Phase two of our huge final project is simply this: Make at least FIVE cuts in a 2 X 4 X 18 piece of wood and have the pieces joint together. We are not allowed to use anything but this piece of lovely wood and the scary tools in the wood shop. Sound easy? Wrong. I have a few ideas that were inspired from the following pictures:
I have cut my wood chunk into 18" strips that are 1/4" thick. At this point I'm not sure how I'm going to assemble it, or where I will cut notches for joints, but we keep moving forward...
[October 24, 2010]
So, I award this wood project with my first mental breakdown of the iARC undergraduate program.
The project is as complete as it's going to get. That does not mean I do not have a finished project, but there were a few things I would like to change if I had the time. I am proud of the final composition for the most part, but I wish every nook-and-cranny pieced together perfectly.
Using my "prototype" as a guideline, I began to cut and measure the pieces from my second piece of wood. As I thought I was taking special care to get each measurement right, I managed to screw up severely. I measured basically everything except for the frame and middle pieces wrong. I failed to realize this until I got back up to my studio space to assemble this project. Feeling at a loss at that point, I just put my head down and started crying. After letting it all out, I sucked it up, re-measured everything, and was able to get a piece of wood from another classmate.
My third attempt at this was much more successful; I just had to rush to get it done. And of course, everything couldn't go the way I wanted them to. The bandsaw that I had to use moves from side-to-side too much, and kept breaking off pieces of my wood. I lost at least half of my wood pieces because of that. Trying to continue with my work, I went back up to my studio to assemble as many pieces as I could. I measure one thing wrong (again!), and had to re-cut half the pieces that broke. At this point however, I had run out of time.
My final project is a little shaky. My craftsman ship could be a little bit better, and I wish I had time to go back and re-measure the one piece that is wrong. During final construction, more pieces began to break. I also wish I had time to make extra support stands for the structure so that it was much more stable. I was getting more and more frustrated, and losing any hope with this project.
With minor improvements, this project will be what I want it to be. I do plan on going back to fix the notches so that this project will end they way I wanted it to.
