As Seventh Graders

Bob Wiggins

Former Member (by the member's request)
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125
Location
140 miles west of tulsa
As seventh graders we were required to make these two tables. I think they were called a night stand and plant stand at that time. That was about 55 years ago.

But before we could, we had to prove we could square a board with a hand saw and a jack plane. I'll never forget the steps in squaring a board. They were working face, (must be flat) working edge, working end, length, width, and thickness (must be parallel to working face). Some that originated 3/4 thick were only 1/2 or less when the lesson was finally learned. That old man Brown was kind of picky and he could see light under that steel ruler like a hawk.

But on these assignments we learned how to make rabbit and dado joints by hand using a back saw, chisel and mallet. Learned to bore holes the correct size for pilot and anchor holes to insert screws and how to lay out an octagon.

And in the finish department we were allowed to make white pine appear to be mahogany:rofl: with a Deft finish applied with a brush of coarse. And you better clean your brush good too followed by proper finish rag disposal.
 

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We were given an 18" piece of 8/4 roughsawn pine, to make into a square ended, parallel sided (all 4 sides) smooth piece. Nothing further was allowed until the test piece was successfully done.

It took some of us quite a while, and several pieces ended up closer to 4/4 than the original 8/4. Mine was about 6/4, as I recall, and only about 16" long. :)
 
its amazing you still have your tables,, i had a small amount of what you mention but then they upgraded to modern day stuff and the old ways were put away for the most part..they only had one wood shop class in high school and it wasnt very in depth.. those of you who had this great beginning are fortunate..:thumb::thumb: even if it was 6/ 4 jim and 16" long:D:thumb::thumb:
 
Sounds like a GOOD shop class! :)

Here's a project I made in 7th grade shop class. This was back in 1977. I gave it to my grandmother. When she passed about six years ago, I ended up getting it back. It got put in the cupboard and we don't really use it but I'm glad to have it back. I think of her every time I see it. In fact, I hadn't seen it in a while but when I saw this thread I was reminded of it. I dug it out and found that it's in serious need of a nice coat of mineral oil. I'm going to pick some up and nourish it a bit this weekend.

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Where does the time go?!

John
 
It's funny, the machine shop class I took a couple of years ago were using those same terms. :D

Our shop teacher did start us with rough cut lumber, but can't recall being taught the terms above. I won't complain though, we had some of the most awesome tools I've ever worked with. We also did metallurgy and a plastics class in our HS, which I though I'd never use, but has come in very handy so far.
 
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