Daisy Serebrin Project 1: Building with Hand Tools

Starting project 1, my first thought when hearing what needed to be made was, "I'm never going to use a toolbox". When it was said that it didn't need to be a toolbox, I knew I wanted a planter box but it could not be as simple as putting four pieces of wood on a base of wood. I started off watching Ryan's video on how to use Fusion. The whole process was personally really tricky. I created two boxes thinking I would just put them together and hollow them out and be done. That was not the case. I had to separate the boxes, hollow them out, and put them together again. I had to also make a cutout for the water to flow from one box to the other. Just that part was tricky because I didn't know how to cut out just a little piece until I was told to use the really helpful drawing setting. During each step I took, there were times when I had to backtrack to move forward which was hard because I thought that I was almost done and I wasn't. I'm so glad I finished though because I really like what was made. Ryan said it was a cat feeder which I thought was funny. I mean it could turn out to be if I ever get a cat or a planter that has plants that cats can eat. After creating the planter, making the blueprint was simple. Putting the measurements was also easy, so that was a nice way to end it and I felt accomplished.

The next step in creating the planter was getting measurements right and sketching it onto my 11¾ x 96-inch wooden board. I only sketched out my walls, so I could trace the body and cut out the base. It seemed like an easier way to go about creating the planter. The measurements initially were not great. I had numbers that were to the millimeter and centimeter, so I had to reconfigure most of my measurements. It was not easy because, what I did to one side, I had to do the other side. In these steps, Austin was really helpful. He advised me to make the piece that joins the two boxes as one piece of wood instead of two. After the measurements were done and I had my cut list, I went onto sketching it on my wooden board. This took some time. Austin helped with this as well. I kept trying to measure but didn't always have a right angle so I would start over. It finally got fixed with a right-angle tool. I don't know why I didn't think of that. Thankfully it all worked out in the end.

After that, I just had to cut out and put it together which seemed like an easy thing to do. I ended up with 7 pieces. Cutting overall, was not so bad. Using the miter saw, I think is what its name is, was really easy after learning about the dash line light it has. One thing that was tricky about the whole process was making sure my board was straight. Some of the cuts were off by a tiny bit. The band saw was pretty simple. Thankfully when I had to make smaller cuts, I just used the pushing tools and it turned out fine. The hardest saw for me was the jigsaw. It was hard for me to go in a straight line, but I'm glad I got to use it. I used most of the tools inside the room. That includes both of the band saws. The one in the middle part of the room did start to burn my wood so that was an experience but Sydney was there and it turned out fine. Once the cutting was done, I took my wood and made sure all my pieces lined up how they were supposed to. I ended up having to use the sanding machine to take off some wood in some places. Before doing that, I had a piece that fit right and would use it as my measurement. I then would make it on the piece that needed to be shaved. The wood was shaved till the line was mostly unseeable. I lined up my planter body again figuring out where to make my cut out. Then Ryan showed me the easiest way to make the cutout and I did it on my piece of wood.

Next, I started by drilling the back pieces together. This I found hard because I needed the upper leverage but it was not stable. Ryan helped me with this and showed me how much pressure I needed to put into the drill in order to get the screw in all the way. After getting the back, taller box done, I thought that I had missed a step. With that, I had to take some of my screws out, later finding out that I was wrong and didn't miss a step. With this, I disassemble what I had done, practically starting from the beginning with two screws in. I then screwed other screws how they originally were. Thankfully, I hadn't made a new hole, using an existing hole. When my planter body was done, I took my leftover wood and sketched out my planter base. After I used the miter saw and the band saw to cut out my base. This pretty much took no time at all since I had practice from all the cutting I had previously done. When attaching the base to the body, since one box is taller than the other, I had to find items that would make the body more stable since I had to flip it over to drill in the base. With this, I used some of the wood I cut and many rolls of duck tape. This was pretty simple except for the occasional wobbling. To finish it of, I used the three different types of sanding to sand as much as I felt I could without getting to the screws and making it look more circular than boxy. I also cleaned up the edges to make sure there wasn't any way to get splinters.

Overall, this was a great experience. I did better than I thought. My walls could be straighter when put together. When drilling, sometimes my wood would move a bit which created un unevenness. I learned a lot, especially with the drill and the different sounds that it makes. When I was in the shop, the student helpers were really nice and helpful. They taught me some tricks and ways to cut pieces of wood that were too small for the miter saw and that I thought were too small for the band saw but turns out were not. In making my planter, I did flip my middle piece around which meant my shorter box was on the right instead of left, but it turned out to be a "happy accident" (Bob Ross). I'm really glad I learned how to use the hand tools and I'm sure there are more things I can learn to do with these tools.