Out and about in C-town – January 6
By Steve Godfrey
Jan. 06, 2012
Mr. Piper gives Carrie O'Donnell advice on how to assemble the walnut picture frame she is building.
Reanna Avey uses an orbital sander on the shelving unit she is building out of birch.
Morgan Hemstrom, a first year wood shop student, gets advice from Mr. Piper as she learns how to assemble the shoe rack she is building out of birch plywood.
Viviana Sanchez is covered with fine dust as she sands the solid maple cake holder she turned on the lathe.
The spacious wood shop and quality tools would be the envy of any woodworker.
In her first year of wood shop class, Monique Blanchard puts the finish on a cutting board she made from walnut and maple. It will be difficult to put a knife to such a beautiful and smooth piece of work.
Aaron Wisemore uses the band saw to refine the edges of his CO2 car he is building for the class competition.
A visit to the Cashmere High School woodworking shop today was impressive. The shop is filled with quality equipment and accessories, as well as high expectations for quality work. It would stand up well in comparison to any professional woodworking shop.
Rick Piper has been teaching wood shop for 32 years; the last 22 here at CHS. With all those powerful motors pushing sharp blades at high rpms and inexperienced teenage operators – the majority of whom come to the class with zero experience – Piper has his work cut out for him.
A woodworker myself, I’m well aware of how easily a carbide-tipped blade cuts through skin and bones, so I had to ask the veteran shop teacher THE question: has anyone ever lost a finger in all his years of teaching?
“Shhh!” Piper snapped. “No, but I don’t want to talk about it for fear of jinxing it!”
He tells his students that their letter grades in his class are important, but not nearly as important as keeping all their fingers. Grades are temporary, but loss of a finger is permanent, he said.
Sure, he’s had to take care of many nicks and scratches along the way, but every single student in all those years of teaching left his class with all their digits still attached. That’s certainly a feather in Mr. Piper’s cap.
The space in the shop is laid out well, with plenty of room for the 4 work tables, each with 4 individual work surfaces. The big equipment is along the walls. A powerful vacuum system connected to each major piece of equipment helps keep the work areas clean.
An enclosed and ventilated finishing room is where nearly completed projects receive their final (often toxic and smelly) finishes. Those fumes are isolated from the rest of the shop and safely exit the building.
“Our country is losing skilled labor, and this class is intended to spark an interest in working with wood,” Piper said. “It also encourages creativity in the students.”
The Cashmere community can take pride in the education our kids are receiving in Mr. Piper’s wood shop classes. It’s one of many quality programs in our school district that helps build a well-rounded student, and one that our levy tax dollars support.
Money well spent.
