Intro to Intro to Woodworking
Published March 24, 2021
Yesterday I had my 2nd in-person class this semester. We met a nice man in Techspark and he showed us the woodshop. The walls were covered in covered plywood shelves and things. We saw a few demo projects that we'd be doing during the course, like a folding stool, push stick, and crate.
Our first assignment was to make a little banana stand/hammock thing. We went over 4 machines — the band saw, belt and disk sander, oscillating spindle sander, and drill press. I had never seen a spindle sander before, but it was a really cool machine. It's really good for sanding down interior curves, which neither the belt nor disk sander can reach.
I ended up using the bandsaw a lot. The cut turn radius is quite good, and I learned about using relief cuts to make the cuts even tighter. The bandsaw is also good for widening slots, and I widened my stand's base a bit too much. Ended up having to glue it in place, using some wood filler to make the seams nicer looking.
Photo of my banana stand, hookless and bananaless
Finally, I used a hand sander which had a velcro pad of sandpaper that was a little off center to smooth the rough wooden surface. It looks quite weird when it moves, wagon-wheeling before your eyes.
It's amazing how much scrap wood they have in there. The shop goes through a lot just for demonstrations, and then thick plates are just free for anyone to use in the refuse pile. Good news for me! I'm not sure what to make next — it would be cool to recreate a lamp of mine, or a new wooden spoon. So many possibilities!