Splinter Group

Here’s an irony for you: Woodworking isn’t taught much in school these days, yet hardly a week goes by without modern folks wishing they had exactly those skills to save money on various home repairs or improvements.

A few years ago this situation began to vex Don Law, a Camarillo High School teacher certified as an industrial arts instructor. Inspired by a Sunset magazine article about a San Diego teacher who outfitted a bus so he could teach children woodworking after school and on weekends, Law fixed up a trailer to provide a similar service in Ventura County and nearby communities.

This weekend and Monday, he and his daughter, Emily, will be teaching kids ages 5 to 11 basic woodworking at several municipal community centers in the east county area.

Emily, who is entering eighth grade at Los Altos Intermediate in Camarillo, was a mere second-grader when she began her career in the family’s small business.

“At first the boys wouldn’t take instruction from me,” she said, but that changed when she started getting taller than they were.

She also designed several of the 25 woodworking projects, two of which are chosen by each child to work on during the two-hour craft sessions at the community center.

Now a worldly 13, Emily recently decided to change the name of one of her pet projects, a model steamship initially called “The Love Boat.” It was an unpopular choice by the majority of first- and second-grade workshop participants “because anything about love they thought was icky,” she said. When she changed the name of the project to “The Cruise Ship,” it became more popular.

The project chosen most often is the helicopter, which Emily says is the hardest to make. Even so, many kids still manage to saw, sand and assemble it from scratch in an hour. Other available projects are airplanes, submarines, doll furniture and household items such as napkin and recipe holders.

Emily’s father, Don, says girls are every bit as good at woodworking as boys, sometimes better.

“The girls are more meticulous about the finishing, such as sanding the parts,” he said.

The sessions always begin with a 15-minute lesson on safety. Kids are given protective goggles to wear throughout. They learn to use the various tools by “going through the motions” before actually cutting any wood.

Each kid goes home with two completed wood projects.

BE THERE

“Woody Woodworker,” for kids 5-11, today from 10 a.m.-noon at Conejo Community Center, Thousand Oaks, (805) 495-2163, and 2-4 p.m. at Borchard Community Center, Newbury Park, (805) 381-2791; Friday, from 10 a.m.-noon at Sumac Park, Agoura Hills, (818) 597-7361, and 4-6 p.m. Arroyo Vista Recreation Center, Moorpark, (805) 584-4400; Saturday, from 10 a.m.-noon at Tapo Community Park, Simi Valley, (805) 548-4400; Monday, from 10 a.m.-noon at Camarillo Community Center, (805) 482-1996, and 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Barranca Vista Center, Ventura, (805) 644-6542. Workshop fees vary at each site but average about $15 per child; reservations required. For information on future sessions, call (800) 889-6639.