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Woodworking: Learning to Solve Problems

Back in 2014, I would see my brother come back home with these really cool pieces of furniture that he made in the woodshop here at GS, I always thought that what he made was really cool and I knew that I wanted to do the same thing when it was my turn to go to school here. When I finally was able to take woodworking, I was so pumped and excited.

When we started working it came really easily and naturally to me. I would spend more and more time in the shop. Throughout the year, I started to produce a box, bowls, and a table. Carter had shown me really how to perfect the way in which I cut and shape the wood to get the shape that I am going for. When we went virtual during the spring, woodworking was hard. It was a bit hard from going from building my projects to making models out of household items and doing only sketches. But once we returned, I spent all of my free time in the shop.

During this year, I have made so many things. I have many countless bowls, four or five tables, and three to four longboards and skateboards. If there is something that goes wrong with making the furniture there always seems to be some sort of solution to make the piece even better. When I was making a table this year and while I was sanding, the tabletop split in half, I looked into seeing what I could do to fix it and I saw these things called river tables. River tables are tables that are bonded together with a pigmented epoxy to make it seem like there was water flowing through the table. Another time, I was making a bowl and I accidentally carved right through the bottom. I was able to also fill that with an epoxy mix.

Woodworking has helped me a lot this year have an outlet that I am able to turn to when I am feeling stressed. I would have never known that this really is something that I enjoy until I took the class and figured out that I want to have this art be a part of me for the rest of my life.

Charlie is a day student from Yardley, Pennsylvania.

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