Woodwork

[Wild Owl]

Do or should requirements 4,5 & 6 require separate projects? I have a Scout that has come to me wanting to use one project to meet all of the requirements.

[cballman]

In my opinion you could combine req. 4 and 5. or 4 and 6 but you since you cannot add to or take away from the req. look at them and and see how each one is worded and then you should understand why you could combine only those that i mentioned above.

[deweylure]

After reading the requirements they seem vague.. Its your call .


Personally I think these requirements need clarification and a rewrite. Most wood workers I know use power tools and the occasional hand tool.

Dewey

[evmori]

It's up to the counselor.

[FrankJ]

A single project could easily cover all the requirements. It would be up to the counselor that all the requirements were met individually.

Speaking of old requirements, I wonder how many people under thirty have actually seen a brace which is a particular kind of hand drill(requirement 4). It kinda like requiring somebody to write a computer program using punch cards

[cballman]

I might be just a tad older than 30 but my son who is 16 has played with my brace and bits for years just as I did when I was a wee child. the old hand tools are becoming a lost art but still work very functionaly with wood. sometimes when you combine the old with the new you will learn more about how and why the new power tools were invented. just the way I beleive that we can keep up the lost arts in the world today.

[FrankJ]

Amen Charlie.

[deweylure]

I agree about younger people not seeing a brace. the only place I have seen a new one is in the Lee Valley catalog. I have my grandfathers brace and some bits.

My son is starting the meritbadge. He is pretty good on a wood lathe. It will be a challenge seeing him use some of the tools.

A word of caution to all ,If you use an old tool make sure it is in good shape. dull bits and blades cause people to force the tool which can cause you to loose control.

Dewey

[Wild Owl]

Thanks for all of the feedback. I personally do not own a brace, but have used my father's and grandfather's. Old tools are a lost art. A well tuned plane sounds much sweeter that a power sander.

BTW: I still have my punch cards from FORTRAN class.

[WVBeaver05]

I too am a bit over 30 and remember well the use of a brace and bit in Jr. High shop class as well as several hand saws. In that day it was required that you complete a project with only hand tools before you could move on to the power tools that we had in the shop.

And, I have my FORTRAN (and other languages) punched cards as well. When I teach graduate IS courses and explain how the process for developing programs used to work, the looks on the students faces are priceless!! The same should be true of woodworking since most of the kids that I know grew up with portable drills, etc.

YiS