Your High School shop from the 70's….

[wow]

Those glasses must have been standard issue for shop teachers? Better have a pair to lay on your desk even if you don't wear 'em...

You mentioned the wall clock, but you can't forget the intercom speaker that was in every classroom.

I remember this hanging from the ceiling:

[attachimg=1]

 

[Mr. Jeff Smith]

Are you planning to cut off your right hand thumb to match my shop instructor?  [scared]

As far as other things, we had 8 foot ballast florescent lighting.

 

[semenza]

Civil defense signage.

Seth

 

[rst]

So, are you going to limit yourself to foot stools, gun and book racks, picture frames etc.?

 

[joraft]

I only experienced 4 months of the 70's. 

I experienced all of the 70s, but I'm lucky if I can even remember 4 months of it.  [smile]

OP, great idea on the shop. Love the reminiscing going on in this thread.

 

[gstuartw]

Thanks all for the input, you've given me many ideas to incorporate…and delay the first day of "class". Please keep the memories coming!

I've posted this same inquiry on another woodworking site and just had to share this one from a member…

"The most memorable event was one of the guys was trying to rip board on a Delta cabinet saw and couldn't get the blade to cut. He left the saw running and walked over to get the teacher. Just as the two of them returned to the saw the instructor hit the switch to turn off the saw, the blade came off the arbor dropped down into the bottom of the saw and then ran across the floor, climbed the wall and stuck in the cork ceiling. The guy had used the dado throat plate and had not put on the blade retaining nut. The instructor stopped all work, gave us all a long safety lecture and then hung a sign on the blade hanging from the cork that said this is what happens when you don't follow proper procedures. That blade stayed there for the entire year. We moved at the end of the school year so I don't know if it stayed there longer than that."

What a sight that must have been! I'm so tempted to mount a blade in the ceiling and claim I experienced the same thing in my school!

 

[rljatl]

I don't remember that much detail from my shop class.  I do remember it was the baseball coach that taught the class.  On a couple of occasions, he said that he was going to teach us "a little landscaping."  That meant we had to walk down to the baseball field and throw rocks off of his field.

Of course, only about a third of the class actually made it from the classroom to the baseball field.  [big grin]

 

[blk65brd]

Shop memories from the mid 60's was the table saw with the out-feed opposite  the window, that window had expanded metal on it plus the mesh in the glass, there was a hole in both the expanded metal and the glass that the shop teacher gave us a show and tell explanation of the dangers of kickback on the table saw evidently it had occurred and went through not just the window but into the courtyard beyond and lodged in the auto mechanics shop teachers car.  Shop project was a re-curved long bow, laminated wood and fiberglass.

 

[leakyroof]

I'll start with Metalshop in 9th grade. A fellow classmate was using a drill press, holding the drill vise with his hand while he drilled into his project.
You guessed it, the drill bit jammed, and the vise was launched into the air across the shop, missing several of us and finally landing a glancing blow on a guys shin. Drew blood, but mostly drew the longest outburst of cursing from the injuried guy that we had ever heard.
The instructor ran out of his office, our infamous Mr. Taylor, and proceeded to try and restore order.  The guy manning the drill press was in total shock over what had happened in the blink of an eye.

 

[Welshdog]

I didn't take shop in high school in the 70s - figured I would learn what was needed from my engineer dad and granddad with their various tools and power tools.  I learned, but not really the same way people did in a real class.  They weren't carpenters or woodworkers so there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge.

So at age 57 where would one go to get some shop education?

 

[Gary in Texas]

I didn't take shop in high school in the 70s - figured I would learn what was needed from my engineer dad and granddad with their various tools and power tools.  I learned, but not really the same way people did in a real class.  They weren't carpenters or woodworkers so there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge.

So at age 57 where would one go to get some shop education?

http://festooltraining.com/

 

[wow]

I didn't take shop in high school in the 70s - figured I would learn what was needed from my engineer dad and granddad with their various tools and power tools.  I learned, but not really the same way people did in a real class.  They weren't carpenters or woodworkers so there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge.

So at age 57 where would one go to get some shop education?

http://festooltraining.com/

If not that, most technical colleges offer woodworking curricula. That might be a good way to get introduced to the world of woodworking and let you 'play' with their tools before you decide what to buy on your own.

If you have a local woodworking store, many of them offer woodworking classes.

And finally, if you want to share your location (city and state)

(Edit: missed the fact that you had already done that  [thumbs up])

it could be that there are other Festool owners here who would be willing to help you learn. I know that I would consider doing that for the right person, in exchange for some help in cleaning and organizing my shop and helping me on a bigger project or two.

 

[Throwback7r]

Festool Class

https://www.festooltraining.com

 

[hrrb]

In the 70's I went to primary school (or is it called elementary school?).

We had woodworking lessons from 5th grade and all I remember was..
..dull chisels
..dull saws
..dull planes
..dull teacher sitting on his chair smoking cigars and not allowing us to use all the exciting machinery because he would then have to lift his dull behind from the chair and show us how to use the machines and make stuff! It ended up with dull pupils who lost interest. What a pity!

Later (8th grade) we had a teacher who allowed us to use the machines and taught us basic safety rules and how to use and take care of hand tools...but it was too late! Most of us had lost interest in woodworking because of the first teacher.

Luckily the woodworking bacille hit me 25 years later. Otherwise I wouldn't have all that sweet toys tools  [big grin]

/Henrik

 

[johntheoak]

Went to high school in the 80's. Aliquippa Pa. As a freshman we called it survival class , had to take shop with seniors. We took our lumps. When we were seniors it was paradise, used to throw dope smoking hippies into the dumpster daily. I would anything to go back to high school again, freshman or senior.

 

[tbellemare]

I didn't take shop in high school in the 70s - figured I would learn what was needed from my engineer dad and granddad with their various tools and power tools.  I learned, but not really the same way people did in a real class.  They weren't carpenters or woodworkers so there are a lot of gaps in my knowledge.

So at age 57 where would one go to get some shop education?

My soon-to-be new shop at Mary and Lamar might be a start... I hope to be set up by Labor Day.

Tom

 

[gstuartw]

Lots of good input so far, thank you all. 

Given that this treatment was conceived long after I started collecting equipment the shop will not be 100% true to the era. I'm curious about the use of French cleats. Did you see French cleats in your school shop?

 

[tiralie]

Planning on building an assembly table (or two) that will look like this. Doors will hide systainers.

Man, I love the look of that table/cabinet.
Really reminded me of shop class, although I am not sure we had any of those in there.
Tim

 

[gstuartw]

My shop classes usually had a "pull down blackboard" (like a double hung window), and behind the blackboard was a place where all hand tools were located….
Bruce W.

This element of a school shop appeals to me. I'm trying to figure out how I go about making a functioning pull down.

 

[Bruce W]

I believe it was done very similar to a double hung window. If the casing material was removed one would find a large cast metal sash weight tied to a rope that went up over a pulley at the top of the frame.  The cast metal weight was used to counter balance the weight of the blackboard and the frame. Probably a white board in this day and age.  Not sure where one could find a cast metal sash weight.  Others may want to offer suggestions.  Hope this helps.  Bruce W in Washington state, USA