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Greensburg High School Shop Projects

Listing #2755   Listed on: 05/27/2010
WOODWEB Content Editor, Brett Hagstrom, Interviewed Peter Kern in June 2010.

Peter Kern enjoyed wood shop class in high school and aspired to one day be a high school wood shop teacher. Fast forward to 2010 and Peter has completed his eighth year teaching at a high school wood shop. Peter is very happy teaching wood shop, however the last four years have been very tough due to events beyond his control. While completing his first year teaching at Greensburg in 2007, a tornado destroyed the town, including the school and Peter’s wood shop. The school wood shop program received a Most Outstanding Program award for Western Kansas just one week before, and suddenly he faced the task of rebuilding the program, literally from the ground up.

Immediately after the tornado Peter started pulling machines and tools from the debris to rebuild the wood shop program. The shop program was retained after the devastation and Peter’s class managed to work out of two 7x14 trailers, one that was provided by Peter himself. A tarp was used for shade and a 100 foot extension cord was run from the math trailer to the shop to build shelves. Peter and his class built hundreds of shelves for the school, including his shop. After spending a semester in the 7x14 trailers Peter’s shop moved to a 40x80 building. Peter mentions that it was “an extremely tough year.” At the end of the first year Peter was able to get in touch with a fellow shop teacher he went to college with. Peter’s friend connected him with an outfit that arranged a donation of equipment that allowed his shop to get back to square one. This allowed Peter to set up the rest of his shop and finally get moving in the right direction.

Continue Reading about this Project



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Crowded Shop

 
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Crowded Shop

 
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This is our metals area that we don''t have room for at this point in the year.

 
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View from my "office"

 
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Projects that were done in time for the show

 
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projects

 
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Sophmore. Really nice gun cabinet. Lights, dovetail drawers. Spindle holds 12 guns. Two side displays.

 
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Junior - storage/display cabinet

 
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freshman night stand

 
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freshman girl coffee table

 
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freshman end table

 
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freshman night stand

 
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sophomore girl coffee table/end table. Really nice design.

 
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freshman night stand w/ walnut inlay

 
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junior desk (first year student)

 
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freshmen night stands

 
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junior night stand

 
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freshman girl end table

 
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freshman nightstand

 
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junior girl - saddle rack

 
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senior- book case Really great kid. First year I have had him and he built this bookcase, the big ET Center coming up and a desk not pictured. He did as much in one year as a lot of kids do all four years. Going into engineering

 
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Sophmore - book case

 
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Junior - top for a desk he built last year

 
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ET center buit in about 5 weeks=30 hrs - not too bad for a hs kid

 
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et center- base is coped

 
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junior - file cabinet (check out the custom/high end super nice grain matching of the drawer fronts) :)

 
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junior et center

 
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freshman night stand

 
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junior end tables- we don''t have pulls on in this picture but these have dovetail drawers

 
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Look at all the room we have in here now that we got all of those other projects out.

 
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roll top

 
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cherry roll top. Very nice project.

 
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i don''t have a picture with the handle/pulls put on or one showing the little cubbies in side, but this is one of those desks with a hole in the top with a piece of glass, and the monitor sits down there where your legs are

 
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cherry roll top

 
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back of roll top

 
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another desk

 
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back of another desk

 
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desk back

 
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Not a bad dresser. The kid made a decision to just stain w/ no finish. He would not see it any other way, and neither would his father.

 
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senior poker table

 
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freshman - shelf/drawer thing

 
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Description Continued

Peter’s lumber is purchased from a company in Kansas City, Missouri. His shop includes basic equipment such as a radial arm saw, table saw, joiner planer, sanders, and lathes. Peter mentions that the toughest piece of equipment to replace was a Powermatic 22 inch planer.

Since the projects are build by students they're typically picked up at the shop. Occasionally Peter will deliver a large project or a project built for the community.

Hardwood is the predominant choice of lumber in Peter’s shop and oak is the most common species used. Peter mentions that the price of oak is very affordable and the quality is high. His favorite woods are walnut and cherry, although cherry can be difficult to stain. Occasionally alder is used as it is reasonably priced for Peter’s budget.

Peter’s students use some panel products, mostly for larger projects like nightstands or dressers. He mentions that it adds a nice stability and helps combat the humid summers and dry winters.

Projects ranging from desks, dressers, gun cabinets, and nightstands are built in the shop, however gun cabinets are the most common project.

The design process starts with students finding pictures of a potential project and coming up with a rough idea and developing sketches for the project. Dimensions are added as the project is drawn to scale. CAD is used to input the project specs before finally building the project.



Included are pictures of student projects built this year. Sorry about how messy the shop is. We don't have any room at all as we are constantly on top of ourselves. It makes keeping it clean a constant challenge, especially at the point in the year that these pictures were taken. Keep in mind that this is student work. There are some things that you or I might not choose to do or like. There are also screw ups and design flaws that truly reflect the ability and effort/intelligence of the student. The majority of the work I am proud of and I feel like our kids are getting an excellent experience here.

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Viewer Comments:


Posted By: Chris     [05/27/2010]
Awesome. Teach a kid a trade and you feed him for life.


Posted By: Steve     [05/27/2010]
You need a bigger lab. The projects are great. Keep up the good work.


Posted By: D Brown     [05/27/2010]
You are doing an awesome job .
Thank you for your efforts to teach production work methods and keep our craft going .I'm sure some of your students lives will never be the same , mine wasn't.


Posted By: M. Suber     [05/28/2010]
I am really impressed, and very glad to see some of our youth doing this level of work. A lot of our local schools sold their equipment and discontinued teaching courses like this. Very encouraging to see.


Posted By: Gerald T Ortman     [05/28/2010]
Just amazing. I presume you have more interest being in the furniture building industry area. In my high school we had to choose between the three board slanting book rack and the dashund-2 brackets-and a dowel rod tie rack. You are producing totally credible case goods of substantial size and complexity. That you can handle a class of students working on that scale of project in the limited area you have is a credit to both you and to the quality and seriousness of the students you have. Be very proud of them. I would at most quibble about the proportions or hardware choices on a couple of pieces but the skill shown in the execution and control of the wood is clear and again...amazing.

Good work and well done!

Gerald Ortman


Posted By: Harry DeVrieze     [05/29/2010]
The shop is amazingly crowded.
The students have produced some great work. The roll top in especialy nice.


Posted By: jim mcgrew     [05/30/2010]
excellent, i am helping to implement a new cnc into a local high school this is encouraging!!

jim


Posted By: Peter Kern     [06/01/2010]
Thanks for all of the feedback. Teaching is tough for me with a lot of ups and downs, but what keeps me going is stepping back at the end of the year and looking at the projects and thinking "it was a pretty good year." When I hear that from others it is nice too. Thanks,
PK


Posted By: Ethan Harrington     [06/19/2010]
Great Job It is great to se someone teaching the skills that you do .. By the way do any of your seniors need a job?

Thanks


Posted By: Chuck Cibes     [06/30/2010]
WOW! Is this the Greensburg, Kansas that was leveled by a tornado a couple of years ago, including the high school? At any rate, there's a couple of observations I'd like to make, this work is terrific, and I'm amazed that you have that many students interested in working with their hands these days. That speaks volumes about the quality of the town, the school, the parents, the kids, and the teacher. The kids must have a lot of love for their teacher to learn what they've learned and to turn out quality like they have. The teacher must have been able to instill quite a love for woodworking in order to attract that many students to classes. The students apparently enjoy greatly what they're doing in order to work around everyone else's projects, and to "wait" their turn at the next machine without killing somebody in their frustration. Keep up the good work, we need young workers who actually know how to do something and how to do it well!


Posted By: Peter Kern     [07/02/2010]
Thank you, and yes it is the same Greensburg, KS that was blown away. That was my first year here. I have some pics of the old shop and the tornado damage I will put on here when I get time to do a shop gallery. Hopefully pretty soon.


Posted By: Jerald     [07/15/2010]
Hey I admire your student's work..

Great projects.. I hope we have these kind of projects in our local town. Thanks for sharing..


Posted By: Tom     [08/08/2010]
are the projects for sale if so how much for a gun cabinet and a poker table????


Posted By: Paul Downs     [08/25/2010]
Absolutely outstanding. Even if teaching is hard for you, please don't give up. Whatever you are doing is working. These kids will never forget you, and the knowledge you are passing will multiply in their lives in countless ways. I wish my kids were attending your school.

Paul Downs


Posted By: gareth     [11/15/2010]
Hi, good to see you guys are back on track.
I have seen the discovery show about Greensburg and are amazed at the damage and hope for the future this small town has.

I hope that your own house and family got through ok?

All the best.


Posted By: Ed Kern     [05/17/2011]
Peter is my son, and I am proud of his accomplishments. His first woodworking experiences came before high school when he was in the 4-H Woodworking project. I'm so glad he came to appreciate the beauty and versatility of wood. He's a much better woodworker than I am, and that's okay, because he's my son.


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