DAY 8: Make the two depressions on the surfing board where the surfer can comfortably                                                                                    place his/her foot inside.

Today's ACSU time was a very productive time and I was able to do many things. I began with helping out my friend bringing her heavy product into the room, helping her take pictures and many other things. I thought I would be wasting time, helping her. But I enjoyed and felt nice because if I want her to help me, then I will have to help her! It was also my duty to do so! Previous lesson, when I asked sir how I could make the two depression, he said that there is a machine that could do it. Initially, my idea was to do it with a chisel and a hammer, if there was no such equipment available. But fortunately, there is and it is called the router. But he said that I could not use it during the regular lesson because it would cause a lot of dust and make a lot of noise. Which is why he told me to drop in today to do that. At the beginning of ACSU time, he was busy with some other students DP students and told me to wait. Until then, I continued with making the outline of the footprints using hammer and chisel so that it would be easier for him to follow the footprint and cut accordingly! I felt lazy and pointless doing the hammer and chisel part because I felt that it would not really make Mr.Mr. Wafula's life an easier. Nevertheless, I finished one of the foot and began with the other when Mr Wafula arrived and started setting up the tool! I had imaged the tool to be a big and a complicated one, but then I saw him picking up one of the tools that has been lying around in the room since a very long time. Even though I had seen it many times, I did not know how it worked. But when Mr Wafula started the process, I realized that it is like a circular thing that spins very fast, kind of sanding the wood. I was surprised at the beginning because it was not anything like what I had imagined it to be! It gave out a lot of dust which made me feel very breathless and made me sneeze a lot. But I had to take pictures and could not leave the room because if I do, I will look like an arrogant person. It would look as though I gave the teacher to do my work and am enjoying myself outside. Moreover, i was very curious to know how the equipment worked! I stayed away and watched him make the two depressions very neatly. Once he was done, I took pictures of that and thought that he was finished! When I was about to remove the clamp the board, Mr. Wafula came out with another similar looking equipment. When I asked him what it was, he said that it will make the transition area from the main board to the actual depression, very smooth. In other words, the depressions on my surfing board will be smooth and gradual so that the surfer feels comfortable and making it easier for the foot to placed and removed from the depressions. He tried doing it, but the results were no what I had expected. The tool did not work that well in giving me the results that both, I and Mr. Wafula had expected. Nevertheless, I did not give up and started thinking of other ways! I thought of using the chisel and the hammer. But then I realized that i will be taking a big risk by trying to do something. So therefore, i left it the way it is and sanded it a little using the sand paper because the edges were really sharp and could cut the surfer. When I was sanding it, Mr wafula came to me and said that it will not be enough. So he got out his tool box and started looking for some other pins that could work on the machine and give me the results that I needed. Unfortunately, he could not find one. i was not very sad by this because I was very happy that I was bale to  make the depression. Initially, I was under the impression that making the two depressions will be a long procedure and might not be possible. But i was wrong! However, the foot sizes and not equal which might be one of the drawbacks of my surfing board. But i am happy about the fact that my foot perfectly and comfortably fits into the depressions! Here are some pictures of the work done today!:

    DAY 7: Sand all the 5 wooden pieces perfectly until they are very smooth.

Since today was a single lesson, I was not able to do much work. Nevertheless, today's lesson was very productive and I am proud about the fact that I used my time well today and did not get distracted. Usually I get very distracted while working, but today I stuck to my task and worked until I accomplished it! I was the first one to enter class because I wanted the disk sander. So I went and held on to it until I finished my job which took me around 20 minutes. This job was sanding the longer stick. Initially, I thought I might break the stick if i use such a sander on it. But then my friend told me that as long as I clamp it well and provide it with all the support that it needs, it will not break. And that is what I did- I took 3 clamps and tightly clamped the stick and slowly and gently sanded it! It took a very long time for me to finish sanding the long stick only because first of all, I needed to go slow and gentle and make sure the stick does not get damaged or break because to be honest, I do not want to go through what I did, day before yesterday! Secondly, I had cut this long stick using the scroll saw which gave it many cuts and curves and made it look very unprofessional and straight. That is the reason why i had to sand every edge, side and face of it! I faced a major challenge when I was working, which was pressure by my other class mates. My peers also needed to use the sander and they kept pestering me to hurry up and kept complaining that it was not fair that I was wasting their time. Even though, I understood that they needed the sander too, I did not bother much because I hurried myself and booked the sander first. Additionally, there was no way I could compromise on the quality of my work, taking into consideration, the disaster that occurred day before yesterday! Eventually, they stopped complaining and found other equipment that they could use! I admit that I was being selfish today, but I needed to me selfish because I was already falling behind schedule after my long stick  broke. Nevertheless, I feel guilty and bad about what I did today and will make sure I do not behave the same way I did today. After sanding the long stick, I tore out a small piece of sand paper from a sander which was not working. Then I started manually sanding the smaller piece of the stick. I could not sand the smaller piece using the electric sander because it is too fast and could break it! Therefore, I had to sand it manually using my hands. I had expected it to be very difficult, but I was able to finish it within 5-10 minutes. After that, I started figuring out a way in which I could make the depression on my surfing board. i started doing it with a chisel and a hammer when I realized that I was going nowhere by doing so. That is why i consulted the teacher and asked hum if there was anything that I could use. He said there is something called the router. But he said that we will not be able to use it during the lesson time, which is why he asked me to come tomorrow during ACSU time. Here are some pictures of my work today:

 

          DAY 6: Cut the two wooden small sticks and the two long wooden sticks, exactly following the outline on the plywood board

Today was not a very successful lesson, however, I am very proud of myself for succeeding as an individual. Most of the things that I did today did not end up or go the way I wanted it to. But I tried very hard and succeeded quite a lot and I am very happy about that. I faced a major challenge today that almost made me give up. But I did not a did the whole thing again. Today's lesson began by me drawing the longer stick of the surfing board. I did this as accurately as possible and the end product was also satisfactory. However, there were a few areas where the stick looked wider than it is actually supposed to be. I corrected it here and there and did not erase the whole drawing. I felt guilty ignoring it, but I had to because this was my only opportunity to go grad the jig saw since no one was using it. I began by using the jig saw, when someone said that using the scroll saw will be better for this. I thought about it and went to the scroll saw and cut  as much as I could. I could not cut much because the scroll saw is small and my wooden piece is extremely long. After I cut as much as I could, The jig saw was free again. I took up this precious opportunity and began cutting it. Everything was moving smoothly and I kept moving forward much quicker than last time. But suddenly a disaster occurred! My wood broke because: 1) I had not placed the wood in the correct direction and 2) because I did not clamp my wood piece properly. I was heartbroken by this! I had come so far and now I had to begin all over again. I started thinking of what I could do to save my wooden stick. I also came up with the idea that I can stick the two broken piece together. But unfortunately sir did not like this idea because it would make the sticks very weak, thus also reducing the quality and durability of my product. I was very saddened and sat on my table for a very long time, thinking about what I should do next. Suddenly I realized that I am wasting my time thinking about what to do next and sympathizing myself! I should get up, get another piece of wood and begin! And that is exactly what I did! I got my other piece of wood, drew the outline of the longer stick, drew the joint and checked if it was accurate by placing the smaller stick. I went to the jig saw, called one of my stronger friend to help me clamp the wood and also her to do it the right way. She suggested a right direction and I was happy and shocked about why I had not thought of that! She kept the wooden plank horizontally while I had kept to vertically. The horizontal position definitely gave more support and prevented it from breaking! I successfully cut it and I am very happy about that! However, I was not able to sand my pieces because they were too delicate to be handled by a sander. Therefore, I will have to look for sand paper which I will be able to use! Another modification that I made today was that in my plan I had written that i will be using two layers of this to make the handle. but I could not do that because this will make drilling the joint difficult! Here are some pictures of me working, the disaster and the end product of today's hard work:

change made about 2 stciks

DAY 5: Cut the two wooden small sticks and the two long wooden sticks, exactly following the outline on the plywood board 

Today was a productive lesson/ACSU time because I did substantial and satisfying amount of work. Today I also got an opportunity to help other people and display my leadership skills. I got an opportunity to display my leadership skills by helping and teaching some tricks and techniques of using various equipment in the DT lab! This was a completely different experience for me because since create stage has began, I have only been taught by someone else but never have taught anyone. I felt proud in doing so because I was assisting someone who was younger than me. In such situations, i had two options- either to get angry at the younger students because they were acting very languid or be kind and nice to them by helping them so that even they progress faster and even I will be able to get the equipment quickly. Today, unfortunately there were long queues for almost all the the equipment needed. There was a long queue especially for the jig saw which I needed the most. But instead of using the jig saw, I used the scroll saw whose results were obviously not as good as if I had used the jig saw! But since I needed to finish my work quickly and move on to the next task, I needed to work with what I could find quickly and conveniently! The first thing I did was to cut the two handles properly. I had cut then last lesson too, but then they were cut in a very crooked way and I wanted to improve on this. So I used the scroll saw and removed very tiny slices of wood and made the handles as equal and uniform as possible! Then I also cut the triangular pad  which was outlined on a different wood plank. Fortunately, this wood plank was small compared to the other plywood planks. Thus it was easy to carry around until break time. At break time, I kept the wood plank in Mr. Wafula's office.  After properly cutting the handles, I moved on to cutting the triangular pad! I did this using the scroll saw too!Fortunately, I was able to follow the outline more accurately compared o last time. However, I am quite sure that I could have done a better job using the jig saw. I also learnt the trick of using the scroll saw which was to move quickly. If I moved quickly, then there would be less chance of me making a mistake and more likely for me to move in a straight line. I liked the look of the triangular pad after cutting it because it looked the way I wanted it to and reached my expectation. Then I sanded all of the wood pieces, including the two handle pieces, the triangular pad and the surfboard. I needed to make the handles very smooth and wanted the corners to be rounded and blunt. This is because, when one is using the surfboard, h/she will be tightly holding on to the handle which needs to be smooth in order for it to not injure the surfer. I made the two handles extremely smooth and fine, however the shape was still quite curvy and not straight! I also properly sanded the triangular pad which gave it an extremely smooth and a uniform look! Additionally, i also sanded the surfboard because I realized that I had not done it properly, the last time i did it. Therefore I improved on it and made the perfect! I also made the surfboard uniform and same in dimensions because it was looking irregular and rather not accurate. Therefore I drew another outline where I needed to make it accurate and cut it using the jig saw. By this time the jig saw was free because many people had left. But today I am proud of my progress even though I am not exactly following the plan! Here are some pictures of the outcome of today's hard work:

Day 4: Cut the two pieces of the handle and the triangular piece of wooden pad, exactly following the outline on the plywood board

Today's lesson was not as good as day before yesterday's double lesson because of many reasons. But the main reason was that, during any single lesson of DT, I cannot concentrate as well as I do in a double lesson. This is because I can do more during a double lesson and perfectly finish what I plan for. However during a single lesson, I cannot work well because I usually am not able to finish what I started leaving me unsatisfied and unhappy! And this is exactly what happened this lesson. Until yesterday, I was very happy that I have been able to perfectly follow my plan until now. Yesterday when I looked at what i was supposed to do during today's lesson, it said "Cut the two wooden small sticks and the two long wooden sticks, exactly following the outline on the plywood board". Unfortunately, I was not prepared for this task because I still had not drawn the outline of the small and the long stick on the plywood since the plywood was in school. So therefore, I decided to do the task that I was supposed to do on Thursday, which was "Cut the two pieces of the handle and the triangular piece of wooden pad, exactly following the outline on the plywood board". I had already drawn the outline of the two handles and had the wood with the outline of the triangular pad with me. So I decided to do this task today and do the other one tomorrow. When I reached school, I realized that I had forgotten the wood with had the outline of the triangular pad, at home! I was very disappointing because this meant that I cannot follow my plan today. So, since I had not other option, I did what I could! I cut the two handles using the scroll saw, which I had not used in a very long time! I cut some of it using the jig saw but then some other people needed to use it, so I let them use it! I was actually more comfortable using the jig saw because, using that I was able to follow the outline perfectly. But using the scroll saw was not fun, because I kept getting in or out of the line and in the end had curves and cuts on my wood piece. I was dissapointed! Nevertheless, I tried making them even using the scroll saw by carefully cutting out small pieces from it. It did work but not as much as I had required. In order to get a successful result, I needed to using the sander which was being used by some other student. So, I could not do so. Today was not a very productive lesson because I don't think I utilized my time well. I could have done much more if I had all the equipment to myself! But I gave my best shot and I am proud of myself for that. I am also sad about the fact that the other students in my class have also started working on their product which means longer queues for each equipment. I am trying my best to get the major bits finished by this week, because the students who have to gone to Nairobi for the conference will be joining us next week! Since, I was not able to do much today, I will be cutting the triangular wooden pad, and the short and the long stick tomorrow. I am also going prepared to school tomorrow, so that i do not waste time anywhere and jump to work straightaway! Here are some pictures of today's work: 

Day 3: Cut out the main surfing board outline on the plywood board  

 

This was the best day ever! I had an amazing third day today and will be most probably the best day of create stage.  I had expected this day to be very stressful and tiring because I had so much to cut in order to strictly follow the plan! This term, I want to strictly follow my plan because that is the only way I will be able to finish my work on time. It is a very big and a time consuming project and moreover I also started late compared to a few other students in my class. This means that I have to work seriously without missing a single day on my production plan. Initially when making the plan I was under the impression that  I might not be able to finish today's task in 2 lessons. That would have been reality if I had not chosen this day to the task. Coincidentally, many of the students in our class were not around because they had to go to Nairobi to attend a conference. I am very happy about the fact that coincidentally, I had assigned this day for the biggest task! This is because less people means less number of people that I have to fight with for an equipment. This is why I came and sat outside the class in advance so that I can book that equipment for myself! Very fortunately, no one even complained when I used the jig saw for the whole of the double lesson. However, I let people do their work in between, if they needed to cut something small because it would be very selfish of me to keep the jig saw to myself for both the lessons when others also required it. I had a lot of fun and can proudly say that i cut the whole surfing board today. I am very proud of myself because this is a great achievement for me. I was also very lucky today to have an amazing person assisting me today- Nikita. She made me realize that I knew nothing about the DT and that I was a very weak person. I knew nothing about the DT lab because I did not know how to use the jig saw properly. Or rather I was scared and hesitant to use it. That is the reason why she did some of the beginning and I continue after that. I am a very weak person because I did not have enough power to even loosen and tighten the clamps! Nikita taught me many lessons today and highlighted many areas where I can improve! Initially I was very slow in moving the jig saw and was making a very slow but steady progress. I was not happy with it because I knew that if I continued so slowly, I will not be able to finish what I supposed to! When Nikita saw how slowly I was progressing, she started helping me more and taught me the most amazing trick. That is when I realized what I was doing wrong. When using the Jig saw, I had push on the back side of the saw and move it forward. That is when I started moving quickly. I finished cutting my board well before time and was getting bored. That is when I thought 'why not use my time effectively'. So I went and sanded my board as much as I could. Surprisingly, I was able to sand almost 3/4 of how much I am actually supposed to do on that day. My board was now very smooth and had perfect curves. I had a lot of fun this lessons and did not face many challenges. I learnt many things and I am proud of myself for accomplishing more than I was supposed to this lesson! I would also like to specially thank my dear friend, Nikita! Here are some pictures of me working today: 

                       Day 2: Draw the shapes and the outline of the different parts on the wood.
 

Unlike yesterday, today I had some legitimate work that I was supposed to do. Today's task was to make the outlines of the different parts of the surfboard on the wood. It was an exciting day because finally I was beginning on my project.  It was also a difficult task because I needed to be very accurate and draw it properly so that I do not regret the drawing after cutting the wood. I tried my best to draw the figures and the outline accurately and I think I did a pretty good job. Firstly, I started with the drawing of the main surfboard because that is what I will be cutting tomorrow. It took a very long time for me to draw it because first I measured the length and the width and marked it accordingly. Then I tried to make the curves of the surfboard equal and equidistant from the center. I was not very successful at this because the curves of the surfboard did not look as uniform as I wanted them to be. I tried my best to make it look uniform, but did not completely succeed. Drawing the other parts was much easier because I had all the measurements and the dimensions and had to just measure and draw on the board. I did all of them in a matter of about 1 hour. The wooden board was so big that I had to sit on it in order to draw on it! I did not face much challenges except for the part when I had to draw the actual surfboard. The bigger challenge will be tomorrow when I will have to carry that big and a hevy board and walk to school. I think I shoudl arrange for a drop from my father so that it will be easier. This was today's work and this is how the outlines of the different parts look like: 

                       Day 1: Looking for plywood boards that are suitable for my product 

Initially, I was under the impression that doing this task will be very difficult because the type of wood that I require cannot be found easily. Additionally, I needed the wood as soon as possible because I had already procrastinated and was supposed to start my work on the wood tomorrow. I also did not inform my parents in advance which made the situation worse because they needed time to look for that type of wooden boards that I required. I was in a dilemma and was depressed as to why I had procrastinated. But all was not as difficult as I had thought it to be. But this does not mean that I should procrastinate in the future. The person who came up with the solution to this problem and the person whom I should think is my brother. He was the one who told me that there is a plank of plywood (the wood that I needed) under each bed in our house. Hence, I found 2 of them and will be using them in my project. However the two planks that I found do not reach all my expectations. Nevertheless, I have no other options, so I will have to use these 2 planks. The drawbacks of the ones that I found is that they are very very very heavy, which ultimately means that my product will not be easily portable! This was the major drawback. I have learnt my lessons today that I should plan everything in advance and not procrastinate because it can have grave consequences!  But I will still have to use and am happy that I found these! The image below is how the two planks look: