{"id":227,"date":"2009-07-20T22:44:05","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T02:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/?p=227"},"modified":"2009-08-17T14:56:25","modified_gmt":"2009-08-17T18:56:25","slug":"when-do-these-kids-have-time-for-guitar-hero-facebook-a-look-at-award-winning-woodwork-made-by-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/woodworking-projects\/when-do-these-kids-have-time-for-guitar-hero-facebook-a-look-at-award-winning-woodwork-made-by-students\/","title":{"rendered":"When Do These Kids Have Time For Guitar Hero & Facebook?: A Look at the AWFS 2009 Fresh Wood Student Woodworking Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nWhen you stroll through the AWFS (Association of\u00a0 Wooworking and Furnishings Suppliers) exhibit hall in Las Vegas, you’ll find impressive lumber-cutting machines.\u00a0\u00a0 Huge things that rival your house.\u00a0 They can mill 8,000 little furniture parts in under 60 seconds, for over-exaggerated example. I’ve seen robotic arms use immense suction to lift 3\/4″ thick 4×8 sheets of plywood, swing them up overhead, and set them down on a CNC table that, in turn, cuts out a couple hundred little puzzle-like pieces that get knocked together into rocking chairs (that part’s done by a human) – whamo!<\/em><\/strong> Done. Like it’s nobody’s business.<\/p>\n

Well, seriously, it is <\/em>nobody’s business.\u00a0 From plywood to parts, you don’t need a person to handle the material.\u00a0 Unbelievable.<\/p>\n

It hit me like a ton of bricks:<\/strong> In today’s woodwork manufacturing, you don’t need to be a woodworker to control the machinery . . . on the contrary, you need to be a computer programmer<\/em>.\u00a0 It’s like woodworking – ahem, maybe I mean craftsmanship<\/em> – has nothing to do with it all.<\/p>\n

When you walk out of that exhibition hall, and if you’re not zombie-eyed and numb by what you’ve seen inside, you should notice a little kiosk thing in the concourse.\u00a0 Inside the kiosk are the 50 finalist entries for the 2009 Fresh Wood Student Woodworking Competition.\u00a0 Step inside.\u00a0 It’s cool.\u00a0 It’s inspiring.\u00a0 Creativity and innovation come together. You’ll be saying to yourself, “Kids made this stuff?\u00a0 Well okay, the world’s in good hands then.”<\/p>\n

Check these out.\u00a0 I didn’t get photos of them all, but most.\u00a0 Beautiful, real hand-crafted woodwork by high school and college students.\u00a0 I’d bet many of them are computer programmers, but for this competition they had to put the apps away and pick up a chisel.<\/p>\n

You can see some more here:<\/p>\n

www.iswonline.com\/ArticleLanding\/tabid\/67\/Default.aspx?tid=2&heading=Web%20Exclusives&modid=499&ContentID=368189<\/a><\/p>\n

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Video with David Ringheim who made one of our favorite pieces in this competition:<\/h3>\n

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AWFS Fresh Wood Student Competition: David Ringheim<\/a> from CustomMade<\/a> on Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t