Originally Posted by
Jerry Wright
I love all of the references to high school shop!! My dad was a high school shop teacher. I grew up following him around the combined wood/machine/weld shop. He had no home shop, so he (we) spent a lot of evenings and weekends working in the shop on his own projects as well as prepping for the next day's classes. He always made sure that I had something to work on. He made a lot of glued up blocks. He loved to make checkerboard style bowls and candle sticks with 3/8" - 1/2" square sticks in alternating walnut and maple. I have always viewed my bowl as kind of simple because it is just boards glued together. He used to rave about white glue (there was still a hide glue pot in the shop) and GF 1-2-3 finish, because they made it so much easier for students to produce a good project with a fool-proof finish. One reason my bowl looks good is that nothing left his shop, that didn't look good. That meant his students (or I) worked on their projects until they looked acceptable. I swear I can still remember sanding this one!! He used to have a saying that if projects went out of the shop looking lousy, then folks in town would say "Wright can't teach".
Unfortunately, most highschools these days have eliminated their shops and related programs. There are no students (boys, girls, college bound, or junior rocket scientists) who would not benefit from a wood, machine, weld shop or drafting class.
Jerry