Ida — Before my sawdust-covered teacher handed back the assignment, he told us that the whole class had failed. The previous day he’d passed out rulers and a sheet of paper printed with lines of varying lengths. The task was simple enough: Measure the lines and write down their lengths.
We wondered how we all could have failed such an easy assignment. But not a single student had written whether the measurements were in inches or centimeters. This was seventh-grade wood shop; details mattered here.
I was lucky enough to attend middle school in this rural Michigan district where the curriculum wasn’t obsessed with college preparation. The high school had courses in welding and small-engine repair. Every time my car sputters, I wish I had learned some basics in the auto shop. In the seventh grade, the elective options were home economics and wood shop. In the eighth, home economics and metalworking.
The school backed up to acres of corn fields, and many of the students came from farming families. Teachers didn’t plan lessons for Nov. 15, knowing that many kids would skip school on the first day of firearm deer-hunting season. And a dozen students (nearly all boys) would find ways to spend as much time as possible in the shop.
The projects the teacher tasked us with were achievable: a tic-tac-toe board, a jewelry box, a bird house. But scattered around the shop were engineered marvels, including a scale replica Ferris Wheel with a small motor inside to make it rotate, built by a high schooler.
We spent the first half of each class learning how to use the shop tools without maiming ourselves. The discussion always ended up on the topic of how much blood had to be mopped off the shop floor after some student had lopped off the tip of his thumb.
Our teacher stressed the importance of wearing safety goggles, especially when working a lathe. He made sure we understood how not to pull the drill press through our hands and why kickback happens with a table saw.
To demonstrate the shop’s newest tool, a SawStop table saw, he showed a video of someone touching a hot dog to the whirring blade, causing the blade to drop safely into the body of the machine and leaving only a nick on the hot dog. But, the teacher warned, none of the other tools have such a feature.
For students today, wood shop is no longer the rite of passage it was for their parents and grandparents. Many schools have phased the program out as vocational training has fallen away in American schools.
But as I work on projects around my home, I find myself recalling the adages (“Measure twice, cut once,” “Know safety, no injury. No safety, know injury”) and giving thanks for the time spent learning how to fix and construct.
Prices for patio furniture are astronomical, and my wife and I figured we could build our own and save thousands of dollars. We found a simple plan and made an outdoor sofa ourselves out of 2x4s. We built an outdoor table that seats 12 after that.
Because of a class I took 15 years ago, we knew how to start.
Mark Naida is editor of Michigan Enjoyer.
