Carpentry Starting the Roof

It's amazing to see how fast the Sauna is coming together.  We've been waiting for a clear day to start the roofing, and we got some beautiful days this week.  We did half inch OSB, tar paper, and metal roofing.  I was so impressed with how square and true the students framing was, because the roofing went on perfect.

 Enjoying the sun from their new roof!

 Tar paper

 Metal installed

 

The Shakes House Carving

My class and I took a trip to meet with the Master Carver working on the door screen for the new Shakes house.  The work he's doing is amazing and the students seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say.  

Carpentry, Cedar for the Sauna

No sauna is complete without Red Cedar to give it that great smell.  Well it just so happens we live on an island populated with cedar, and there are several local mills that can process it for us.  Mike Allen gladly produced 1,000 brdft. of 1'x6" planks; more than enough to complete the whole project.  This is the second project he's helped us with, the first being the yellow cedar for the saw horses pictured below.  The students and I have made several trip to his mill to learn a bit about the process of producing lumber.  We used Mr. Stokes big Dodge to pick it up, but there was so much we could fit it all into one load.  We're planning the wood one side and dadoing a lap joint down the sides.

The pile of Red Cedar (cut beautifully)

 The sauna all framed up and some of the cedar in place

Carpentry, Framing the Walls

I know what your going to say; carpenters work outside in all weather, but really what carpenter would work inside if he could!  Yes, we made enough room in the shop to frame the walls inside on the floor, then we just carried them out to the build site.  It was nice as winter weather here is cold and really rainy.  The students still get the idea.

Marine Fabrication, Midyear Update

The Marine Fabrication class is a tradition at Wrangell and always will be.  It is amazing that the students can enter this class and actually build a full size quality boat.  I could never list all the things that the students learn during class, but I can say that the students leave as very capable fabricators.  We are currently building two 18ft. jet scow similar to ones traditionally use in our community.  The process is going very well and the boat are taking shape.  We've had several helpful visits from Dave Brown (our former vocational instructor) and Dave Svendsen (a local marine fabricator) to ensure that the we are maintaining the quality that has historically come out of the school shop.  Here are some pictures of our progress so far this year.   (more pictures later)

Carpentry Class, Framing the Floor of the Sauna

The carpentry class has been learning the many aspects of designing and estimating a new structure, but now is the time to build.  The class designed a great sauna to be built and raffled off as a fundraiser for the shop program.  It's a huge undertaking both monetarily, and for the class to build, but they have jumped right in to do this.  We did a full design and estimate, generated a materials list, and did competitive bidding.  We are learning the building process from the ground up.  Each step has some classroom time and lecture then we actually build.  I hope you enjoy seeing the sauna come together!

More Middle Projects

Just wanted to post a couple more pictures of some amazing middle school wood projects.

Power Tech Engine Rebuild Project

I've discovered over the last few years that students think rebuilding the small engines is ok, but they don't really think it's useful.  Last year I had a couple students help me rebuild an engine for my truck, and they were completely into the whole process.  So that go me thinking the way to do it would be to have the students rebuild a full size engine.  I started asking around for an engine suitable for my class.  Randy Ferdinand at the old mill came through, donating an early modal chevy 350 with automatic transmission and 4x4 transfer case.

I know if look awful right now, but it will make vast improvements over the next years.  The first step is to make an engine for it.  Most student shops have a basic engine stand for rebuilding, but they don't allow the students to start the engine.  To make it really tangible I've decided we need an engine test stand so the students can start the engine at the beginning of the rebuild process.  They can than go through the whole process, doing all the required measurements and checks.  Put the engine back together and start it to ensure they did it correctly.  We started building a test stand similar to the one in the picture below.  

I'll add more pictures as we make progress.