Thursday 14th February 2014

Today was the lesson before we set out for the mid-term break. So far I was done cutting out the barriers and the barriers of the rack, remaining with the pillars to still cut out, make the joints, level the materials I have cut out, sand them, glue the parts together, paint the rack and finally varnish it. This was quite a lot to do in another 14 days since the project is due on the 28th of February. I started panicking a little and started thinking of how I should go about the mortise and tenon joint with the pillars before I start cutting. I viewed my designs and started drawing rough sketches of what can I do but i realized that making a mortise joint similar to what I had drawn in my design will be very very hard therefore I called Mr. Wafula and asked him for his idea/opinion. Mr.Wafula didn't come immediately as he also had other children in the class that he was with which was quite time wasting. Meanwhile, I looked over my design again and soon found another mistake.In my design I had decided to use a groove joint and a mittered butt joint for the barriers but both can't work out at the same time so I decided to not use the groove joint since the mittered butt joint was part of my design specs.

Finally Mr.Wafula came at quarter to 9:45 remaining with 15 minutes. I briefly explained the problem and immediately Mr.Wafula gave me an idea. He drew a rough sketch of the use of a mortise and tenon joint then I can use on the pillars connecting with the compartments and at that moment I felt at ease. Next time, I should always double check my designs and plan ahead of time and very accurately since it is said "Failing to plan is planning to fail". My strengths in today's lesson was that I was able to find my way through a difficult situation meaning I have good "problem solving skills" and my weakness was to not plan with accuracy. The challenge that I had today, was that I was confused and worried with the wood joints and where should I place them and how, although I overcame this challenge by seeking help from other people. It was not soon before the lesson finished meaning I was only left with one more lesson after the break and the holiday to work on my rack but luckily Mr.Wafula was kind enough to allow us to come over the break from 10-12 on Monday to Wednesday to work on our project.