| Project by Dick, & Barb Cain | posted 746 days ago | 447 views | 1 time favorited | 7 comments |  |
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I thought it would be fun to reminisce about the experiences I had in my 8th grade woodworking class at Hibbing High School in 1945-46.
The school was very well equipped with every machine you could imagine. We had an instructor by the name, Hank Kangas. He was a very good disciplinarian, but was still a very likable person. If you did something wrong you deserved it.
To start out we had to learn all the basics of hand tools. We had to square up a board with a hand plane. With which we made a cribbage board. We went on to using power tools.
We built a nice cabinet with two bookshelves with a drawer at the top. The dimensions were about 12×20 x 30 inches. The choice of wood was Gum wood. My choice of finish was walnut oil stain & varnish.
It was getting close to the end of the school year, so our instructor allowed us to stay after class so that we could complete our projects. I was applying the oil stain to my project. When the staining was finished, I started cleaning up the area. I put the lid on the can of stain, picked up a hammer and tapped the lid on. Just then, my instructor walked up to see how things were going. And SPLAT !! he received the brunt of the spray from under the lid, all over his shirt & tie, He had just taken his shop coat off. What a revolting development. You should have seen both of our faces .Brown specks and all.
That was a lesson well learned. Never put a lid on a can without covering it with a cloth.
After all that happened, minus one shirt and one tie, he still rewarded me with an A on my project. We still have that piece of furniture in our home, and every time I look at it , it reminds of my poor teacher who had to put up with all kinds of things.
It’s still hard to believe that 60 years have passed by. At the time of construction, I never thought it would be an antique someday.
PS: Notice my woodturnings on the shelf
-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1
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7 comments so far
dennis mitchell
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2945 posts in 801 days
posted 740 days ago
My eighth grade shop teacher was Mr shurwood. What a name matched his nine fingers. Most schools no longer have woodshop. Its was a great place to teach kids planning and problem solving. To let them use the math they learned. I guess things will change…somthing about the global economy and technology. I just know, thanks to my teachers, i can count all ten of my fingers without a calculator.
-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com
Mark A. DeCou
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1312 posts in 892 days
posted 733 days ago
Dick: I love this project. The only two pieces of furniture in my house that are not for sale are my Junior and Senior year projects from High School Wood shop. There is just something special about seeing these projects. You did a great job with the little table, and I can see from it that you had a great future working with your hands.
thanks,
Mark
-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flint Hill's Artisan
Joe Cumbo
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26 posts in 732 days
posted 730 days ago
Dick,
Again, very nice work. I too got my start in school I had to wait till high school as we didn’t have shop classes before that. You brought back 30 plus year old memories of my Shop teacher, Mr. Doldan. He was missing half a finger…. but he had a big heart!!!
I had my first shop injury in that class. I was using what I thought was pretty safe tool (an oscillating spindle sander) at the time and didn’t give it the respect it deserved. The drum caught a knot in the wood and dragged my knuckle hard against the drum. For years top knuckle on my left index finger was concave. It only took about a decade or two before it was unnoticeable.
Now my son goes to the same high school I went to. I stopped in there for his first parent/teacher conference and low and behold the door to the woodshop was open. I stopped in and took a trip down memory lane.
Nothing had moved an inch in that shop in over thirty years. I couldn’t believe it. All the same tools in all the same spots, even the O.S.S. machine that bit me looked like it was frozen in time.
I asked if my old woodshop teacher was still there but he had retired a few years ago I was told. I asked the present shop teacher how it was possible they didn’t move anything in over 3 decades. He explained to me that if any tool was moved it would have to be up to whatever the current safety standards are today. And if that would have to happen they would just do away with the woodshop.
It brought a sadness to my heart. Woodshop class was how the seed of woodworking got planted for me. My Dad, God rest his soul, was never really interested in woodworking. He worked as a machinist in a factory when I was growing up and didn’t want to touch tools when he got home. If it weren’t for shop class I wouldn’t have been exposed to woodworking and the pleasure it has given me all these years…
Joe
Safetyboy
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64 posts in 245 days
posted 162 days ago
That’s a great story! I hope my projects last that long, and hold up as well!
-- -- Kevin in Mentor, Ohio
Dick, & Barb Cain
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5077 posts in 786 days
posted 162 days ago
Thank you Kevin.
Time sure flies when you’re having fun.
-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1
Karson
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12910 posts in 887 days
posted 162 days ago
Man when You were is school Dick. That was before power tools wasn’t it.
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
Dick, & Barb Cain
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5077 posts in 786 days
posted 162 days ago
All of the machines were heavy duty commercial equipment.
There weren’t many tools made for home woodworkers.
-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1