Center Punch

This center punch is one of the tools that I use all the time. For some reason it works better than any other center punch that I've ever used. It has a knurled section in the middle, it's heat treated and it's been part of my toolbox for a long time now. I've sharpened it a few times over the years and it has done a lot of work for me.
 

You can tell alot about a tool that gets hit by a hammer by looking at the end of it. That mushroomed area tells you that it's been hit many times and has preformed great. I didn't know how much I'd use this when I made it but I can tell you one thing, I wouldn't sell it.

Getting hit reminds me of something else: when shop class was over, it was time for lunch and with so many people on their way to the cafeteria, it looked like a bunch of cattle going through the doors. Like any other cafeteria, It was first come first serve so the sooner you were in line the sooner you got to eat. Our shop class was three buildings away from the food, which meant we would run everyday to get a good place in line. As the other classes were letting out between shop class and the cafeteria, we would dodge and weave around people as we ran. Yes we had many close calls running into people so most of the time we would take the outside lane as we made our way to lunch.

I got away with this for many years till one day my luck ran out. With only a few more yards to the cafeteria door, I had a clear shot with nobody in front of me, and then it happened. Someone came out of the classroom next to the cafeteria and I took them out. We both ended up on the ground and when I stopped rolling, I was just about ready to jump back up and keep going when I noticed something, and it wasn't good. I looked over to see how he was doing and all I could say to myself was...oh no....that wasn't a guy, I took out a girl. Shaking my head in disgust I went over and helped her up and told her how sorry I was. Needless to say I was late to lunch that day but she was fine because I broke her fall (thank goodness). From that day forward I didn't run nearly as fast on my way to the lunch room. Damn those were the days!!
 

Screwdriver

This flathead screwdriver hasn't seen much use but was fun to make. The blade has been hammer forged and heat treated. The same procedure went into the chisel went into the screwdriver blade. In other words, lots of time and hand work.

Hand work reminds me of something else: in the early 70's Honda Motor Company was introducing cars in the U.S. and one of the teachers bought one. I'm not sure which teacher owned it but they parked it right outside metal shop. It was all dirt in this area and various cars were parked there everyday. Once we saw this car that looked like a toy, we decided to have some fun with it.

A wide cement sidewalk ran along the buildings which was covered by an steel awning. This awning was held up with large steel posts that were about 4" square. About a week went by and one day between the first and second hour of shop class, a bunch of us picked up the car and centered it between those steel posts. Now there's no way you could ever do the backup, go forward thing because there was only two inches of room on either end of the car. Well the car was gone the next day and was never parked outside our class again. Boys will be boys ya know....
 

C Clamp

This C clamp is made out of steel and has six pieces total. The handle is made in three pieces: two end caps (which are pressed on) and the 1/4" diameter center piece. The press fit end caps were challenging for me but was a great learning experience. Notice the finish on the C section, it consists of many circles that was hand done in a drill press with a wooded dowel and lapping compound. It turned out pretty nice and I did it for a little extra flair.
 

The screw was cut in a lathe along with that larger diameter piece on the end (which comes in contact with what your're clamping on). That end swivels independent of the screw which was tricky to do but works great. The clamp is made from 1/2" plate and is 1/2" square at the top.

Talking about running a lathe brought on another story: a couple of my friends were gathered around a lathe that I was running while cutting some steel. I was using some cutting oil while the tool was removing material and there was some smoke coming off the cutter. This was normal but then one of the guys, the class clown you might say, started signing this song: “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose”. All of us started cracking up because we all got it plus it was very hot outside. Only this guy could come up with something like this, we all loved it.
 

Ball Peen Hammer

This ball peen hammer is made from many pieces. The head is made from steel along with the handle, which runs the full length of the hammer. The aluminum end cap screws onto the handle which keeps the plastic hand grip in place.
 

The hand grip is made from clear and red plastic that was glued together and then turned on a lathe. Then it was sanded to 600 grit paper and buffed out. It sure did look nice once I was finished with it. I didn't use it much but I think my mom did for small jobs around her house.

Speaking of getting hammered, the teacher had a few tricks up his sleeve when it was time to deal with people outside the class room. Here is what I mean: there was a window above the foundry area that you couldn't see out of unless you climbed on top of a work bench and then stood on a box. The teacher would do this between classes to see if anyone was smoking outside. Now if anyone was there they never suspected that someone could see them because metal shop was the last building that faced a street. This gave kids some confidence that they were all alone but little did they know they were being watched.

Once the teacher saw someone, he jumped down and ran over towards the door grabbing a full bucket of water on the way. Yes he's done this many times. As he turned the corner the water was already on its way and whoever was there got a bath. Now this happened in hot or cold weather and once the kids came around the corner, the whole class was there to laugh at them. And I don't ever remember a time when the people outside were tipped off because it never got old watching someone get a bath.
 

Sledge Hammer

This one pound steel sledge hammer was another fun project. I bought the wood handle and used the small end of it as a template for the slot in the hammer head. This required a lot of milling because of how thick the material is.
 

Soft Faced Hammer

I must have a thing for hammers because here's another. This one has two different head types with one side being plastic and the other copper. The hammer heads screw onto the center piece which is made out of steel.

I believe I made this during my senior year (1974). I only had four classes during that time which were, TA for metal shop (teachers assistant), PE and then metals two (two hours). At this point I went home because I had more than enough credits to graduate. Everyone called it "half day" if you went home at noon which worked out pretty well for the students.
 

The handle is one piece aluminum, has a fine knurl so it's easy to grip and the end has a full radius. The handle screws into the head end and is very well balanced. This soft faced hammer has come in handy when you have delicate work to do.
 

A couple more things: One of my friends was arc welding and while he was hard at work, another buddy and I took an oxyacetylene torch, stretched the hoses to the max, turned on the acetylene gas only (but never lit it) and placed it next to his head so the gas found its way into his welding helmet. If you’re not familiar, raw acetylene stinks really bad and my friend was getting a face full. I remember him yelling at us to stop, but you know how it goes, you just laugh and do it again and again. Boy was he pissed off. I mean what are friends for...right?

I'm sure glad they had shop classes when I was in school because I took them all (auto, wood and metal) and I learned something from them all, especially metal shop! But the main reason people take shop class is because you didn't have to work from a book and you had lot of fun doing it.

At the end of each school year, we would give the shop a good cleaning and something unexpected happened. We were told to remove all the vises from the work benches because the wooden tops were going to be redone over the summer. They were butcher block style bench tops and very thick. Once the vises were out of the way we were told to take two benches and slide them together. Then we placed a piece of wood that was about 5" tall between each one and now we had pin pong tables, four of them to be exact. Turns out our teacher was really good and if you were able to beat him, you were doing something right. What a great class and a wonderful teacher.

I graduated in 1974 and about two years later both auto and metal shop classes were open to the pubic from 6 to 9 pm on Wednesday nights. That meant anyone could use the machines in either shop class and it didn't matter who you were. My good friend Gary and I would hang out there and work on car related stuff every now and then. One time I brought in the rear-end from of my Camaro to do some welding which worked out great. I remember us showing up one evening with fast food from Del Taco and the first thing I did was sit down and eat. Del Taco had three tacos for a dollar on Wednesday nights so this was a great deal. Well that didn't go over well with Mr. Fulks because the first thing he said when he saw me was, "Kevin, the next time you come in here without food for me, don't bother coming in the shop". I knew he was kidding but I had food for him the following week.

Sadly all the shop classes are gone now and have been for a long time. That's a shame because many kids who took shop back then are now making a living at it.

A big thank you goes out to Banning High School for having all the shop classes and to Mr. Fulks for teaching me about machining, having fun doing it and putting up with all the kids. That was the best high school class...I mean...college class ever.