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The following short story was sent to me by a member of one of the many Woodworking Guilds I belong to ... thanks Bill

  A few years ago our Guild did a workshop for a local school district summer program. We had 60 kids (1st and 2nd graders) for 15 minutes. Eight guild members did this on two consecutive Saturdays. We had the kids work with a 1" x 4" (later reduced to 3/8" thick). They drew a line approximately 2" from one end with a square and pencil, wrote their name on the board with a Sharpie, drill a hole for a nail then another for a screw. Then with a hammer drove a nail part way in and removed it. Repeated the process with a screwdriver and screw. The last step was to cut the board off at the line with a saw. We learned it takes a long time to cut 3/4" stock if you have never done it before. This is why the thickness was reduced the second Saturday.
When they were done they put all the pieces of wood on the table where we could thrown them away or they had the option to collect them at the end of the day. 

Our workshop was the last activity so we were surprised to have all of the kids come back to the cafeteria where their parents were waiting to pick them up and find their "project" and proudly show their parents what they had made in the woodshop.

One little girl came back to our Guild member who had been her instructor and politely asked if he had any more nails that she could take home. The summer school director happened to overhear this request and asked what she was going to do with the nails. The little girl beamed as she explained she was going to take her "project" home and nail it to her bedroom wall.

The director diplomatically suggested she check with her Dad about her plans.

One of the things we learned from this workshop was to ask appropriate questions before making a commitment. We (that would be me) did not ask how many students or their ages. We were caught a bit off guard when we were told it would be 60 1st and 2nd graders.

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Full (or thick) Kerf versus Thin Kerf and what about Micro Kerf?  All the questions I get on blade kerf, including what size of blade should I use? Like many things when you know the answer it's easy, and when you understand the reasons "why" it just makes blade selection and blade purchases so much easier and ... getting the right blade for the right job. 

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/YZhpkqSuqEM

There are no standards on blade thickness, and some manufactures even vary the thickness, very slightly, within their own lines. Because of this, all thicknesses are given as approximate since thousandths of an inch or millimeter are typically insignificant. There are no secrets about blade kerf but there are pros and cons about what you should use and what you might need to purchase and to make things easier I have tried to lay things out in something of a point form ...  

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I love a good challenge and I certainly found it with this chair. I knew it was a bit complicated going in but when I drew the plans, I had a pretty good idea how I would be going about the build. I also knew that this could well be a prototype build, but I didn't really expect to abandon the build after pours hours and hours of work into it.

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Wl1U1fYzaAo

Everyone makes woodworking mistakes and today I'll show you one of my woodworking fails in a wooden chair design I made. Hopefully, you can help me with this failed woodworking project and post your ideas in the comments section of this YouTube Video.

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More new ideas and suggestions from subscribers with some fascinating wrinkles on getting more value by adapting other tools and non-woodworking items for the workshop ... 

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/z6hJgOVcHy4

Rob in Australia sent this tip in, for anyone who has problems aligning the sides of their picture frames for gluing, and when they are still ...

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Saving money on lumber can take on many forms and when some lumber prices jump in price like what has happened over the past couple years, 2020 and 2021 where we have seen many lumber prices climb very high, it makes us even more aware of how we need to be particularly careful in our selections of wood and how we work with it.

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/ekr2OcvEF6E

This video and article are meant to give an overview of many of the things woodworkers can do in acquiring wood and using wood that will help save them money. For much more detail on this topic there is a 6 part series on how to save money on wood where each episode is independent of the others so you can pick and choose which ones are more specific to your situation and benefit from the details of those articles and videos ... see below for an overview, pick just one topic and give it a try ...

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