Slice of Life in the Shop

Today was my first day of temporary coverage teaching in the wood shop at the nearby high school. It’s been a couple of years since I last covered in the shop and, of course, a few things went sideways. By the end of the day, however, I had fixed most of them. There was an error with a CNC file that caused the router to carve right off the student’s material. The solution? Flip it over and engrave again on the backside with the updated file. Problem solved! Another issue was that the sheets of MDF wood that had been cut for the back of students’ nightstands were about a half inch too narrow, and it was a big pile that had been pre-cut too short. My solution might be to cut more the correct size but I’m also considering making everyone’s nightstands a half inch narrower; to be determined. Some students left the chuck on the wood lathe after it became stuck and the bell rang. It took a minute or maybe closer to 15 but after borrowing a tool from the neighbouring metal shop, I figured…