are there sufficient career openings for all these furniture makers?

6 minutes ago, DAB said:

are there sufficient career openings for all these furniture makers?

I found one when I graduated.  Met the Company owner at a woodworking trade show where I had projects in a student competition. 

Being in the Kansas though there are few if any furniture companies close.  Most students get jobs as Interior Architects or related design fields. 

 

4D

Edited April 14, 20224 yr by 4DThinker

56 minutes ago, 4DThinker said:

the Architecture industry Association

To run a historical renovations / repairs company, and pull the all-important permits, I believe you must have a degree in architecture. At least here, where the Historical Commission can stop any job withinin designated areas or upon specific properties. In the mid-1990s I looked into it, after finding and rebuilding an 1850s granite-walled basement entrance w/ stairway, covered over and hidden for decades (the new building owner was thrilled to let me add the work onto his plumbing job, as he now had approved egress and a separate rentable space).

not a fan of the .gov telling private property owners what they can and cannot do with their property.  they want to spend public money to conserve public buildings, that's fine.

53 minutes ago, Dovetail said:

To run a historical renovations / repairs company, and pull the all-important permits, I believe you must have a degree in architecture. At least here, where the Historical Commission can stop any job withinin designated areas or upon specific properties. In the mid-1990s I looked into it, after finding and rebuilding an 1850s granite-walled basement entrance w/ stairway, covered over and hidden for decades (the new building owner was thrilled to let me add the work onto his plumbing job, as he now had approved egress and a separate rentable space).

 

 

I have worked in and know lots of people in Louisville, Ky. There are areas up there with old Victorian houses etc. that are on some sort of historic register. Lots of rules come with that for the owners....I love the old stuff, but some of the story's I've heard sound like pure headaches. 

On 4/13/2022 at 7:52 AM, Gene Howe said:

Added tags. The boss @John Morris likes tags.

 

I always forget'em  

I wanted a new deck to replace the condemned deck that was on the back of my house when I bought it.  Found a good local contractor, who told me it was up to me to submit the designs to the city to get a permit.  I drew up the plans in some Landscape software I bought at Home Depot, printed them out and submitted them.  A day later they called me to come in for the permit.  The plans had locations for support posts and all the structural details.  The city planner (an Architect) just had to check them for any obvious mistakes.  There weren't any.  One inspection after the holes were dug for posts.  Just to make sure they were below the freeze level. 

 

If the deck hadn't been attached to my house I wouldn't have needed a permit. 

4D

Edited April 15, 20224 yr by 4DThinker

I went back and took my time to re-read the blog linked in the first post of this thread. Also, have followed along with all of the posts. What I have found most interesting are the portions of the discussion centering on teaching/learning styles and strategies. 

 

A little back story first. In the fall of 1970, I took a chance on a new career. With absolutely no real teaching experience, other than teaching Scuba Diving, I took a job as the electronics instructor at the newly opened county vocational high school. As a condition of employment, I needed to attend training on the teaching materials purchased for the program. The materials were from a company called Electronic Aids and included texts, labs and practical experience elements. The most important thing I brought back from the training was how to have the students retain the knowledge necessary to obtain a place in the workforce.

 

The Electronic Aids program was developed by Morris Tischler. His concept of teaching was to do every lesson 3 times, each from a different approach. For electronics it was a.) classroom lesson, b.) a quick lab/experiment/demonstration and c.) a physical construction/testing of the circuit. Each construction of a circuit built upon the last circuit and by the end of the year the student had a working complex device.

 

From my own experience in Navy and Army electronics schools, taking notes during the classroom session helped me remember important information. This became another piece of my teaching strategies. I did find, immediately, that kids had a difficult time taking notes just from listening. Everything I wanted them to have was written on the blackboard- diagrams, terminology, definitions even detailed circuit operations. All this was mandatory to be copied into their personal notebooks. I read it as I was writing it, waited for them to copy it and then read it again. The information entered their eyes and ears, went out through their fingers and onto paper.  Each student had a written reference from which to study and take with them.

 

By having a multitude of approaches, to a single topic, helped ensure the information was viable to any learning style(s).

 

Well, the back story and the front story ran together but you get the idea.

 

 

 

What is possible to do with wood related to making furniture from it is far broader than we can teach in one semester.  That initial semester concentrates on exposing the students to a broad array of processes and sequences, safe use of the tools, a useful vocabulary, and a series of small successes to build confidence. 

We lost a year of shop access thanks to the pandemic. Classes were still taught online but nothing was built. Student who missed being in shop for Workshop 2 showed up for workshop 3 with no real understanding of how complex things get made. There was no remedial training and the workshop 3 projects were challenging.  With instructor help though all students completed their projects.  That they did seemed to many a miracle. The delight in the room was tangible. Students all realized that they still had much to learn.   Had they taken workshop 2 in the shop this would have been just another successful semester with students confident in their abilities. 

4D

One of the secrets I learned while teaching was that it helped to tell the students the minimum of what it was I expected them to learn while doing a required project.  Rather than assign them to make a project on the lathe, I made sure to emphasize that there was a correct and safe way to hold the lathe tools they needed to pay attention to.  That there was a strategic way to transfer dimensions to the project.  That if done right exact duplicates could be turned reliably.  That learning these steps on small projects helps put the lathe's potential among the tool options they can consider when deciding how to make parts for their furniture projects.   

When I haven't been so specific or when a student missed a demo/lecture it becomes obvious that many students missed the important lessons despite all completing the projects. I've had students that made 4 tapered legs for their table project and clearly hadn't paid attention when I showed them how to transfer dimensions and use a caliper to verify diameters at critical points along the length. 

https://4dfurniture.blogspot.com/2022/04/woodworking-education-lathe.html

4D

Edited April 17, 20224 yr by 4DThinker