Evening Star Newspaper, January 9, 1927, Page 79

MAGAZINE SECTION ILLUSTRATED FICTION AND FEATURES b g | ——— he Sunday Staf HUMO Part 5—8 Pages WASHINGTON, B C , BUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY ~~*\:7Vashington School Artisans Sh USING ELECTRI c CARVER-FOR FINISHING TOucHES - BY GEORGE H. DACY. ISTRICT schoolboys of all ages and sizes design and make enough furniture, musi- cal instruments, boats, auto- . mobile bodies, sporting goods, Tadio sets, chess tables, phonographs, candlesticks, floor lamps, skis and sleds to stock a retail shop and keep it supplied throughout the year. The younger generation enjoys more amusements, diversions, social advan- A tages and privileges than when grand- father was a boy, but let's give it credit for its capitalization of oppor tunities and its development of re- able skill in many of the modern sciences and crafts. There are plenty of the frivolous— scholastic eheiks and 16-year society queens—hut there are also many earnest, energetic youths, who are studious and scholar iy, and who show more remarkable achievements than have any of their predecessors. The majority of the boys in Washington grade and high schools are catalogued this latter classification In the local schools, if you will but in 7 \wisit some of these institutions, you | will find modern juvenile knights of plane and plank, ax and anvil, caliper and chisel, saw and square, molding | and shaping wood and metal into ar- ticles of utility and value. Boys but knee-high to an elephant's leg are modern soldiers of ancient arts. In some cases, the tools with which they work are larger than the ambitious workmen. Notwithstanding such dis crepancies, these youngsters complete creditable tasks of handicraft. They enjoy junior carpentry and cabinet making with the same avidity that they devote to b: ball, bicycles and basket ball. In_the grade schools, thes Johns, Josephs and Jameses the fundamentals of hand their uges. They learn the ot the woodworkir toys, playthings, ends, glove boxes, doll furniture and other similar articles. This training is a stepping stone to the anced tasks which they will attempt—and complete suc cessfully—in the high school drafting rooms and shops. Visit any the W shington high gchools which feature woodworking courses as parts of their curriculum and you will be amazed at the excel lence and variety of the juvenile a complishmen The song of the gaw, the rhythmic thud of hammers, the purr of power machinery, the gcreech of sandpaper rubbed vigorous ly over hard wood, the smell of paints and pigments moment vouthful ster and HAGB, O They make tools Were it not imma P 1 workshop ::f’,naundsr.«mm stat and turity of many of the workers, you would believe vourself in the bustiing production shops of a successful manufacturing establishment The schoolboys at Cent Jey and Eastern evidence skill in handling tools which many Washing ton carpenters i builders do not possess. These voungsters not Tearn the alpha to omega of try's “straight work,” but they become proficient in “fancy wood working.” They can do pi :-;1.»;@{. everything with modern hand Sench tools except make them Even ech, they c o ales than MeKin e pen also talk 1d tell no more inter- the silent storie ed skill which are repre the products of these - work benches and shops, we spent onehalf a day High School, where we re detail the activities of ing from 13 to 17 vears. {.{;_h:ltr;:z“w at Central may also be seen in duplicated form at any of at Central and experienced | schools | ansport . vou from the schoolroom to a profes- for | only | and | if the tools were endowed with | the other District high schools which | stress such utilitarian _enterprises. The enthusiasm of the young chaps in their work is the universal earmark of occupational woodworking courses. * ok o THE manual handicraft is divided into three different branches and inclydes furniture production or cabi- netmaking, pattern-making and wood- turning. The mill run of students from freshmen to seniors are al- lowed to make whatever they wish This system of self-selection has proved most practical. It increases the interest of the young workman if he engages in the construction of some article which he &vishes to pos. s or which he plans to present to his parents. In case the boys can- not decide upon what they want to make, they consult their parents and 10 who aid in the decision. Central High School the mail atalogues of supply establishments are used effec. tively as sources of ideas for furni | ture making. In the catalogue de scription of each dimensions are given. The students can use the relative proportions of these measurements in designing the furniture, musical instruments or ar. | ticles of ‘sport and play which they manufacture. The catalogues, as well as trade papers and magazines, are used as idea indices. After the student decides on making a console table, a mahoga floor lamp, a canoe or a banjo-ukulele, he draws a order | plans which he follows in his subse- quent construction You would be amazed if you could count and examine all the furniture, fittings and fixtures in Washington homes which have been made by schoolboys during recent years. Not haphazard, slipshod-built articles, but furniture which would be a credit to prominent commer: shops. J. H. Wilson, in charge of the woodwork ing courses at Central High School, has trained some 1,500 schoolboys at that institution s 1,000 others at McKinley Hig where he taught before first the Cen. tral pay roll. e to estimate that more than ateur workmen have been in Washington high_schools the last 10 years. Each of hoys made from three to four of furniture a vear during carefully supervised manual training aetiviti On this basis, it is prob. able that approximately 20,000 articles ave been made by the junior me hanics during the last decade. These nge in value from wooden candle sticks worth $3 a set to chairs, radio desks, tables and floor lamps h would sell for $15 to $35 apiece. uring an average value of $15 for each article, the sum total of their carpentry and cabinetmaking would aggregate about $300.000. If this | multiplicity of furniture were pur. | chased at retail stores, it would prob | ably have cost one-fifth to one-fourth | mor Scho signing an ned during these articles glebert Schmidt of Central lat terly made a beautiful console phono. aph of black walnut which would ave cost least $125 if purchased a_commercial shop. This youth of 17 Summers designed and made the musical instrument and its fine case. Of course, he purchased the triple. spring motor and the other acces- sories which function as the “mute musical master.” You can inspect all the mortices, tennons, joints and junetu in this econsoie inet, without finding a flaw in the work manship. Time, skill and persever- ance enabled the student to complete a task which a professional cabi. netmaker would be proud John McCrary, another Central student, has recently completed a gpiral smoking stand made .of ma- hogany. This beautiful birthday gift large furniture | vle article three | definite design to scale—the working | | | | WASHINGTON Woob CARVERS Use MODERN TooLs - PRrOFEssOR J.HWILSON AND ArTicLES MADE By *. SCHOOLBOYS . . for his father was carved by hand and is a typical example of the ex ceptional craftsmanship displayed by Washington’s junior wood carvers. Harold Hobbs has made chess table for his “dad.” He carved the double-size chessmen—knights and bishops and pawns—from specially selected maple and walnut material. The table and chessmen would cost { about $50 at a first-class retail shop. Young Hobbs devoted 145 hours of his shop work to the design and com- pletion of these handsome products. % ok OHN FISHER, another District schoolboy, who has obsérved his seventeenth birthday anniversary, de- signed and made a collapsible rowhoat which folds up into a 30-inch cube which can be transported readily in an automobile during a summer tour- ing trip. This boat, made of white pine, is one of the most remarkable sport-goods products of the local high school laboratories. It was made in three sections, each of which was provided with waterproof bulkheads The design is such that these three bulkhead sections are hinged together to form a waterworthy boat suitable for fishing, duck huntipg or other ex- cursions on the Potomac or similar rivers or lakes. The two end bulkheads fold back upon the middle section when the boat s not in use. It is really surprising vhat a good-sized boat can be pro- duced as if by magic from this con- densed package when it is trussed up for overland traveling. The collapsi- ble boat, although light in weight and asy to handle, is strong enough to t such hazards of river voyaging as pointed, submerged rocks and other shoals. The white pine was bent to shape after being steamer thoroughly. John Fisher built the abbreviated rowboat in about 40 hours of actual bench work.. The material consisted of £4 board feet of clear white pine, 1 inch thick. The complete cost of mat- terial and hardware amounted to $10. Carl Van Lowe has just finished work on the finest ornamental table ever produced in the Central High chool work shops. It is in Japanese style, with turned legs and ornamental etchers. This exquisite table, which is fine enough to ornament the home of the District’s wealthiest millionaire, has been finished in mandarin red with black and gold decorations. It has a crackle lacquer top, embellished with an attractive Japanese design. This fancy table is a striking example of the skill which some youths gain in scholastic shop work. Carl Van Lowe made this table in 30 hours, its retail ue being $30 to $35. He presented this table to Mr. Wilson as a Yule- tide gift Cecil McLendon, 15 years, has made a set of six dining room chairs at a total cost of $10 for material. The chairs are made of cabinet oak, the bottoms being upholstered by hand in attractive-leatheg, It-took ‘this-Jad, —— a walnut | R ow Notable Woodworking Skill MakinG MAHOGANY Book TroucH Henry Jounsons Homemape Motor BoAT - | who is engage shop work at 'en and mak ail value is Lendon plans with the set w Earl Foster, any table procured from store. will be delight labor, mans and as ip as an months. Another Ce and made an | elicited seen it. spun labor, an production of who upper institution. T}l Hence, many completed his June, despite t a musician, ga violin maker. four fine violi: completed a book-trough type mahog- which Another home this gift—the product of lov | Washington shops during the last 12 praise from all This dining room appur- | tenance represents of approximately student, who had no ambition to make | student, has been riding Washington any article of furniture for his home, | streets and avenues this last year in Js now ebusily engaged in the hand desk for Principal has supervisory Thirteenth E schoolboys that are musically inclined naturally wish to make instruments which and violins are manufactured in the high school shops. throughout the country as a wizard d in his second year of Central hours to de- e the chairs. Their re. about $35. Young Mc. to present his mother hen it isyfinished. another lad of 15, has would cost $25 if your favorite furniture Washington mother ed when her son brings s fine a piece of crafts v schoolboy has made in ntral student designed oak tea cart which has who have | hours of hard a monetary value | Yet another | d ha $: a quarter-sawed oak Alvin W. Miller, charge of the street educational * K ok K they can play. ukuleles, banjo-ukuleles dward Davis, who work at Central last he fact that he was not ined fame and notoriety Young Davis made ns during his years in varius. It was constructed by hand of maple imported from the Tyrolean Alps. Experts who played and ex- amined the violin when completed said that it will be worth at least $1,000 after two years' use. This violin is now being played reg- ularly by a talented musician in one ashington’s leading orchestras. Edward Davis is having this man season” the violin thoroughly before he attempts to sell the remarkably fine instrurhent. The three other violins, although slightly inferior to this masterpiece, are, notwithstand- ing, exceptional illustrations of the skill which the District woodcarvers ain in their unique school courses. ward Davis presented one of these violins to Central High School and it is now displayed in a glass case among the relics, historical exhibits and ath- letic trophies which are the property of that establishment. Raymond Talbert, another. Central a homemade sport roadster which he made during the time when he was studying automotive engineering and woodworking, as well as mechani- cal drawing. This homespun car is all the more remarkable in that the body is made from white oak which grew and was logged and sawed on the Virginia farm of young Talbert's grandfather. When the youth determined to build an automobile, he remembered some white oak lumber piled away in a barn on his grandfather's estate, He telephoned to his grandfather and asked if-he could have enough of the lumber to make an automobile body. An affirmative reply resulted in Raymond driving down to the farm the following Saturday and hauling school. The best of these was & won-|back several hundred feet of lumber derfully’ faithful copy +of-a..Stradi- in.the small ‘motor-truck’which he ! had borrowed for the trip. tain Washington automobile dealer's show room, the lad saw on display exactly the type of sport roadster hody which he wished to build. He inter- viewed the dealer, explained his plan and secured permission to take meas- urements of this body. These figures were the hasis for the plans which the bov subsequently drew. These plans were the guideposts which he fol- lowed in cutting, carving, chiseling and chipping the solid oaken boards into the shape and form of an auto. mobile body. Some of the material had to be steamed for several hours and then bent by handpower and mechanical pressure to the desired shape. This student purchased a discarded chassis and aytomobile engine of a popular make of car from the school automobile shop for $5. He mounted the homemade body upon the chassis, hooked up the engine, purchased a set of solid disc wheels—and soon ready for his first ride in the salvaged and hand-assembled machine. The body was a very creditable plece of workmanship, and after the owner had decorated it with several coats of paint and varnish, it looked like a factory-built product. Thig little car has traveled more than 15,000 miles since its schoolboy owner put the finishing touches on his first auto- mobile manufacturing job. A four-poster mahogany bed, such as the ones that delight you as you gaze at exhibition furniture during your windowshopping tours, is an- other valuable article made recently by one of the scholastic artisans. This boy chose that difficult piece of fur- niture to ke when he was given free choice to what he would build. He turned alit the tapered posts and rails on el lathes and did the rest “of_the ‘work ‘with “simple” hand NA At a cer- PAINT AND VARNISH ; el SHOP AT CENTRAL ~ tools. This bed is worth about $50 and represents 70 hours of expert labor. * X ¥ % ENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL offers woodworking courses merely as a part of the cultural education which it seeks to give its graduates. The majority of the students go to college after completing their preparatory work. The shop work thus is an in- formal and invaluable introduction to the boys—particularly those who study engineering or architecture— to the advanced “lab,” where they will spend many long and difficult hours before they finally win their “sheepskins." Though the majority of the boys go to college, some few have to earn their living after leaving high school About a dozen boys during the last 10 years have engaged in professional work as pattern-makers at the Wash- ington Navy Yard. About 60 boys take the pattern- making course at Central each year. Mr. Wilson_ instructs the lads con- cerning manufacturing plant systems and methods, while they also study mechanical drawing so that they ac- quire adeptness with caliper, square, drawing board and hard lead pencil After being well versed in_the funda- mentals of pattern-making practice, the voungsters begin their shop work. There they make accurate wooden patterns of gas-engine parts, grinder patterns, and patterns for lead ladles, piston rings and locomotive bells. Display cases in the Central corridors are filled with remarkably fine pat- terns which the schoolboys have made. The demands for the = spare-time services of these amateur carpenters, cabinetmakers and woodworkers would be legion if the school authori- ties followed the practice of obtaining outside employment for the students. This, however, is not done, although Washington householders who value the skill and training of these school- boys occasionally gain their assist- ance. Those who know Central stu- dents who aye interested in such out- side work have to deal directly with the junior woodworkers. The high school authorities are opposed to the school shop competing with outside firms. B Gale Murphy recently constructed work was equal to that which the average professional carpenter would have done. The glass-faced cabinets wera built according to their owner's plans and design. During the Christmas holiddy an- | other Central student spent his spare time in inclosing and partitioning sev- eral rooms in the attic of a Washing- ton residence. He earned the wages of the skilled mechanic during this assignment. The job was a real test of the boy's skill and ability to apply in practice what he had learned in shop and classroom When Winter comes some of the schoolboys always make skis, hoping that the snowfall will be heavy enough and remain on the ground for several weeks so that they may test out their wooden runners on the District, Maryland and Virginia hills. The skis are made of birch and are bent to the desired shape by the use of a special steaming apparatus which one of the Central teachers has rigged up from discarded furnace pipe. Thé boys or their parents pay for the lumber and material used in mak- ing the various pieces of furniture or other ornamental woodwork - which J the junior mechanics produce. Cedar tchests are popula and at an outlay of $10 for material, including hard- ware, the average student can make one of these storage receptacles which would cost double or treble that amount if purchased downtown. The boys mill the cedar. * Kk ok % [DURING _the 19261927 classwork Mr. Wilson fs allowing his stu- dents to make coples of a popular toy, patent papers for which have been taken out under this teacher's signa- ture. A certain Eastern factory pro- duced and sold 10,000 of these toys during the last Christmas season. Mr. Wilson has also written a special text book for the use of Washington's wood carvers. Several of the most proficlent stu- dents usually work for Mr. Wilson in the vacation period. Duringa recent Summer, the teacher and his aides decorated and adorned the notable “Chinese room" at Central with the marvelous Orfental panels, screens, grillwork and ornaments in that me- morial room. Alfsed Sze, the Chinese Ambassador to Washington, donated capacious built-in china closets for a certain Washington lady during his spare hours. This 17-year-old car- l_mtar was paid $40 for his service ‘when “he’ cmnlste?‘mv‘mk. His $5,000 for the beautification of this particular room. The former user of this room was Mi: fi.. Morgan, who taught Ambassador Sze during his Juvenile school days in ‘Washington. »