By T. B. Kidner, October, 1908 Manual Training Magazine
FIG. 6. CHART ILLUSTRATING PROPERTIES OF TREES.
By T. B. Kidner, October, 1908 Manual Training Magazine
The greatest obstacle to proper woodfinishing lies in the desire of the pupil to take his piece home as soon as the woodwork is completed. Unless a definite understanding is had with the class beforehand, proper woodfinishing is difficult to obtain. Most boys are subject to reason, so that it is not at all necessary to have woodfinishing slighted or to resort to makeshifts. The writer makes it a practice to take plenty of time when the subject of woodfinishing comes up for its first discussion to explain in detail the commercial methods of finishing fine furniture, a piano for illustration, counting the different operations and coatings it will receive and the labor and time expended upon the finish. A comparison is then made between a finely rubbed finish and the cheap, sticky, unrubbed finishes of cheap furniture.
Having established in the minds of the pupils the fact that woodfinishing is an art second to none and that it requires time to do it well, there is not that impatience that breeds sullen looks when the woodfinishing is to be begun after the woodwork has been completed. The pupil will take the woodfinishing as a matter of course and goes about it in a cheerful and manly spirit.
In grammar schools, woodfinishing has been made as simple as is consistent with good work. Coming as the boys do but once a week and each finishing application requiring over night for drying or hardening, the total time is quite long even with the simple finish of filler, shellac, and wax. If the pupil wishes a very dark finish, a stain which requires one or more periods must precede his filler.
In high school, pupils come every day thus permitting the application of rubbed varnish finishes, either shellac or copal, without unnecessary loss of time. Here special finishing rooms are necessary.
5. Structural and Decorative Design.
Among other requirements for a course in woodwork and drawing as stated in the foreword is this: “At least a few problems should be given which involve invention or design or both, thereby stimulating individual initiative on the part of the pupils.” The present outlines in woodwork and drawing have been planned with this in mind. In the seventh grade the pupil is given little opportunity to exercise his initiative in either woodwork or drawing. The reason for this, as has been previously stated, is a firm belief that initiative in any subject to be of value must be based upon a fair knowledge of the subject matter dealt with, its limitations and its possibilities. In other words, that appreciation must precede invention or initiative.