Slightly Frustrating

Today I was supposed to be introduced to the lathe by Mr. Cowell, but the room with the lathe was hosting a lecture during Cowell's free period. Once he shows me how to run the lathe and some basic technique, I will be able to work a little bit more independently. Hopefully I can move forward on the lathe this week. Updates will follow.

Lathe Concerns Resolved!

Today I met with my mentor to see if he had been able to get us time on the lathe. Great news, the teacher that teaches in the room with the lathe said we can come in and use it whenever we want. I am very relieved because I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to get any time to work on the lathe. With this now open door, I will be able to start my lathe work tomorrow. I can't wait!

Some of My Classmates Projects

After looking at several blogs that belong to my fellow WISE students, I am excited to see how many different things are going on. Some people are involved in some really cool things. Music production, modeling, fitness training, becoming an EMT, and baking that is taken to a new scientific level, are just a few. I am intrigued by many of the projects that are going on and look forward to seeing everyone develop as our time frame moves forward.

Slight Road Block

So today I went to meet with Mr. Cowell and hopefully begin on the lathe but we ran into a problem, the room that has the lathe has classes during all of mine and Mr. Cowell's free periods. So he is going to talk to the teachers that teach during those periods and we will meet next week to discuss what the next step will be.

Possible Community Contact

At the end of my mentor meeting today a woman came into Mr. Cowell's room and started asking about my project. When I told her what I was doing she said her husband cuts and dries his own wood and she would talk to him about my project to see if he had any recommendations or information. I'm really excited about the possibilities surrounding this opportunity.

Getting Started

Today I met with my mentor Mr. Cowell and we took the first step in working with the lathe. My first project on the lathe will be turning a pen to practice technique and become familiar with my tools, and the step we took today was to glue brass inserts into the wood to form the well of the pen. Now I have to let the glue dry overnight and should be ready to begin turning my pen tomorrow.

Moving Forward

After my first meeting with my mentor today, I am feeling good about my project. I've learned about the tools I'll need to use to complete my project and am ready for the next step. My mentor suggested that next week I get on the small lathe at the school and start woodworking a pen, to practice technique. In the meantime, I will do some research on what type of wood I will use for my bat!

Tools Needed

After conducting some research I have determined that the tools I will need to make my bat, besides the lathe, will be a roughing gouge, a parting tool, a spindle gouge, and calipers. The roughing gouge will be used to shave a lot of the wood off of the blank, bringing it close to the specified diameter and that diameter will be measured using calipers. The parting tool will be used to make spaces in the wood to mark dimensions. The spindle gouge will be used to fine tune the dimensions to get them where I want them to be.

Project expansion idea?

After a phone call with my older brother who is an avid baseball fan such as myself, and telling him about my proposed WISE project, he had an idea. His idea was that I also make a composite wood bat. Composite bats are relatively new to baseball and I know very little about them. This will definitely be something for me to investigate.

First Two Weeks

This is a basic outline of what I plan on completing for my project during the first two weeks of independent study

Week 1:

• Begin research on woodworking techniques
• Learn about the lathe and how to run it 
• Meet with my mentor and discuss a project timeline

Week 2:

• Solidify research on woodworking techniques
• begin work on small lathe to practice basic woodworking technique
• meet withe mentor to discuss progress 
• 
  

Introduction

Dear Reader,

My name is Brennen and I am a senior at Ithaca High School and I am starting my WISE project soon. WISE is a class at Ithaca High that has an entire semester dedicated to independent student learning through a self guided, 16 week project. For my project I have decided to learn how to woodwork a baseball bat. I have no experience woodworking so I am a little bit nervous how my bat will turn out but I am ready for a new challenge. I hope to tackle this with tons of research and learn a lot about woodworking, baseball bats and even how mass the production of wood products has made hand turning wood a dying art. I have been a baseball player for most of my life and when I was thinking about what to do for my WISE project, I figured what better field than the sport that I have loved my whole life! I am excited to get started on this project and eager to explore the world of woodworking and hopefully learn lots of new things.