Thread: Apprentices in my shop.

Great to see, but please, hearing protection, especially with the thicknesser.

Bit of snipe on the shorter board

still good to see young fellows interested enough and parents allowing it to take place.

Why no in/out feed tables on the thicknesser?

Good to see the youguns at it BUT PLEASE HEARING PROTECTION or them

I'm not cavalier about looking after hearing (I live with someone with a very severe hearing problem, & it's not a nice affliction!), but a couple of points, folks:

a) I think the young chap is feeding a sander, not a thicknesser.....
b) If the noise level on the video is any guide, it's not too severe for a short exposure. The rule of thumb used to be that if you can hold a conversation at normal volumes, the background noise isn't doing much damage.....
c) In any case, given the 'music' choices of the younger generation, I would be more worried what they will do to their ears by going to recreation venues or with personal listening devices than spending a few minutes working in any home workshop...


Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

I'm not cavalier about looking after hearing (I live with someone with a very severe hearing problem, & it's not a nice affliction!), but a couple of points, folks:
a) I think the young chap is feeding a sander, not a thicknesser.....
b) If the noise level on the video is any guide, it's not too severe for a short exposure. The rule of thumb used to be that if you can hold a conversation at normal volumes, the background noise isn't doing much damage.....
c) In any case, given the 'music' choices of the younger generation, I would be more worried what they will do to their ears by going to recreation venues or with personal listening devices than spending a few minutes working in any home workshop...

I dunno about the younger generation but when I went to the audiologist 15 years ago he looked at my frequency responses and said with a dry smile, "too much loud 70's rock".
Although one can't recover lost response one can slow down further loss, 15 years on and looking after my hearing using good muffs, my frequency response is just below average for my age.

Originally Posted by BobL

I dunno about the younger generation but when I went to the audiologist 15 years ago he looked at my frequency responses and said with a dry smile, "too much loud 70's rock".
Although one can't recover lost response one can slow down further loss, 15 years on and looking after my hearing using good muffs, my frequency response is just below average for my age.

Same here

Yep, sounds like we are all in the same boat, though in my case it was loud agricultural machines that did the early damage, not rock music, of which I have never been fond. I grew up on a farm in the era before hearing protectors were readily available, and thought the louder the noise a tractor made, the better it was doing its job. It was many years down the track when I learnt that that ringing in the ears at the end of a long day on a dozer was not a good thing. I discovered my hearing was down for my age in my late 20s, so have been a lot more careful these last 40 years, & am now about average for my age. However, average at 68 isn't great, let me tell you. I have trouble hearing conversation when there is any sort of background noise, particularly women's voices, and that can cause me a deal of trouble at home & abroad!

How I hated the noise that passes for music at student functions! I tried to warn the young folk about what was coming to them, but they took no notice. We are all bomb-proof in our 20s, aren't we?

Cheers,

Good to see John!!

the points about hearing protesctio are well made.

One thing that worried me a little was the first video where the young fellow
kept sneaking his fingers ever closer to the working parts.

Originally Posted by artme

One thing that worried me a little was the first video where the young fellow
kept sneaking his fingers ever closer to the working parts.

The apprentice was getting a little over-zealous about following one of my instructions, which was to keep a little downward pressure on the outfeed table. However, there is a strip of ply across the back of the shroud that makes it virtually impossible to get fingers near the drum. The gap between that strip of ply and the top of the workpiece is 6 mm. About 35 mm behind that ply strip is a roller turning away from the drum which is in firm contact with the workpiece, and the drum is 50 mm forward of the edge of the ply. I was never worried about him getting hurt. He got careful instructions about the infeed side, and you might have noted he never put his hands anywhere near the infeed shroud.

The older fellow is more academically inclined. It is the younger boy who is more likely to take an interest in the shop.

Have fun!

John

Originally Posted by John Samuel

The apprentice was getting a little over-zealous about following one of my instructions, which was to keep a little downward pressure on the outfeed table. However, there is a strip of ply across the back of the shroud that makes it virtually impossible to get fingers near the drum. The gap between that strip of ply and the top of the workpiece is 6 mm. About 35 mm behind that ply strip is a roller turning away from the drum which is in firm contact with the workpiece, and the drum is 50 mm forward of the edge of the ply. I was never worried about him getting hurt. He got careful instructions about the infeed side, and you might have noted he never put his hands anywhere near the infeed shroud.

The older fellow is more academically inclined. It is the younger boy who is more likely to take an interest in the shop.

Have fun!

John

John, Dont fall for that one. I have a son who struggled through school. The teachers thought he would be lucky to ever manage to get through a trade. He now has two, plus a degree in electrical engineering.
It aint over till the fat lady sings.

Originally Posted by rustynail

John, Dont fall for that one. I have a son who struggled through school. The teachers thought he would be lucky to ever manage to get through a trade. He now has two, plus a degree in electrical engineering.
It aint over till the fat lady sings.

That is so true. We never know how they will turn out. My experience is that they can change fairly dramatically once the hormones kick in properly.

My second son was like yours. The hormones did not kick in fully until close to the end of high school. When he finished high school, he was barely computer literate, which bothered me given that he was doing a double degree in science and engineering. A year later he was the class whiz with excel, and he had a stream of kids visiting to get some help. He got his degrees in minimum time, with honours, despite struggling through high school.

Nevertheless, it is his brother who excels with anything that resembles a tool, machine or weapon. He was outperforming the high school kids at archery whilst still in primary school, with a bow his dad made from a lump of silver ash.

Have fun!

John