Woodworked Biplanes

In grade eight, before we got to choose our electives, we did a sort of trial run on each of the three options, each option taking a third of the year. One third was Info Tech, one third was Cooking/Sewing, and one third was Woodworking.

In woodworking the main project was making a small biplane (above). The teacher was very specific in how it was supposed to be made.For example, to make the propeller we were supposed to cut the whole shape out using a fretsaw, and not use the big sanding machine. What I did was use the fretsaw to make the general shape, and touched it up with the sandpaper machine. It was obvious from the way the wood looked that I had used a sander.

Also, while the fuselage is a single solid piece of wood, there is a little notch to glue in the bottom of the bottom wing and the glued on wheel module. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it doesn’t fit all the way in; there is a small but visible gap between the wing and the fuselage.

On top of that there are some pencil marks that didn’t get erased before the glaze went on, the bumps where there was too much glaze, little tiny white spots where I tried to sand the extra glaze globs down, and the wheels don’t spin as well as they should.

I remember when I handed it in.

The teacher examined it, turning it over in his hand.
He ran his fingers along the flat top of the wing.
He spun the propeller. He spun the wheels.

He held my plane up in the air, for all the class to see. “This,” he began, “is what the plane is supposed to look like.”

He handed me back the plane and the only thought running through my head was “Seriously?”

A couple days later I saw my younger cousin playing with the plane, and when I asked her to be careful, she dropped it, snapping the propeller.

Karma, I think. Balance.