I made a small, 8 inch tall jewelry box fashioned after an upright piano,
with a drawer in the knee area, keyboard, and a lift-off top, lined with
felt. I won the coveted Golden Hammer Award, for outstanding student in
carpentry, two years running. That was 36 years ago, and I'm looking at both
on a nearby shelf right now. We built the first separate classroom on campus
in this area that was not done by the county staff. Design was done in the
drafting class, carpentry by the woodworking class, and wiring by the
electrical class. I was fortunate enough to be in all three. The local area
high schools here now build a house on the school grounds each year as a
student project. It is then auctioned off to pay for the next one, and
someone gets a house for a reasonable price. My son helped build two of them
during high school. He is now an electronics engineering student in college.
Go figure. Then again, I'm not a carpenter, either. G

RJ

"Jim L." wrote in message
. ..
I had woodshop in Junior High. Constructed two end tables and one napkin
holder. Instructor built a bed in his spare time. We were only allowed to
operate the Delta 24" scroll saw. Instructor milled stock to size and cut
dados. This was in the late 40's. Jim
"Owen Lawrence" wrote in message
...
Reading the Yeeee-Hah!!! thread, it got to wondering how my high school
woodworking experience might differ from others. My impression was that
our
projects were relatively small compared to other schools, possibly due to
overcrowding. We had "Industrial Arts" from grade 7 to 9, age 12 to 14.
But anyway, two questions come to mind:

What did you make?
What did your teacher make while you were occupied?

I got to make
- candle holders (three pieces of wood, two holes)
- lamp, styled like an old water pump
- model rocket nose cones (our own individual design)
- adjustable record rack (our own collective design)
(That's it? Less than I thought after three years! Last year was wasted
in
a metal shop with a new teacher in a new school. Can't remember even
lifting a single tool. Sigh.)

My teacher was making some double-helix carved lampstands. Very
inspiring.

Maybe you can give me some age-appropriate ideas that my own children
will
like to try. So far my 13 year old has had NO formal shop instruction at
school. But that's a separate thread.

- Owen -