Wolf Achievement 5

Have you shared woodworking with anyone? Thanks, if you have. If not, please do. Remember, it’s Get Woodworking Week. It’s important that we all share our craft with others so that this obsession we call woodworking will continue for generations to come. I shared a very basic introduction to the craft with about two dozen eight year olds this year.My twin sons have been Cub Scouts for two (2) years. They’re currently Wolves. While I’m not an official leader, I’m a relatively involved parent. I certainly try to help out when I can.

Im proud to say the Plotke cars dominated taking first in class and first overall.

Last week, our Pack held our Pinewood Derby night. It was a triple event night, consisting of a spaghetti dinner fundraiser, achievements for each level scout and, of course, the derby. The achievement the Wolves worked on was Achievement 5: Tools for Fixing and Building. I taught the achievement to the four (4) Wolf dens.I followed the basic instructions set out by the Wolf Book, so we began by learning the names and uses of several tools. Though they weren’t the first dozen tools I’d have considered, we discussed: claw hammers, coping saws, C-clamps, hand saws, awls, hacksaws, files, adjustable wrenches, straight blade screwdrivers, phillips screwdrivers, slip joint pliers and needle nose pliers.After showing and reviewing each tool’s purpose and method of use, I broke the kids into smaller groups and the were able to work with the hammers, both types of screwdrivers and both types of pliers.

Controlling the force of the hammer blow vs controlling the aim was
critical for the Wolves.

The hammer demonstration was as simple as it sounds, just a bunch of 8 year olds hitting nails into a 2x4 on the floor.

It took all the force they could manage to hand drive the Phillips head screw.

Driving the straight head machine screws was much easier.

For the screw driver demonstration, we used the awl to make a starter hole, then drove phillips head wood screws into a 2x4 by hand. Though the Wolf Book says to do a similar thing with a straight blade screw, I didn’t have the heart to punish them by making them drive a straight blade screw in by hand. Instead, I epoxied some nuts into a board and had them drive straight blade machine screws into the nuts.The plier demonstration was the most fun. The book reviews how to use slip-joint pliers for both thin and thick items. For the thin item with the jaw closed, I had the boys move a piece of sheet metal between slots in two (2) 2x4’s. For the thick item, I had them move a copper pipe between two (2) holes in a 2x4. Since I most often use needle nose pliers while doing electrical work, I had the kids use the wires to bend a hook on the end of some small wires, then hand the wires on screws I had partially driven into a scrap of plywood.

These 1x6s will soon be birdhouses.

The final requirement for Achievement 5 will be the construction of bird houses. We were originally supposed to build them last Friday, but since I was sick all week, we’ve postponed the bird houses until our 2/21 den meeting.As the boys get older we’ll take them through more complex projects. For about two dozen eight year olds, it was fun to just introduce them to some tools and show them how they worked.

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A Machine Is A Tool Paul Sellers Statements Are Snobbery

Paul Sellers position is that of a snob (and I think, working against the growth of woodworking). You can read for yourself here:

I am still very concerned about children in woodworking issue. Yesterday I saw two girls and one boy in the whole show and only a handful of women. That is no fault of the show,me or the other vendors. I think this is directly attributed to machine manufacturers who do indeed hog the market and have nothing to offer to balance out the problem. Since machines dominate the market of woodworking and in fact invade sanity at every level, we will never see this change. No one seems to be responsible for bringing about change and so the problem goes on. Eventually this situation will be sealed and woodworking could one day become a machine only form of making and no longer a craft.

This next comments will indeed get me in deep, deep water. You cannot use a machine to work wood and call it Woodcraft. The machine substitutes for the very thing we call skill and art, but it cannot replace it. Anyone that says a machine is a tool can never understand the art and craft of woodworking. As long as we think and express this, we will never see children and women in the wood shop working with their hands.

If you’d like to read the full post, or check out Paul’s entire site, you can here.

The children who were captivated by Chuck Benders hand cut dovetails
when the Woodworking Shows visited Somerset, NJ were apparently
not in attendance when the shows hit Tampa.

In those closing paragraphs to his 3/16/13 blog entry, Paul says a lot.

• He says woodworking “could one day become . . . no longer a craft.”
• He says that its not the Woodworking Show’s fault, his fault or other vendors fault that he didnt see more children at the Woodworking Shows (though Ive heard from others there were many children). He says it’s the machine manufacturers fault that there are so few women and children in attendance.
• He says that since machines are dominating the market and invading sanity and as long as this occurs things will never change.
• He says “You cannot use a machine to work wood and call it Woodcraft.”

Itll come as a disappointment that this beautiful chandelier is not woodcraft.
I hope no ones told Todd yet. Hell be sad.

Thankfully, I’m not the only (or even the first) to call Paul out on what he’s said. In her blog post, Megan Fitzpatrick, the Editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine put it this choice:

There are many more examples to which I could point – but that would distract from my assertion that woodworking teachers and writers (and editors) perform a massive disservice to the craft by perpetuating a hard line between hand-tool woodworking and power-tool woodworking. And I find it breathtakingly arrogant (and irresponsibly divisive) to state that only by using hand tools can we call it woodcraft.

Machines have eradicated many of the barriers for all people to enjoy woodworking – particularly for those new to the craft (whom, as you imply, Paul, we need to cultivate). In some cases, machines lower the skill level and physical strength required to build something. In addition, machines used to fabricate tools (both hand and power) make those tools affordable to the home woodworker.

I’m glad that we have prominent woodworkers, woodworkers with soapboxes, who promote the craft and don’t discriminate based on method. Megan does more for the craft in her rebuttal to Paul than any hand or power tool does. Tom Iovino is rallying everyone around getting the next generation started with Get Woodworking Week. Matt Kenney proudly proclaims that there is no cheating. Marc Spagnolo just want’s everyone to learn to build. Todd Clippinger constantly asks, “why arent you in your shop?”These friends, and many, many others, practice a craft known as Woodcraft. They also help teach it to newcomers and spread the joy it entails.

After all the work that went into it, I was disappointed to learn this
book stand wasnt woodcraft.

Hopefully I’m helping too. I did think long and hard about it, and I know that my recent suggestion to a beginning woodworker that he use pocket screws instead of hand cut mortise and tenons would fall under Paul’s wrath.  I also know my advice provides a much lower barrier to entry and will get completed projects under my friend’s belt. Diving right into hand cut joinery would likely just result in frustration.To Paul’s snobbish claims, I say a machine is a tool. I use tools and practice Woodcraft. I know that to be true.Since Paul spreading his snobbery instead of Woodcraft as of late, I’ll leave the last word to Megan.

Tools don’t build things; people build things.

And statements such as Paul’s help to build nothing.

Editor’s Note:It has been brought to my attention that Paul’s statements are opinion, and opinion should not be treated as fact. While I agree with this, I feel that simply dismissing Paul’s statements as opinion gives him a pass for the the weight his opinion carries (given his position in the woodworking community) and harm I feel it does to the community.

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