Teamwork and Conquering Fears

New people, a new space, and new tools can be pretty intimidating on the first day of anything. The first day of Tinkering School is all of those things at once, and we kicked off the Thursday's spring After School with learning about each other, the shop, and the tools we will be using most often. 

The chop saw is one of the most dangerous tools we use, and training consisted of learning how to be efficient and also safe when making cuts. It's okay to be scared of the tool, but practice helps to take that fear away--so for most of training, we just practiced making cuts and getting used to the feel and sound of the machine. 

Drills are usually a less scary tool, but definitely just as challenging to use! During drill training, we learned the functions and uses of TS's drills: making holes, driving screws, and how to change the bits. Because our projects are about teamwork, we learned to help and ask for help when joining wood pieces together.

Our session ended with an unexpected discovery!

Using the chop saw, it's totally possible to cut a slice of wood so thin that light easily passes through, and this awesome moment was a result of conquering fears and being curious as a team.