One of my favorite assignments I did this semester was my birdhouse, which I made in woodworking.

This project was fun to make! It is made of alder wood, dowels, wood glue and some small pins. I got to learn how to do a box joint, (the square pattern bonding the pieces of wood along the edges) and cut different angles on the table saw for the roof.

However, I would be lying if I said there weren’t any… setbacks.

The shop was re-arranged, and unfortunately my project was lost, so I had to restart. That wasn’t a big deal- my first attempt wasn’t as good as it could have been. Then, some of my pieces had been cut wrong, so I had to re-cut them. Eventually, I finished the final sanding and stained my project with mineral oil. I came back the next day, and I guess someone had accidentally spilled dark stain everywhere because there were splotches on my project. I would’ve left them, but they were quite noticeable. I re-sanded my project with 80 to 120 grit to get rid of them and had to re-stain my project. I didn’t have time to go all the way to 200 grit, so the final project was a bit rough in some spots.

Overall, I think the amount of time and the adversity I had to overcome make the project a lot more meaningful. Woodworking was one of my favorite classes from last semester, and hopefully I will have another opportunity to participate in this course!

– Maddy