Woodworking: The Next Generation

Ginny and I have reached the end of her work-study period from high school. Was it work-study or work release? One's school and one's prison, right? I think it was work-study. So you've seen some of the stuff she's done here in the shop. And one of the things I wanted to do was talk about encouraging you to include kids or young people in your shop when you're doing woodworking. I had a blast teaching Ginny woodworking, and so I want to talk to her about what she thought of this whole thing. And I'll try to not listen to the bad part. We worked at a bunch of projects, Ginny. So just tell the folks at home kind of a general overview of what kind of stuff, not the projects, but what kind of stuff were you helping with in the shop? It was a lot of like getting ready for big projects to kinda like help out with making the videos or like doing small projects as like a model for the videos, like, "Hey, this is what we're going to be making. So we have to make it right now." And so, ran a lot of tools, ran only a few tools? Yeah. What do you remember? Names of tools that you used? Well, lots of different things. I think we ran quite a few tools. I mean, like it was sanding and finish, which is not, I don't know if you count that as a tool, like table saw, band saw, you know, the works. Jointer. I think- The laser, we did that. Yep, the CNC, the ShopBot. Yeah, yeah. Over the course of Ginny's time in the shop, one of the things I tried to do was introduce her to everything that was here so that she'd have a good hands-on experience with the safety and with correctly using the tools. So I don't think there's anything in here really at this point, router table planer, big sander, table saw jointer, drill press band saw, that Ginny didn't run when she was here. Of the woodworking experience that you had, was there anything that was really bad besides just working with me? Let's get that off the table right away. Other than his really crummy jokes all the time. I have to say, I really hate sanding. It's like you're standing there, and the thing is like shaking in your hands, and it's terrible. And you can't hear my rock music over the sander. So- And you found it boring, right? Yeah. You know, as the apprentice in the shop, I will say Ginny did a lot of the sanding 'cause you got to start somewhere, right? Yeah. So getting her to understand the importance of sanding and taking it start to finish to get a good project out of it was, I thought, very important. And then what about, so what about, what really cool thing did you get to experience while you were here? Not, again, not projects, but as part of the processes, you sprayed lacquer, you ran the table saw, you ran the CNC. Which of those did you think was the most fun? I have to say I really like painting the finish 'cause I really like running the rag after it, and then you can right away see like how it's going to look right when it stops. When the stain was going on. Yeah, that was always my favorite part. And Ginny is very artistic, very creative. So I can see that where when you're finally putting the finish on and bringing out the beauty of the wood, that would be a cool part. Of the projects that we worked on, well, can you remember some of the specific stuff that we did? Yeah, I remember we did the icebox, was a lot of fun. I really liked the antique kind of feel to that. We did a couple other ones, but I think my favorite was definitely the guitar I made, which wasn't really in work-study, but I mean, I made it, so I'm counting it. Yeah. And then, so for adults who are considering bringing their kids or some kid into the shop, what advice from your perspective would you give to make that a good experience for the young person? I don't know, I guess be patient with them. I don't have a huge, like bunch of experience doing stuff in the shop. So if they don't do something right the first time, like, don't yell at him for that and just kind of understand like, this is what you need to learn, but it's okay if you want to go slow and do it. And it's okay to make a mistake or two. Yes. Maybe don't give him the finished wood product to sander and I'll give you a practice piece first, and we'll go from there. And from my perspective, interestingly enough, I would agree with everything Ginny said. I think it takes a lot of patience because sometimes you want to look at it and say, "Jeez, it would be so much faster if I just did this myself." But then you're defeating the purpose because then you're not teaching that person how to do it. And in the big picture, you know, for me, I saw it as an investment that if I get Ginny doing this stuff now, she'll forever be available to help do woodworking in the shop. So being patient, and then, yeah, and picking the right project, I think, too is important to get them at the right spot. If you're going to tell them to hand cut dovetails on day one, you're setting them up to fail. And like teaching somebody any skill, you've got to do it in baby steps so that they feel that success and keep getting better and better at it. Yeah, and I really liked how, when we started out, we did something I really wanted to make originally. So that was the guitar. And like, if you really want to get someone into woodworking and they're not like super interested, I would always recommend like, "Hey, if you want to make your mother or father like a cool gift," I know father's day is coming up in a little bit, you can be like, "Hey, let's go to the shop and we can maybe cut some stuff and put it together." 'Cause bribes are good. Bribes always work. Yeah, and Ginny's making a great point that what I want is for you to learn woodworking, but I have to find some agenda that will get you to want to learn woodworking. And that's really not why we started the guitar. Yeah. But that kinda was the fallout from it. That's really what got Ginny started in the shop. All right. Any other questions, answers, smart comments? You usually have I always have a smart comment. a smart comment somewhere. Yes, the birds are very active outside today. They're not in the shop. Sounds like they are. It sounded like that one was. All right, well, for me it was a blast having Ginny here, and I hope it was fun for you. Yeah. And you learn something. Yeah. All right. Get a kid in your shop. You're going to really enjoy it.