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Headed Downhill
ON THE INSIDE The latest happenings in our area Page 2
May 5,2016
Old Forge shop students produce wintry masterpiece by Tucker Hottes Staff Writer
Old Forge High School students worked months to go downhill — on a handcrafted toboggan in Neil Dadurka’s Technology 3 class. While the group could not control the weather to provide a snowy surface, every other aspect of the sled was planned from start to finish. The 6-foot toboggan, capable of holding two riders, was the culmination of months of preparation, including building the tools necessary to complete the project. “One of the first things we had to do was build a steam box in order to steam the wood,” Dadurka said. “Then we had to make bending jigs to successfully bend the wood to the desired radius for the toboggan. It took some time to get the resources together to do it properly. The students did every part of it, even cutting the wood to the desired thicknesses in order to bend properly. The only thing I did was fire up the steam box early in the morning to get it going.” Dadurka has thought about the toboggan project for a while, but the proper combination of timing, materials and students was necessary. “I had it in my head to do this project for a few years,” said Dadurka. “You need the right group of kids in order to do it, the right personalities and a group of students that really want to do it. We needed to get a 10-inch sewer pipe in order to make the bending jig. I had a hard time tracking down a piece of sewer pipe, but I got it over Christmas break, and we decided if we got snow we could try it out on the hill by the school. Some of the students didn’t even know what a toboggan was — they were used to plastic sleds and stuff like that.” In addition to researching the proper methods for constructing the tools, Dadurka said he could to prepare a lesson on the technology of steam bending to integrate other subjects with hands-on experience. “There was a lot of math and science involved in the whole project,” he said. “They learned about things like plasticity, which is the wood’s ability to change shape when the
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From left, front row: Areyonna Tomkins, Maya Florovito, Mercade Harding, Kaylie Harvey and Francesca Samony. Second row: Neil Dadurka, Cole Angeli, John Ayala, Joshua Wagner, Steven Coolbaugh and Shane Hoffman.
cell structure is exposed to water or steam. They learn about the compression and tension to mold it, the physical properties of wood, they learn about the boiling point of water and transition from liquid to gas.” The class selected pieces of straight grained ash then milled and cut it to the appropriate length, width and thickness while learning about different types of wood grain. After being subjected to 220-degree steam, the wood was pliable enough to bend. “They pulled it out of the steam box, after seeing the whole process, and put it in the jig to see it just bend over,” Dadurka said. “They know any other time that it would snap in half, but it bent to look just like a candy cane. It was really neat to see their faces. Then, a couple days after sitting in the jig, it held its shape, and they could see it really worked. To take 5/16thinch-thick wood and put a 10-inch bend on it is unreal, and they did every bit of it.” Dadurka has been part of the Old Forge school district for 10 years and said he’s happy to see students enthusiastic about manufacturing, technology and craftsmanship. “They worked together as a team. It was a manufacturing-type environment, and every-
one did their part,” he said. “Programs like this are always getting cut in other districts. We’re always looking for things to keep things going and appeal to the students. If I can help steer kids to go into a career that relates to what they learned, I’m happy.” The toboggan project was just the beginning for Dadurka’s classes. With the steam box built, he said the possibilities are endless — one of the next ideas includes trout fishing nets students would be able to sell to local anglers. He also said projects could span multiple classes: students in marketing and design could team up to help finished projects generate money to put back into the program. Proceeds from sales could help go toward new equipment like a CNC milling router to create complicated projects from metal, according to Dadurka. Dadurka said he’s glad to watch students take pride from the learning and creative process through to a finished product. “I come from a blue-collar background,” he said. “My father is a masonry and concrete contractor; I’ve been doing hands-on learning my whole life. Not everybody is a book person. The world is always going to need somebody to build you something.”