I once saw a documentary about a German appliance company. New employees spent six months learning to use basic metal tools–basically, a half a year devoted to filing blocks of metal. Maybe it works in Germany, but I’ve always learned better if I had an immediate, practical use for the new skill.

So the boat project is a great opportunity to teach some young men a few basic power tools. Our teenagers (like Matthew here, age 16) are being initiated on the circular saw (the most fearsome tool we’re using on this project). Younger troops are learning how to use the saber saw and the sander (even Susannah, 6,  has become an expert sander–and you have to really work at it to hurt yourself with a reciprocating sander! A belt sander is a different thing, but we’re not using one this time).

Seth, 11

I mentioned we are building this with basic tools. I have to admit we’re using quite a few–the circular saw, saber saw, sander, and drill (we’re only using it as a power screwdriver), to start with. We’ve also used a plane, wood rasp, and a bunch of C-clamps. An occasional visit to a screwdriver (a couple of places too tight for the drill) and a hammer (two nails so far) round out the tool box for us. Oh, you might add a caulk gun–the glue we’re using comes in a tube like caulk, and I plan to run a nice bead of caulk along the joints before we paint, too.

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