class went through in the usual formatDay 1: Introduction and wood play
Day 2: Session on wood, structure and strength
Day 3: Hand tools: what they do and how to use them
Day 4: FinishingThis time only 3 finished their laptops, which was odd since they were working non stop. Maybe it was all the jokes and banter. hahaha
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