WOODWORKING : Tool School : Woody Law’s classes introduce boys and girls to basic carpentry skills.

The kids call him “Woody.” He travels from recreation center, to school, to birthday party with an amazing portable workshop to give children woodworking classes.

He puts saws in the hands of kids as young as 6. In an hour he can teach them to build a boat, doll furniture, trivets, submarines, helicopters, pencil holders and airplanes--even the famous SR-71, the fastest airplane in the world.

“That’s a favorite of the boys,” said Don (Woody) Law, who taught industrial arts for 10 years. He now teaches auto shop and drafting at Camarillo High School.

He started Woody Woodworkers in the spring of 1984 after his former school notified him that budget cuts might lead to layoffs. As it turned out, he didn’t lose his job. But Woody Woodworkers already had taken off and he’s kept it going ever since.

So far, more than 10,000 children have learned woodworking skills from Law. His business has blossomed partly because public schools, especially at the elementary level, no longer have the money to offer children carpentry instruction.

“It’s a dying subject,” he said. “Budgets are tight. Graduation requirements have increased and kids no longer have room for elective courses.”

So Law has offered woodworking courses at many of Ventura County’s recreation centers and through several school districts as well. He also hires himself out for birthday parties. His wife, Joanne, often helps him with the classes.

His next series of classes for kids 6-12 years old will be offered through the Ventura Parks and Recreation Department. The class, on Wednesdays from 4 to 5 p.m., starts Oct. 2 and runs through Oct. 23. The cost is $34.

When Law teaches woodworking, he brings his wood shop with him. He designed and built a trailer that opens, yielding up to 32 individual work stations. Each is equipped with a backsaw, miter box, C-clamp, block sander and safety glasses.

Conspicuously absent are hammers. Law used to provide them, but kids occasionally hit their fingers.

“Hammering is hard, it’s an advanced skill,” he said. Instead, his students glue their projects together.

When Law teaches one of his hourlong sessions, he is like the captain of a ship. He stands atop the trailer and addresses his small charges with a bullhorn.

“Hold the saw with both hands on the handle,” he instructs a group of 6-year-olds at a birthday party. “You’re stronger if two hands are on the handle rather than one.”

Next, he has them practice sawing back and forth in the grooves of the miter box. There is little danger of the saw being used inappropriately and injuring someone, because each is attached to the work station with a short cable.

Then he coaches them on the C-clamp that holds the pre-cut pieces of wood securely.

“Remember: Righty, tighty; and lefty, loosey.”

The kids, most of them little girls in party dresses, are making a boat that day. Law calls it a “Little Mermaid” boat and that brings “oohs.”

It’s a tough job for 6-year-olds, admits Law, who circulates among the children. Using the miter box and C-clamp, the kids have to saw the corners off three pieces of wood. Five cuts in all. Their arms get tired, and some of the mothers take over.

Once the pieces are cut, the kids are directed to sand the edges. Then the glue bottles are passed around and the boat comes together. When the glue dries, they can paint it.

“The kids are really proud of themselves,” Law said afterward. “It builds self-esteem. The girls are as good as the boys.”

He said parents show off their children’s efforts. “They’re thrilled because the kids are doing something physical.”

Today’s crop of kids seems to have missed out on woodworking, he said. Not only are the schools cutting back on such classes, but parents don’t seem to be passing carpentry skills on to their children.

“A lot of parents don’t have the tools around,” he said. “They’re professional people. It seems to have missed a generation.”

Law, 36, took woodworking in junior and senior high school.

“I wasn’t a jock” or a student government participant, he said. “I got my positive rewards in shop. It was my identity.”

Law received his degree in industrial arts from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He has put his knowledge to practical use. He built his spacious Camarillo home himself.

His woodworking program is virtually accident-proof with the safety precautions he has built in, he said. Only very minor mishaps have occurred, like an occasional splinter.

“It’s probably safer than riding a bike,” he said.

OTHER KID NEWS:

* Boys and girls in kindergarten and first grade can sign up for a non-competitive flag football league offered through the Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District starting Oct. 1. Call 482-1996.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Ventura Parks and Recreation offers a four-week series of one-hour classes taught by Don Law and called Woody Woodworkers, beginning Oct. 2. Call the recreation center at 658-4726. For other information, call Law at 482-4214. Children also can take a one-hour class from Law when he appears at the Home Depot in Oxnard Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.