Revamping a Middle School Woodshop

[ncastater]

Hello! I’m taking over my middle school’s woodshop and I’d really appreciate your advice on good brands and beginner projects. Please keep in mind cost and that my students are hard on equipment.


Table saw – 10” vs. 12”? Sliding table? Router extension? See a lot of cool stuff on Grizzly – are they any good? Anything better?

Router vs. Router Table vs. Router Table Extension for Table Saw?

Midi lathe – delta vs. jet vs. turncrafter commander?

Need a sharpener/grinder… no idea – saw a Makita wet wheel I like…

Projects – will start with pine box dragsters, wooden tool box, birdhouse, etc… (I’d really appreciate your advice with this – need great beginner’s/student projects or places to find cheap or free plans/templates).

Fundraising - starting an FFA club with pen woodturning – any advice?


ALL ADVICE IS WELCOMED!!!



Thanks so much!!!
Noal

 

[bobby g]

SawStop table saw would be good although it's pricey. Jet 6" jointer, separate router table so more students can be working at once, Delta Midi lathe, decent drill press. All but the SawStop can be found used for big savings. If not SawStop then Grizzly 10" with riving knife.

bobby g

 

[MarkE]

Grizzly has good stuff. IMHO.

I would think a 10" cabinet saw would be enough. Can't see an advantage to a 12" in a school woodshop.

Router in a table seems safer than hand held. That said, both would be ideal.

Check WorkSharp 2000/3000 for sharpening. Easier to use and usually less expensive.

 

[mshel]

From a liability standpoint, the only choice is SawStop for a table saw. With recent injury awards, I would bet the insurance will be sky high unless your shop is equipped with a skin sensing table saw. I don't have one but I am not a inexperienced young boy or girl. I would think it prudent to investigate this with your insurance carrier.


JMHO

Mike

 

[Joe Scharle]

A 14" bandsaw would be my choice of tool for middle schoolers and the projects you've listed.
I'd substitute a Jointmaker from Bridge City Tools for any tablesaw. And I agree with everyone else, that a router in a table is somewhat safer than one in the hands of 12 year old.

 

[MarkE]

A 14" bandsaw would be my choice of tool for middle schoolers and the projects you've listed.
I'd substitute a Jointmaker from Bridge City Tools for any tablesaw. And I agree with everyone else, that a router in a table is somewhat safer than one in the hands of 12 year old.

Good point on the band saw Joe.

 

[Jim M.]

Noal, have you seen this article in Fine Woodworking. Jim

 

[junquecol]

Having taught woodshop in a previous lifetime, I can say that most used tools were table saw, router (both in table and free hand), and lathe. Routers were used to make signs, and cut circles (with a trammel) for speaker boxes. On the lathe, almost every candle stick holder:wink_smil resembled a mini base ball bat:icon_scra.

 

[JimmyC]

As far as a tablesaw goes, it would definitely be a SawStop if the kids will be using it. If you will be the only one using it then you can go with a Grizzly 10" w/riving knife, 10" is the most cost effective size (mostly for blades) for a tablesaw. Grizzly is an extremely good choice for all of the other stationary tools as they will easily take a beating, they have been used in professional shops for year. Grizzly has the best customer service department out there with WMH group (Powermatic, Jet) running a close second, so if you eventually need replacement parts, downtime will be minimal.

Good luck,

 

[Otis Anderson]

Grandpa used to steadily remind me that "Your brain is your most important tool, sharpen that and the rest follows". Outside of repeating, "Do not place your fingers in direct line of the rotary cutting device" it never hurts to have all of the safety equipment you can have.

My suggestion would be find the tools with what you would consider "Over the top" safety and go to the next step! Routers, Joiners and Planers dont leave much to reattach.

Of course there is no replacement for the "There is no school, like the old school" and teach them how to do all of this stuff with hand tools in their first year and then graduate them to power tools in their second year?

 

[Douglas Robinson]

FWIW: Our middle school definitely has the kids using the scroll saw. They are making leaves. It is generally a very safe tool.

 

[bob vaughan]

FWIW: Our middle school definitely has the kids using the scroll saw. They are making leaves. It is generally a very safe tool.

That is an excellent observation.

What I see a lot of in middle schools shops that the students use are the scroll saws, jet mini lathes, and 6x48 belt disk sanders. Some let the students use the 14" band saw, depending on training. The table saw, radial arm saw, planer and jointer are rarely taught to students of that age/size, but sometimes are, depending on the teacher's experience with handling a crowd that young.

 

[red f]

I am SO happy to hear that you're doing this!

I teach custom woodworking in a community college in Morganton. I'll give sawstop the vote of confidence. It's a quality machine, and I don't have to worry about any of my students cutting themselves. However I did have a student nick the blade with a tennoning jig yesterday. There goes $140. Middle schoolers may think its fun to set it off, maybe not. Kick back is still a potential though.

I'd vote for an independent router table over the Table saw mounted one. That way If one is in use, the other isn't tied up.

Definitely the bandsaw and scroll saw are safer machines. Safe-er, not safe. Don't have to worry about kickback.

A small jointer, and a disk/belt sander would be good too. Also a planer. We have some Delta Midi lathes at our school and they are really good. I haven't used one, but the Rikon one seems good. It has metal knobs.

Avoid plastic knobs and parts when possible, they won't hold up long.

If you need to look at a shop to get a little inspiration drop by the Professional Crafts building at Haywood Comm Coll. They are good people.

Also I DEFINITELY recommend looking up Doug Stowe's blog. He does a lot with Middle/High school students.

Blaine Johnston
Western Piedmont Comm Coll

 

[JJD]

I would recommend getting in touch with Doug Stowe. His blog, Wisdom of the Hands, is located at wisdomofhands.blogspot.com. He teaches in a private school in Arkansas and likely has a good deal of information and ideas that you could use.

 

[mkepke]

No real experience in this area, but before buying anything I'd ask: what are the objectives of this class(es) and what's the lesson-plan ?

Tools should be bought to serve the lesson plan and the objectives - just like us hobbyists buy tools for a specific project. You might want scroll-saws..or CNC machines depending on what the class is meant to achieve.

Also, I noticed that work-holding (benches, vises, clamps), hand-tools, measuring tools were not listed ?

-Mark

 

[FlyingRon]

When I was in Jr. High (no middle school back then) everything was Delta and we weren't allowed to use the Unisaw that was there. We were limited to the jig and band saws.

The other thing we determined to be useless was the shop had a uniplane rather than a proper jointer.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

What grades will go to the woodshop? Boys and Girls?

When I was little we had shop in grammar school (the girls had Home Ec.). In 5th and 6th grades we learned how to use hand tools and never got near (nor were allowed to use) a power tool or even an electric drill or ROS sander. I moved before the starting 7th grade but believe they were introduced to power tools VERY slowly and carefully- starting with electric drill, drill press, jig saw, etc. before moving to the lathe, router, bandsaw, etc. in 8th grade and only used a TS under close personal supervision and may never have used a thickness planer or shaper. Our instructor was great, built many of the kitchens in town, but ran the school shop like a "Shop Nazi."

 

[jtdums]

I teach HS woodworking and would point you immediately to the site:
http://www.woodshopteachers.org as a great resource.

There is also a forum dedicated to teachers of woodshop that is linked from there and a great place to ask questions and search past posts.

I agree with a lot of what has already been mentioned. I think a table saw is essential in a shop, and even if you elect not to have your MS students use it, you will need it for material preparation. I don't think there is a school in the country buying anything but sawstop for liability reasons and many are removing old iron for this same reason.

Many projects at the MS level can be accomplished with few, if any power tools. Our own MS shop uses just a couple and manages to teach the basics and give the kids an over view of the field in a safe, fun, and controlled manner.

One big question is what direction is your program is going in and what are you attempting to teach?
Do you have a proscribed curriculum? Are you falling under the arts or are you under technology at your school? Is your focus to teach tool competency or problem solving or furniture design etc...

There are many project out there that the kids can enjoy and learn a great deal from that don't rely on their having to know how to use (and use safely) all the tools in the shop. I have a rolling testing policy and the kids learn about and test on the tools that they need to accomplish specific projects proposed by them and directed by them. They love being self directed and this staggers the need for specific tools at proscribed times. (Think 12 kids all standing around waiting to use the bandsaw.)

Many projects can work in both woodworking skills and cross into other disciplines too. Want to impress the admin? Teach kids how to make boomerangs and they will be talking about physics over lunch. :icon_cheers

For your own liability, the liability of the school, and the safety of the kids, find or create a strong safety testing regimen for each tool that you intend to have them using. Never take a students word for their knowledge and keep a written record of tools that the kids have successfully tested on.

Pm me if you would like to talk more or I can help in any way.
-Jim

 

[tonkatr]

I am also a retired Industrial Arts teacher.

I think that you left a few things out of your query. What is the name of your course? How long does the course last, nine weeks, a semester, a year? What is your expected class size? Your budget? What are you starting with as far as equipment? How will you be equiped to keep every student in class involved in their work and not standing around waiting to use something?

As far as a table saw, you actually have no choice. The SAWSTOP technology is available to you. GOD forbid, if one kid got hurt on a conventional saw even with a guard in place, they would close your program in a hearts beat. The technology is there. The liability is just too much for a school board when a severe accident happens. Even with the technology, the Saw Stop guard that is designed for the saw should also be employed at all times.

I saw what happened when very good 33 year Ind. Arts teacher had a student cut off a finger on a Delta Uni Saw with guard in place. The cost of the court case and settlement was above $225,000. This man kept his job, lost his program, and then retired. That is why a SawStop, with excellent demonstrations, and guard in place, is the only way to go.

With that out of the way, I would love to set up a SHOP.

Dick

 

[Martin Roper]

I am in my 14th year of teaching Middle School. I don't teach shop, but I know this age group well. There is nothing a 13 year-old can't break or misuse. They can break hardened steel ball bearings in a sandbox with a rubber mallet.

From my MS shop days I remember that we used mostly hand tools, but also the scroll saw; sanders, both fixed and handheld; electric drills, saber saws and woodburning pens for pyrography. We did do projects which required the table saw, jointer, planer, etc., but the shop teacher operated those.