As the scritch-scritch of sandpaper on wood filled the air, “I didn’t realise it was going to be such hard work,” sighed 13-year-old Janani. Rajvir (10) was trying to stop his younger brother from helping him smoothen out the rough edges of the pieces of wood.
When asked to introduce themselves, the 16 kids (six of whom were girls) at the carpentry workshop, conducted by Mango Education in association with Craftome, came up with a variety of interests but none mentioned carpentry. Later when asked why they signed up for the workshop, the answers ranged from “just curiosity” to “I like taking things apart and putting them back.”
Architect Samyuktha S first asked them what they knew about carpentry. “Working with wood,” was the unanimous answer. After they listed the things that could be made from wood, Samyuktha introduced them to the concept of hard wood and soft wood and how to stop wood from decomposing.
Carefully transferring her sketch on to the wood.
Then she showed them the item they would make: a horizontal pen stand. The most important thing, she said, is precise measurements. After taking them through the difference in centimetres and inches, she asked them to plot the measurements on a piece of paper. A few kids finished quickly and Arumugham Sankaran moved in to talk about why precise measurements were crucial and why one should avoid wastage of wood. “See the gap between these two lines,” he pointed to one drawing. “This means you’re going to have to saw the wood twice. Whereas, if you had drawn just one line,” he demonstrated, “you would have got two pieces of wood with just one cut.”
Sankaran also drew the attention of the kids to carpentry’s environmental link. When they were plotting their drawing on wood, he pointed out that the more lines they had to cut, the more wood they were wasting. The kids were quick to catch on. “The more wood we waste, the more trees will be cut,” explained one youngster seriously to his sister.
Once all the kids had finished, they were asked how many lines they had to cut. The kids began calling out: 2, 4, 5,6. Again the facilitators, this time joined by Hariprasad of Craftome, went around fine-tuning the sketches.
Now it was time to start on the wood. Blocks of wood were handed out and the kids had to compare it with their drawing. Carefully they duplicated the drawing on the paper on to the block. A bunch of hacksaw blades set in individual frames was brought out but before that each child got a glove and a mask. Now it was time to start cutting.
The kids were paired off; one to hold down the plank while the other sawed with an adult overseeing. One enterprising youngster laid the plank on the bench and climbed up to hold it down with his feet while his partner sawed away. Hariprasad ordered him down, saying ruefully, “If someone saw this, they’d think I was teaching all the wrong stuff.” At another table, he explained how to cut. “Your action must be like the bowing of a violin.”
Not easy to use the handsaw.
Once each child had managed to cut at least two pieces, they were given a surprise. The rest would be done by an electric saw. This was deliberate, said Hariprasad. “They should know how much hard work goes into this.” But the kids didn’t think so. “Why couldn’t we have done this first?” grumbled 11-year-old Lokesh.
Once they had cut the block to the required number of pieces, it was time to make sure the edges were smooth enough to stick together. As the kids went to work with the sandpaper, Arumugham asked, “What is the force you are using?” Friction, replied one boy immediately. His next question — “What is being generated?” — was met with blank looks. Feel the wood, he instructed. “It’s warm,” said one. “Heat.”
Posing proudly with their stands.
Then came the gluing and varnishing. The first was a finicky affair and there was much laughter and teasing as bits fell apart. Some were sent back to smoothen the edges further. Once the stands were done, it was time to give them a coat of varnish. Many of the kids couldn’t bear the strong smell. Lokesh (10) pinched his nostrils together with one hand even as he painted with the other. By 5.30 pm, all of them were posing proudly with their stands. I asked a group about what they had learnt, the answers came thick and fast: Focus and concentration, maths, patience, physics, sketching, and finally, how to work hard and have fun at the same time.
