The New Cutting Bench

The students and I are always working to make the shop better.  One of the things we were always fighting with was our old cutting table.  The surface was getting very beat up, it wasn't wide enough, it didn't go to the wall so all the sawdust fell behind, and the miter-saw sat on top of the table in the way of the radial arm saw.  Generally no good. 

well, when they remodeled the library at the school I snagged some of the old cabinets and counter tops.  This is what we did with them! 

We're back to work with a fresh crew

The Dune Buggy is often the first project to get set aside to complete other more important things, but we keep plugging away at it as we have spare time.  Well the students this year have vowed that they will be the ones to finish it.  The new crew has made a prioritized list of things that need to be done, ordered most of the remaining parts and even planned some great improvements to the design.  Now if we can just find the time to finish it. 

ATV Trailer

Well it has been a busy year, and I don't always get a chance to update the blog.  I'm going to try to do a series of brief entries to bring everyone up to date. Last year the Welding/ Fabrications class decided to assemble an atv trailer to raffle off as a fundraiser. The process was completed amongst other activities and lessons but turned out to be a great product and raffled well making good money for the program.

The Blanket Trunk

During my woods class, I built a blanket chest. Which is made out of plywood. It was two feet wide, two feet high and three feet long with a skirt at the bottom. I started out by cutting my eight by four piece of plywood, to make my six pieces. Then, I think I did more sanding then anything else. When working with plywood you have to be kind of cautious because of all the layers. Plus, it chips really easily. I had fun, even though I was always getting slivers. Those hurt!! The most difficult part is when I was trying to put it together, because it never wanted to stay together... I used fingered joints, I thought they were going to be an easy way to get it done fast. I guess I was wrong because it took me almost half a year to make it. I also got some nice gold pieces of hardware for the hinges and lock in the front. After staining it with a natural cedar, I let it dry and brought it home…finally. I still wish to this day that I would have put something on it to cover up the smell of the natural cedar. Anyways, I had fun on it, and will soon have more articles on other projects of mine!!

Stephannie Miller

The Go Kart is Gett'n Done!

Well, I know it's taking a while but the go kart is nearly done. We've had so many project going that it's hard to get them all done. Some day the monster will roll out of the shop and be ready for the raffle. Here's a few pics to show you the progress that we're making. Hope you like what you see.

Fund Raising!!!

Fund raising always plays an important roll in schools and extra curricular activities. The shop classes try to help as best we can. Last year the woods class built a cutting table as a fundraiser to help the 8th graders go on their Katmai camping trip.



























The finished table was raffled off in the community and made enough money to send the students on their trip.

The For Ever Bench!!!

Well sometime things don't always go as planned and that is the story with Stephanie's bench. She started it last year and was not able to finish it before the end of the year. I give her credit for persistence though because she returned this year to finish it. As you can see it turned out very nice.