On Jul 3, 7:57 am, "StephenM" wrote:
I recently completed some bookshelves for our local public library. Its a
small community an the library gets by on one paid employee and a bevy of
volunteers. My next door neighbor is a retired physician and he sits on the
board for the library (he also takes their trash to the dump on Saturdays).

I worked out a deal by which he would give to me the bulk of his red oak
stash (about 700 bf of 4/4), felled by him, but has gone largely untouched
for the past 17 years. I would build the shelves and keep the remainder for
whatever. The oak is of so-so quality; there are plenty of knots, but hey,
it's free wood.

http://www.cefls.org/Trailblazerspring2008.pdf (see page 3.)

Allison, the librarian, is organizing a series of presentations by local
persons on various topics relating broadening ones interests (hobbies of you
will). She has asked me to give a 1/2 hour presentation to a group of 8 to
12-year-olds on woodworking as a hobby. Show, touch and tell examples are
required.

I'm *not* going to give a "how-to" presentation. I don't think its practical
for that location, time frame and audience.

What I think I will do is talk about various types (specialties) of
woodworkers what they do and some of the tools that they use. With a
tangent into local wood species, this will give me an opportunity to
display:
- various wood samples,
- partially and fully turned bowls
- boxes and totes
- some handmade tooling ( mallets, etc)
- A few manufactured hand tools such planes spokeshaves and scrapers

I think that this will give lots of opportunity fore the audience to safely
handle, while being fairly simple to transport.

I'm looking for a list of "woodworker specialties" to reference in my
presentation. here's what I thought of so far:

Framer
Finish carpenter
Cabinetmaker
Turner
Cooper
Luthier
Carver

What else should I add to the list?

Also, any suggestions what I might include in the presentation would be
welcomed.

Good job on the bookshelves, Steve. Nice thing to do.

I think tying woodworking into the fabric of history would sell pretty
well to a bunch of goobers. Anything to capture the imagination.
Trades like bodgers would be interesting. They'd frequently be set up
in the woods to cut saplings and turn them to size by the hundreds on
pole lathes for chair making and such.
From Wikipedia:
"The term "bodger" stems from pole lathe turners who used to make the
chair legs and spindles. A bodger would typically purchase all the
trees on a plot of land, set up camp on the plot, and then fell the
trees and turn the wood. The spindles and legs that were produced were
sold in bulk, for pence per dozen. The bodger's job was considered
unfinished because he only made component parts. The term now
describes a person who leaves a job unfinished, or does it badly."
Maybe you should leave out that last sentence!

Here's a list of colonial trades that has some interesting and funny
ones:
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.c...ccupation.html

If your library doesn't have Eric Sloane's book, Sketches of America
Past, it should: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Eri.../9780883940655
Lots of excellent sketches about colonial tools and items.

R