For more than 30 years Paul Chew has been helping children enjoy woodworking. It began when his church started a program called Nifty Gifty for Christmas. Parents helped children made gifts to give away each Christmas. Says Chew, “Nifty Gifty challenged me to come up with a new idea each year and to design the projects so even the littlest kids could be successful.” His background in teaching Middle and High School Industrial Arts or “Shop” came in handy. “I was used to planning and carrying out mass- production projects where the entire class helped make things to sell as fundraising for the program. I applied what I learned to working with younger children.” This involves designing jigs and fixtures that make cutting and assembly easier, such as the use of a miter box to hold a piece of wood and the saw so the cut is made straight. This even worked with children as young as 3 years old with a little help from parents. I also had to learn what tools work well with kids. Until I discovered the Japanese pull saws, kids always had a difficult time cutting wood. Next, he had to compile projects that work well with children beginning with simpler to more difficult ones. His projects include lots of games, trick toys such as the fish hook, and more functional ones such as the mug tree. He plans to put all this in a manual one day so others can learn from his experiences.
His love of woodworking grew out of parents who supported him to explore and learn new things. His dad gave him a set of tools one Christmas that were neatly mounted on a board and outlined to show where to put them back. Paul never remember him showing how to do anything. He also saw his dad doing woodworking in their garage. Even though his dad was a teacher and scientist, he had a keen interest in woodworking. Chew was also impressed by a model ship his grandfather had built over a ten year period. It had all the rigging on it. He feels like these early experiences made a lasting impression on him. “It is the small things that can have a significant influence on oneself and the future.“
Chew credits his early experiences for his wanting to teach children how to do woodworking. My early experiences were quite frustrating. It wasn’t until Junior High School (now Middle School) that he got his first real taste of woodworking. When working with kids he has found that it only takes a couple of days of instruction for his students to learn the “basics” which include measuring and marking, cutting, shaping, drilling, sanding, assembly and finishing. From there you can do just about anything with a little practice and problem solving. He doesn’t believe in giving kids pre-cut kits. He wants them to have the full experience of starting from scratch with a piece of wood and basic tools.
Woodworking, according to Chew, goes hand in hand with a general education that students receive in school. All hands-on work involves problem solving and this requires the use of basic skills and knowledge such as math, reading, science and much more. Woodworking reinforces basic concepts of angles, planes, measuring, geometry and even algebra when it comes to more advanced projects. He even throws in some history when his students make traditional “folk toys”. Says Chew, “I talk to them about how folks lived when they couldn’t go to the local Walmart or store to buy things. They had to “make do” and were quite inventive in what they came up with.”
When applying basic principle of learning to real life projects students learns the purpose of basic skills and knowledge they learn in school. Math isn’t just for math class. Hands-on work reinforces what his students learn in class. It is critical that this generation learn the skills needed to engineer a more sustainable future. All of today’s problems are challenges that this generation will have to deal with. Having the right experiences at a young age may lead more children into fields that can shape the future in a positive direction. He feels that all this fits in well with the Macon County’s Summer Edventure Camp Program. Kids need to have fun and learning needs to be part of that. He wishes that more children could take part in the Edventure Camp program. Additional funding is all that is needed.
Besides teaching, Chew has also practiced woodworking on both a functional and personal level from building his own house to making spoons. More as a hobby, Chew makes hand carved woodenware, spoons and such, made from wood from his property. “When I have to cut a tree down I evaluate whether it would make a good spoon.” His favorites are Ash, Cherry, Birch, Beech, Sourwood, Walnut and more. Each wood is unique and present different characteristics and challenges. You might say that his spoons are made from scratch. He often demonstrates at local fairs in town and sells his spoons along with organically grown produce at Franklin’s tailgate market on Saturdays or at the Cowee Farmer’s Market on Tuesdays at the old Cowee School. His spoons have a hand-rubbed finish that only comes from lots of work. He says “I spend as much time sanding as I do cutting out and shaping the spoon.” I consider them heirloom pieces of work. He expects nearly the same from his students. “I feel it is all about craftsmanship and learning to do something well.” When a student thinks they are done sanding I ask them to close their eyes and feel it. That way they know if it is really smooth. Learning to do something well is a part of doing any kind of work from making a car to building a house. Quality counts, especially in a competitive global economy. It is never too soon for youngsters to learn these lessons.
His experience includes his work with Nifty Gifty, 12 years teaching at John C. Campbell Folk School’s Little/Middle summer camp, several years with an after school woodworking class through Gear Up, and now his second year with the Edventure Summer Camp Program. He holds a BS degree in Industrial Arts, and Master and Specialist degrees in Technology Education. He has broad training in working with all students including those with Special Needs. He taught Middle and High School for 18 years. Please contact him if you would like him to work with your group. . He lives off the grid in the Otto community. You can contact him at coweeta@gmail.com