Kids projects

Hey, somebody made the banana hanger! George Raburns son, Jay, liked it enough to make one himself. Nice job Jay...its a great project for kids.

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And speaking of kids, Mathew Agate is back with his second woodworking video. He took on my folding stool. Came out really nice! Plus, his dad Michael drew up some actual plans for the stool if you would like to make one of your own. Heres a PDF. And check out their web site The Newfoundland Woodworker. Thanks guys!

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Kids of Emek Hebrew Academy

Got a note from Jonathan Benzaquen who teaches at the Emek Hebrew Academy down in Sherman Oaks, California. This past semester, the school wanted to incorporate educational electives once a week into its curriculum.
Johnathan decided to teach woodworking to thirty 4th-5th graders once a week and thirty 6th-8th graders once a week. He is obviously a brave man!

"What began with three hack saws, miter boxes made from scratch and some glue and sanding paper, has slightly evolved to a drill press (donated by a grandparent), clamps and circular sander. Hopefully it grows into something more." 

In this age of vanishing shop classes, it inspires me to see a group of kids eager to work with their hands to build something useful and fun. Kids havent changed: our desire and commitment  to help them learn manual skills has.
Big thanks to guys like Johnathan who are willing to take on tasks like this and enrich the lives of so many kids.
Check out these sweet looking menorahs they made. After building them they made some Mere Mortal  whistles with the leftover wood. Oh, and look in the background of the group photo. Is that a WWMM logo back there?

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These kids today

Kids of every generation get a bad rap. When I was a kid, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden were certain to corrupt every kid that listened to their music. I dated a girl who dyed her hair blue. Horrors. Things havent really changed that much: we latch on to a few examples of "kids gone bad", ignoring the fact that most kids are like we were and do some really cool stuff.
My son Wyatt is rehearsing for a musical. He goes to school at 7:30 in the morning and gets out at 6:00 in the evening when rehearsal ends. He rehearses every Saturday from 9:00 to 3:00. Starting next week he has two weeks of rehearsing until 10:00 at night. And Sundays are thrown in too. He does that, squeezes in homework, and even managed to go to the Homecoming dance last week. My schedule was never any where near that daunting.
AustinOver on my Facebook page, Austin Hall posted his first woodworking project. He is 12 and has a very limited set of tools: a handsaw, a drill bit, a sander, a protractor, a ruler, and glue, yet managed to design and build a birdhouse. (Im pretty sure my first project was a birdhouse, too.)  To make the hole, he drilled a series of holes around a circle and popped it out. Having a desire to achieve something is the first step in any process.

Luca

Luca Browski is a friend of my sons. Shes 14 and filled with talent. Check out her singing in this video. And she plays the ukulele, which is just so cool. Drop by her YouTube channel, especially her recent live performance up in Napa and leave her some comments!

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Plans for the home made pocket hole jig and kids gettin er done

Last week I posted some pictures Carmen Salamones shop-made pocket hole jig. It wasnt long before Bruce (Wood Chuck) cranked out some plans. Download his Sketchup file here. Thanks Bruce!
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Carmen Salamone is quite productive. Here are more versions of the wind spinner.  (You may recall, hes the one who inspired me to make mine.) I love the way people are painting these things.

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And check out these made by Macgyver Norris and Country Barbie. (I am going to guess those are nicknames, unless they live in Hollywood!) This is part of Kevin Wells "Little Woodworkers" feature.  And check out Kevins web site, Chuckin Wood.

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Kids today. Charlie Webster incorporated his version of my planter box as part of his Boy Scout Eagle Project. Looks great. 

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