Craftsman Pin

Requirements have changed; they are now a little simpler in 2001. Used to need to do 11 projects, at least 4 of them in a single media of your choice - leather, clay, metal, etc. and 4 from wood. Plan way ahead. Enlist parent help and donations of stuff - ask them to check what they have that you can use way in advance. DON'T WEAR A UNIFORM WHILE DEN DOES THIS PIN - OLD CLOTHES ONLY. The Council office and Michael's Crafts now sell leather-working projects and equipment. The leather rounds for coasters or scarf slides at Michael's come 4 to a pack, are cheap and easy. At Pow-Wow they suggested making decorative tooling tools by filing a design into the heads of nails, cut off the sharp nail end, then use a mallet to pound the nail head design into wet leather. To stain leather cheaply, use shoe polish. Oven-bake clay is available in 2 lb. boxes at Michael's, Franks, the hobby store, etc. Also in 25 lb cans from pottery teachers - check the Yellow Pages.

Hands-down the hardest pin to do in our family. We did it last, and it took forever.

You really need to plan for this one. I got books on woodworking for kids from the library. In the end we decided the things described were mostly too difficult, maybe suitable for Boy Scouts. The things in the handbook were much simpler. Also, I looked at the unfinished wood crafts at Frank's Nursery and other places to get ideas and thought up ways to simplify them (do straight cuts limited curves, avoid mitered corners). Don't invest a lot of money in this. Get scraps from home, grandparents, neighbors, or the lumber yard. Use leftover stain, paint, nails, and screws, where possible.

This is a lot of projects! There was a lot of frustration for both parents and child on this. Father or son was always stomping off, mad. Nine- and ten-year olds don't have the strength, skill or experience to cut through thick wood materials, or cut or nail straight. If you expect adult level perfection and comment on every nail, everybody is in for trouble. Find small things to build - at the kitchen table. Use soft pine and very thin plywood or press wood for sawing projects. There is a wood-working kit for children this age that I saw at Frank's Nursery, which used 1/16 and 1/8-inch materials. Also, pick things that need only one or two saw cuts. A coping saw is about all they can handle.

You may need to cut wood into small pieces. Big pieces of wood are clumsy for kids to handle when sawing. A clamp or two is a big help. Questions you need to ask yourself: Power tools (chain saws, etc.) are forbidden to scouts under 18, but what is a hand tool? Is an electric screwdriver a hand tool? For which century are you preparing the child? You can mostly only find hand drills at antique stores and farm auctions. On complicated items, are you going to precut any pieces for them and have them do the assembly? Will you start the nail in thick wood?

Operations kids can do pretty well: sanding, screwing, gluing, staining, painting, nailing little nails and brads, and shooting staples.

#1: Using hand tools, make 2 objects to use in the home. The book suggests styrofoam instead of wood. Great idea. Much softer to work with. Makes a mess of little pellets when you saw it. Use a carpet knife, score it and break it. Do this part outside. My son made the footstool (surprisingly strong) in the handbook and some Christmas ornaments from 1-inch foam board for insulating houses that was free for the asking from Fingerle Lumber. Use Liquid Nails for Foam board to glue it together. If you don't get this specifically, regular Liquid Nails or other petroleum-based bonding materials will melt the styrofoam. Also, don't use leftover Rustoleum spray paint -the petroleum-based rust inhibitor in it melts the styrofoam. Kids' paint and Krylon both worked. Test your paint on scrap foam and let it stand a good while before you use it on the footstool. THIS IS STILL A GREAT PROJECT - I CAN PHOTOCOPY THE PAGE FROM THE OLD HANDBOOK IF ANYBODY WANTS IT.

You could get really thin clean styrofoam meat or baked goods trays if you ask at the butcher or deli counter; this would be good for ornaments and would cut easily.

Here's another idea. At The Scrap Box they used 6-inch blocks of styrofoam with holes drilled in it to make an artist's crayon and pencil holder.

#4. Make 4 useful things of leather. You can buy kits at Council or from the Cub Scout catalog, for one child or for a den. However, they all come precut and pre-punched. You can also sometimes find single-project kits at Frank's Nursery in the kids' aisle and Michael's Crafts. If the scout has to do the cutting, it's a problem. I could never find a source for leather. It did occur to me that you could buy a leather car-washing chamois and cut it up into little projects (it's expensive; try a marble bag, small stuff), but my son opted for clay, instead.

#7. Make 4 items of clay to be fired and painted or glazed. You can buy a 2 lb. box of over-firing clay for $8 from Frank's Nursery or Michael's Crafts. This is enough for several projects. Air-dry it, bake it for 30 minutes in the oven, then paint with your choice of paint. If your child did clay projects in school, he could use them as well.

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