First of all in the morning today we began work in a classroom near the carpentry workshop room. For about and hour and 45 minutes we worked through some new workbooks that contained images and short descriptions of different types of tools. By reading through two books called Practical Carpentry numbers 1 and 2, and then writing the answers in the workbook. Some of the tools in the workbook weren't located in the books so we had a class consultation about what we thought the tool may be used for and then Paul would give us the answer. I found brainstorming with the class about what the tool may be used for and its features such as the rebate planes blade, very useful to help me remember the tool and its name.
After our morning break we moved on to the library and separated into two teams of three and were asked to prepare a presentation on a particular construction item commonly used in roof carpentry. Rhys, Michael and I decided to go with hardiflex as it is particularly interesting material as it poses a serious health risk. Using the computers to further contribute to our previous notes from last week, we assigned certain parts of the presentation to each member of our group.
I was unclear as to how ellaborate we were expected to be with our speeches and how professionally we were to go about it, so i did struggle to concentrate on the computers. When each of us got up and presented our knowledge on the construction material, i found it very engaging as not only did we have someone talking to us about it, Paul would throw in bits of his knowledge about the subject and get all of us having a discussion about the subject.
During the speeches i learnt about Wesbeam's E-beam, a type of LVL (laminated vinear lumber) from the other group. I learnt that similar to the Hardiflex, the dust produced from the sawing of the E-beam, is dangerous to your health and can cause a rare cancer of the sinuses, so dust masks must be worn in enclosed areas.
After we finished the speeches we moved onto more practical joinery tasks back in the carpentry workshop room. Today i finished the bridal joint and was very pleased with the fit of the joint, i was shown by paul how to use a granny's tooth plane, which was one of the things we learnt earlier in the morning. I found it very effective as opposed to using a chisel where the depth isn't perfectly level.