My son (just turned 10), has been working with me in the shop since he was very small. This year for Christmas, he made his mom a clipboard with only safety support from me.
Using the SawStop saw (purchased so that I could teach him to use the table saw), the Dewalt planer and an assortment of hand tools including a Japanese pull saw and a couple of hand planes, he made the clipboard below. It is made from alternating strips of maple, cherry and walnut with hardware from Rockler. The “ruler” on the bottom of the clipboard was his idea and it is made from a scrap piece of ebony. He engraved the inscription on the top of the board and the ruler marks with my Turbo Carver high-speed engraver. Great tool by the way…I should post on that sometime. The finish is Danish Oil.
My wife uses a clipboard everyday to manage the complex schedules of two school kids, so she will get a lot of use from this.
If you don’t know what a Galoot-in-Training (GIT) is, join the OldTools email list. Basically, it refers to the younger generation of woodworkers that we should all be bringing up into this great hobby. I am a strong believer that kids should learn to use tools and get their hands dirty, in addition to learning about the computers, etc of the modern world. The true “Galoots” on the email list might insist that I should only be teaching hand-tool methods for my son to be a real “GIT”, but I have a broader definition of the term.
I hope that he continues to grow in this hobby and enjoy it as much as I do.
I recently noticed a post from Matt Gabardi about his concept for a “Legacy Guild” and I think that the concept is very interesting. Maybe it is the similarity in our Italian roots, but the concept resonates with me. To quote the Guild’s goal from Matt’s website: “Create a forum or blog for people who love woodworking
and want to share this joy with their kids and grandkids.” A good goal.
By the way, Matt’s infill planes are absolutely amazing. Go see them.
Like this:
Like Loading...
About mattsanf
Matt Sanfilippo is the Chief Partnership Officer (CPO) for the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Co-Director of its Engineering Research Accelerator. In this role, Matt coordinates and enables strategic and sponsored research opportunities across the college, and stewards the development of proposals for major research opportunities along strategic themes. Additionally, he enables collaboration among the college's research institute/center executive directors, and industrial and government relations personnel in the pursuit of opportunities with industry, federal and state governments. Before becoming CPO for the College, Matt was the Senior Executive Director for Research Initiatives, the Executive Director of CMU's SII (Smart Infrastructure Institute) and ICES (Institute for Complex Engineered Systems), and Associate Director of PITA (Pennsylvania Infrastructure Technology Alliance) and RAMP (Research for Advanced Manufacturing in Pennsylvania).
Before CMU, Matt was Managing Director of Applied Technology for Michael Baker Corporation, an engineering and energy services firm. Matt managed Baker's technology division including Geographic Information System (GIS), software and web development, multimedia, virtual reality, visualization, Global Positioning System (GPS), mapping and surveying services. Before joining Baker, Matt was an Innovation Director for Redleaf Group, a Venture Capital/Operating Company focused on information security, supply chain and mobility solutions. While at Redleaf, Matt managed technical due diligence for seed-stage investments and coordinated relationships between Redleaf and their partner companies. Prior to Redleaf, Matt was CIO of GZA GeoEnvironmental Technologies, an infrastructure engineering firm, and operations manager for their Internet start-up that focused on web-technologies for health and safety and manufacturing metrics.
Matt is on the board of Larson Design Group (LDG), past Chairman of the Board for the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, current board member of the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation (PHLF), current Vice President of the Sewickley Heights Gun Club (SHGC) and former member of the Information Sciences and Technology Advisory Board for the Pennsylvania State University Beaver. Matt is also former Vice President of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Association of Internet Professionals and former Vice President of the Board of Trustees for Baker Combined Charity of Pennsylvania.
A Learning Adventure in the Workshop 
Nice work!
Thank you for sharing this information.
Grtz from Holland
Whether you’re an expert builder or a beginner, http://wood-working-review.com will serve as your guide in pursuing your woodworking projects. It contains clear step-by-step instructions and detailed woodworking plans.