Wood class...

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, preservation of the trades is a crucial part of Historic Preservation. Among classes in theory, math, architecture and other 'book' classes, we take several 'hands-on' trades based classes so we actually know how to fix up that old house of yours.

Unfortunately, in my all girls high school we did not have shop class. Certainly we had home-ec, so I could sew you a pair of pants if you want, but build you a bird house, good luck. Personally, I think this is a shame. Everyone should know how to handle basic maintenance around their home. I mean how hard is it to fix a door hinge or put together a swing set. For a lot of us we don't even know where to start, so we either beg our boyfriends to help or we shell out a decent chunk of change to have someone do it for us. Like my classmate Chris seen here...
While taking my first carpentry class is a bit intimidating (it seems most of the other students at least know how to use the table saw), it's high time I got some calluses on my hands and figured out all of this wood business.



Once we got started and I figured out what that triangular metal ruler thing does, it's really not so complicated. For my first project I thought it would be pretty cool to make a Shaker style piece of furniture, very small that is. For more on the very interesting and brilliant carpenters that were the Shakers, check out Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers. So I found a nice little bench that I thought would be perfect in my apartment for things like mail and keys. Well clearly I need a lot of practice reading plans, after I got all the wood cut out I realized this was a chihuahua sized bench.

Maybe it will hold my keys, but that's about it. If anyone knows any ferries or gnomes out there that need a bench, let me know. Ah well, I guess its all part of the learning process. Stay tuned for the final touches of my 'bench'. I might even stain it, I think the gnomes will appreciate that.