Column 727

Kids in the Workshop

How did you learn your woodworking skills? Chances are that it was either formal professional training or learned through the skills of others. The ‘others’ were probably parents, relatives or adult friends.

It is, I think, a terrific idea to bring your kids into your workshop to let them do some supervised tinkering.

This does not have to be restricted the young male gender of the family. The little ladies in the house may like to make doll houses and furniture for them.

Obviously, the first and foremost lesson must be on safety. Teaching the children just how quickly a finger or hand can be removed with a speeding saw blade should be paramount even in adult training.

Starting the kids off with hand tools, hammer, screwdriver, handsaw, hand plane, chisels, squares etc. will teach them the basics of woodworking. Allowing them to use the softer woods like pine, will make it easier for them to produce a simple project that they can be really proud of.

Learning Skills

One of the first things that kids learn is following the parental examples. For example, if after you finish using your wood chisel, you replace the cover on the blade explaining why you are doing it, kids will follow suit.

I was in woodworking class as a youngster and I very clearly remember using the hand plane. When I was done, I placed the plane face down on my bench. The teacher was down on me like lightning. There was still 30 minutes or so to go in the class. I had to hold that hand plane over my head for the rest of the period. Since then I have never placed a plane or any other bladed tool, face down on a bench. The reasoning is that there may be some foreign piece of metal on the bench that could scratch the sole of the plane or worse, put a nick in the blade. I certainly don’t condone the severity of the punishment, but that was a long time ago when the strap or the cane was used as corporal punishment.

Teaching kids some basic rules like using a tool only in the way that it was designed is a good example of the ‘doing as I do’ teaching philosophy. I am sure that most of you out there would not for example, use a flat head screwdriver as a chisel or pry bar. Or use a steel hammer with a wood chisel. Setting these examples at an early age will be indelibly etched in their minds.

Power Tools

How and when to introduce your children to the use of power tools is certainly an arbitrary subject that only you as a parent can decide on. Obviously, the youngster has to show signs of responsibility. Before you make that decision though, your way of thinking about these potentially lethal weapons has to digress back to when you were a kid.

If you have the ability to do this, then you are going to be aware of the inherent dangers that we as adults take for granted. We know that the blade guard is secure and that the trigger lock is on. This is an automatic reaction for us....but not for kids. What we think of as one of the least dangerous power tools is the drill. Yet, in the unskilled hands it can be the cause of severe bodily damage. The drill bits that can cut through maple, oak and even steel, will tear through flesh in an instant.

Projects

I am no Dr. Spock, but it seems to me that keeping your kids minds focused while they are in the woodshop with you would be an important aspect. One way of doing this is to choose the type of simple project that you know they would like to see completed; a doll house, a race car or any number of toys. Kids expect that the projects will be finished in a flash. Working in the woodshop with you will give them an understanding of patience and skill, but keep the initial projects simple. When the job is done, let them help in the painting or finishing of it.

When the first project is completed, both you and your kids will be bursting at the seams with pride.

Hiding In the Shop, Drinking Beer and Telling Stories (From ShortCuts Sept 19^th 1998)

Well guys, wait till you hear this! Our days of (formerly) macho woodworking, hide in the shop and drink beer, tell dirty stories, lie and swear, are numbered. As TTTT would say, aaargh! Oh, the initials are for Tim The Toolman Taylor, like you didn’t know eh.

Yup, it seems that the opposite sex may be making a covert invasion into our Sanctuary, our House of Worship, our Shrine, our..........oh what’s the use. We all saw it coming. It had to happen.

First, we let them sucker us by using one of our ribs, then we get conned into eating an apple. Soon after that they were invading our caves, making fires, carrying clubs, painting pictures on the walls and generally re-decorating on a whim and then, demanding to use our wheels during the time that we were out hunting. A little later, they decide that our hair is too long and definitely out of fashion and they take the scissors to it. Zap! That should have been the last straw. We should have kept them ‘with child’ in the summertime and barefoot in the winter.

Alas, that was not to be. For hundreds of years we tried to keep them in their rightful subservient place and we had it pretty good. Then, pow! Some Lady what’s-her-name decides that she can’t take it anymore. So she ups and gets naked and decides that she is going to get on her high horse, go and parade into town and roust us guys out of the local hardware store.

It gets worse. You know the history. After that, they wanted to vote, they wanted to be able to drink like us guys and to top it all off, they wanted to be treated as equals with equal pay for the same amount of work. Pshaw! This whole world is turning upside down.

Recognition?

Now, they have convinced the major woodworking tool manufacturers to start making tools that are woman friendly.

After this tongue-in-cheek dissertation, I think that you knew I was just kidding. I think it’s a little late in coming. At this year’s (1998) National Hardware Show in Chicago a number of tool and accessory manufacturers have addressed the much missed (or ignored) female market. After all, it is usually the woman that is the instigator in most at home do-it-yourself projects.

For example, based on this knowledge, Rubbermaid® has designed a tool kit with a shoulder strap especially for women. Union Tools in Ohio has designed a series of “Lady Gardener” tools designed especially for women.

More and more, women are getting deeply involved in furniture restoration, home repairs (while hubby is busy slugging it back at the corner hardware store?) decoration and general woodworking.

Puce And Pink?

Does this all mean that DeWalt, Delta, Ryobi, Bosch and the like, are going to introduce new light-weight, Dior designed, feminine colored (maybe even scented) tools for the ladies? I think not. I really don’t think that women want that.

I may be wrong, but I think that all women (just like us guys) would like a fair shake. Recognition for a job well done! There are thousands of women pulling equal or tougher loads in the home construction business.

Me? I think that it is great. Just maybe while my wife is raising that wall on the house extension, I’ll run down to the local hardware store......to get some more nails and then, pick up a six pack to share with her.

Fine Examples

We in Nova Scotia are blessed with some excellent women woodworkers not the least of whom is Julie An-Jager. Julie joined our Atlantic Woodworker’s Association about a year and a half ago with the thought that she would take up woodworking as a pastime and Julie was an avid listener. Julie jumped into woodworking head first with her husband’s blessing and full support. Julie is now making and selling great “Hobbit Door” Memory Books’. The books are all ‘hand crafted with a conscience’- eco-friendly and finished in non-toxic materials. The Memory Books are expandable so you can just keep adding those memories. For more information you can contact Julie at julieanjager@yahoo.ca.

Diagonally across the continent there is a woodworker with far more experience and she can be found at http://www.studio-e-artworks.com/. The lady’s name is Elizabeth Lundberg but goes by the name e. e is a very talented artist/sculptor and has a very special vision. You might even call her a ‘tree whisperer’. e has the ability to look at a felled tree and envision a beautiful piece of art as you can see for yourself on her web site. This is one of my favorite pieces

Our Sometimes Regular Book Review

Label them anyway you want but these chests have a multitude of uses and made in a multitude of styles. This Taunton book by Gibson and Turner illustrate just how versatile these chests can be.

Blanket Chests

Scott Gibson & Peter Turner

Taunton Press

172 Pages

Call it a blanket chest, hope chest, toy box or even just a storage chest, the large wooden box is a project that most woodworkers are challenged to build at some point in their lifetime. Authors Gibson and Turner have put together 30 styles of chests along with details, sketches and color photos on how to build and assemble them. The designs are built by woodworkers from coast to coast in the US and Canada as well as the UK, Finland and Australia. A truly international collection! Some are plain ans simply utilitarian while others are embellished with carvings and/or inlays. On page 100 there is a ‘Chest in the Round’, a very unique style from Gregory Smith in Fort Bragg, California. Flower Power is “a new take on a very old furniture style” with floral inlays and it comes from Brian Reid in Rockland Maine. Shona Kinnigurgh from Glasgow, Scotland combines function with elegance on page 132. There are many more original designs that you can copy in whole or in part to build your own very special chest.

Tool Test©

Rating System

	Below average quality
	Average quality
	Very good quality and value
	Excellent quality and value
	A ShortCuts Best Buy

Now, This is a Blast

The new Power Boss Jobsite Stereo from Bosch really is a blast!

The Bosch web site says it much better than I can “Nothing else on the jobsite looks like it. Nothing else on the jobsite works like it. Nothing else on the jobsite plays like it. Nothing else on the jobsite rocks like it. Introducing the all-new Power Box™ 360, from Bosch. It’s not just a jobsite radio, it’s a hear everywhere, play everything, charge anything, use anywhere, 360-degree box of envy - Designed to withstand the toughest jobsites – engineered to improve every aspect of your workday “.

The Power Boss has a rubber and aluminum ‘roll cage’ that protects the stereo better than an Indy car driver. The Power Boss is built for rugged conditions and is even weather and dust resistant.

In addition to the 4-way speakers there is a booming sub-woofer built to carry its 50 watt sound over the job-site construction noises and to make it even better there are five preset equalizer settings. But, the model PB360S-C also has 20 FM and 10 AM station presets for convenience. Unlike most job-site radios, the PB has separate bass and treble controls.

Bosch takes the PB into today’s world; there is a Digital Media Bay on board that plays MP3 players, portable CD players, plays SD memory Cards, USB Thumb Drives and will keep these components safe and dust-free. Add to these two auxiliary IN ports and a Line Out port.

For even more convenience there is a 12v outlet and four 120v GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interupter) outlets to power even corded power tools so your stereo is not hogging the much in demand power outlets on the job-site.

Flip the PB360S-C around and you will find the Battery Bay. In here you can power the Power Boss with 14.4 to 18v NiCad or Li-ion Bosch battery packs. Or, plug the Power Boss into an AC outlet and that same bay becomes a charger for any of the above battery packs.

Learn More

To learn more about the new Bosch Power Box 360 has a great video that will visually better describe this great stereo, take a look!

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