The student drew designs on wood for a moving toy animal. They decided to cut the wood instead of drawing on both sides to save time based on their project schedule. The student used a coping saw to cut the curved shape of the animal's body while secured in a bench vice. They felt happy to make progress but worried about the fragile saw blade. Their next steps are to finish cutting the body and begin the axle assembly.

1. Cutting the body shape of my animal moving toy
24/3/11 Thursday
What I did today:
Today in DT class, I continued to draw my design on the other side of my piece of wood. I used
a tri-square to draw the lines for marking the other side. This was for me to draw it exactly like
the other side, for example the head’s top would be drawn so that I can draw until that point. I
drew the lines, then I decided not to draw on the other side because it would take a long time to
draw it and it would waste my time. I went to Mr.Anderson for permission to cut the wood
instead of drawing on both side. Once I had the permission to cut, I took the coping saw and
started to cut it. I first put it inside the bench
vice and started to cut just outside of the line.
This is a picture of me cutting the body of
my moving toy(hard wood/beech) with a
coping saw and the bench vice.
Throughout the whole period when I was
cutting I was worried that the blade of the
coping saw would drop out.
This is a picture of me cutting body of the
animal(hard wood/beech) in a different
angle.
Why:
I didn’t want to draw the design on the other
side of my wood because it would waste a lot
of precious time, and I had to follow my Gantt
chart timing. I was worried because of the coping saw blade, it was very fragile and I had to cut
a lot of curved areas, and I was bad at cutting curves.
Emotions:
I was very happy that I was finally cutting my piece of wood, because it was fun. At the end of
the lesson I was able to finish almost half of my animal body because the ears’ part was easy to
cut. It was loose and I could just pull it out.

2. Cutting the body shape of my animal moving toy
Whatʼs Next:
The next step for me is to cut the other half of my animal’s body, I think I will be able to finish the
body by the next lesson. I can also start making the axle for the wheels if I finish on time.
Learner Profile:
I think I was an risk taker because I used a tool/saw that I wasn’t comfortable with, but I still
managed to finish the job on time.