2 by 4/wood exploration

In this project, we had to cut the provided 2" x 4" x 18" section of wood at least five times, and then assembling the pieces into a connected system of parts. No glue or binding agents were allowed in connecting the parts together, but instead through the joints that we created. This was primary to get us used to and familiarized ourselves in the wood shop with all the machines and tools.


I, at first, had the thoughts of maybe just cutting it into simple chunks of blocks and stacking it on top of each other, but of course this wasn't allowed. Darn. So I set out to do something else. Many ideas floated in and out, one being maybe making it into a spiral effect of pieces or fan-like object. So, cutting the pieces in to 6-7 long way, photo below, I moved along with the project from here. But, complications arise as I tried to figure out how to continue on with it. I had planned to make 4 long cuts along all of the pieces to place the other wood pieces to connect them together. But the measurements were off, and the connecting parts were also confused as to which piece were suppose to be next to each other. Playing around with it, I decided to do something different once again. I decided to cut all of the long pieces in half, doubling the amount of woods to use. Cutting depths into the pieces on the other side, but without cutting all the way, all different sizes, I made the formation of a puzzle - looking object. I also numbered each pieces so it wouldn't be confusing to as which piece goes next to what.

Some pieces from the original first cut and some after the second process.

After this process was done, I played around as to what kind of assembly figure I wanted to create. Spacing it out, or keeping it close together. All lined up, or some higher and some shorter than the others. All of these factors ran through my mind and I decided on a conclusion and test it out. The final product of the project came out to be the following:

To connect the pieces together, I used 5 sectional areas on the back of it with a certain depth and inserting the remaining pieces of wood into the space to hold it together. I used pretty much all of the machines in the wood shop but some more than others to achieve the final product. I'm much more happier with how the shapes and overall view of the project turned out from my original simple idea. This was still simple to do but it looks quite complex with all the cuts and shapes of the wood and being seen as one object, gives the illusion that the project was much more difficult than it really was. I gained much experience in the wood shop thanks to this project and helping me lead into the next project for the semester.