In article ,
"Jim GM4DHJ ..." writes:

brilliant ! .....wood doesn't grow on trees...tee hee

First woodwork lesson at school was making a cross-halving join.
I started by cutting the two pieces of wood in half, and then
had to go and ask for two new bits.
"Wood doesn't grow on trees you know" was the teacher's response...

After that rather unfortunate start, I was actually very good at
woodwork at school (still have some of the things I made), but
sadly I had to give it up as it clashed with Latin which I was
told I had to do because I was good at science, and was a complete
and utter waste of time. My dad was also good at workwork, and
all the tables in my parents' house are made by him.

I was able to continue with Technical Drawing (also taught by
a woodwork teacher) right through to O-level, and that's
something I've found invaluable many times since (e.g. when
writing up experiments at university - a brilliant technical
drawing could mask an otherwise not very satifactory experimental
result). It was also how I found out how things like gate valves,
oil pumps, and many other similar things worked, as a result of
having to draw them accurately.

No idea if it still exists as a school subject, but even back
when I was at university with my age peers, almost no one else
had learned Technical Drawing at school.

A year or so back, I was explaining to someone in the office
how a drill bit cut, and not actually having a drill bit in
the office, I drew one freehand much to the amazement of a few
people around who saw it.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]