Student Project Review: Sean Staniforth

For Year 11 Industrial Technology – Timber, we have been working on a variety of projects since the commencement of this year.

To kick start our skills we commenced with a joints practice exercise. This involved constructing a through dovetail joint along with a half blind dovetail out of the pine. A dovetail joint is one of the more advanced joints in furniture making, which was a great challenge for all of us whilst being the perfect opportunity to learn and refine our skills. To construct the two joints, we used entirely hand tools tackling the joinery from a traditional stance utilising hand saws, chisels and marking gauges to mark, cut and refine our joints.

After practising the joints, we commenced our first project; the construction of a tool tray using 6 different traditional joints, which were to be cut by hand. These joints included a through and a half blind dovetail joint for the corners as well as a mortice and tenon and bridle joint for the handles. Other joints included a rebate joint and a butt joint with screws inserted for reinforcement.

The project required careful marking out and cutting. There was zero tolerance for error as this would mean gaps in the joints and resultant loss of strength or a joint that doesn’t fit together. Practice was required and in some cases reattempting a joint that previously was not up to standard.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed this task. It was a fantastic project on a small scale that allowed us to practise, refine and hone our skills whilst developing our techniques, which will be applied to larger projects in the future. Our tool trays/trays will be used for a variety of tasks; they are perfect for housing smaller tools such as chisels, marking knives, tape measures and marking out equipment. They are also very suitable for housing fasteners such as a selection of screws or nails along with hardware such as hinges. These trays are easily adaptable for any use to one’s desire.

After completing this piece by hand, developing, refining and finessing our skills and techniques, we will now be applying and expanding on these established skills, utilising power tools in constructing a breakfast bar stool. The stool will be our first practical piece of furniture on a larger scale. This piece will use similar joints that we used in the tool tray along with some new machined cut joints such as biscuit joints and domino joints. We have recently commenced producing this piece out of white oak, which will form part of our major assessment. Currently we have cut the legs and aprons to length and will be progressing to cutting the joinery. Reflecting upon the completion of this piece, we are all very satisfied with our tool trays and the end results. We all look forward to applying these skills in our next piece along with our Year 12 major project in the following year. Sean Staniforth

Mr D Breeze
TAS/VET Construction Teacher