First Wood Shop Project

I have completed my first wood shop project today!! Even though it was just a practice project, I still felt proud when I was done.

This project was called a Grid Board, which I explained in my last post about how I did the lines and first holes. After I completed the steps with the scrape tool and hammer, I moved onto the drill press. I would find the hole and rest my finger at the bottom of the hole, which would be used as a guide to line up the drill bit to the hole. Once I felt that the drill was lined up with the hole I placed my left hand on the board to hold board steady. I would measure with my right hand to make sure I had at least 2-3 finger spaces between my hand and the drill bit. After I felt that I was secure I took my right hand and went up to where the on/off buttons were located. I started the drill then slowly reached with my right hand to the right of the drill and pulled the handle down to 6 o'clock, while counting in my head five seconds so I wasn't doing it too fast, then pushed the lever back up once the drill made the hole. Then, I would slide my hand back across to the left and turn off the drill. I leave my hand on the off button until the machine has come to a complete stop, then I moved both hands to my board and clean off the wood chips and inspect my work. I learned that when the board would turn a little it meant that the drill bit was lining up with the center of the  hole I made with the scrape tool, if it didn't do that I was either right on or way off. I had a few that didn't line up and I knew that I was either lucky or way off mark....off the mark was more like it. I  could have re drilled my holes that were off the mark, but I wanted to be able to see what it looked like with some mistakes and I also felt good about my end result that I didn't want to tamper with it, :). Next project is a name sign. Remember, I did this blind folded! WOOT WOOT

The lines are from using a scrape tool, small holes are from hammering in scrape tool and larger hole is from drill press

End result, only a few off :) My instructor uses the horseshoe game  idea on how to count which ones count as a miss

Drill Press