The student continued cutting out the shape of their animal moving toy in design technology class. They had difficulty cutting the angled head and had to start from the bottom instead. They cut the shape in sections and used smaller cuts for tricky areas like the open mouth. After cutting, they used various files to smooth the rough edges, focusing on smoothing the mouth area. They were happy to complete the cutting stage and look forward to adding the axle and wheels next.

1. Cutting and filing the rough edges
28/3/11 Monday
What I did today:
Today in DT class, I continued to cut the other half of my animal moving toy. It was hard at first
because the angle was too hard to cut on, so I started from the bottom of the hard wood(beech)
and continued my cutting from there. I used a coping saw for cutting the angle along with a
bench vice. I cut until the middle of the animal, where to animal tag was, and then started to cut
straight from the top to the tag. I did this because it was easier to cut the other parts later. After
cutting it, I continued to the mouth where it was really hard to cut because I had an open mouth
design. I cut 3-4 smaller cuts so that it was easier to cut later on. I finished cutting the top of the
head, and then cut diagonally towards the mouth so that it was easier to smooth later on.
When I finished all of the cutting, I used a half round, round and flat headed file to smooth the
mouth of the animal. I smoothed most parts until it was flat, and then continued to smooth the
other parts of the animal.
This is a picture of me using the coping
saw to cut the angle of the head.
This is a picture of me filing the inside of
the mouth with a round file.

2. Cutting and filing the rough edges
Why:
I continued cutting the animal moving toy because I did not finish it in the last class. The angle
was really hard to cut on because the wood was too high on top of the bench hook which made
it unstable to cut on, and I had to bend the coping saw blade a lot which was dangerous. I used
the files to smooth the mouth because the coping saw blade would be bent a lot, which made
me scared because I didn’t want to break it.
Emotions:
I think today was a productive day, because I finally finished cutting my animal body shape out. I
can now smooth the edges of the body and start moving on to the axle for the wheels. I felt very
happy when I could smooth, because it was a sign that I’m done with one part of my project.
Whatʼs Next:
For me, the next step is to smooth the edges and start measuring and marking ou the axle for
the wheels. I think the filling will take a long time.
Learner Profile/AOI:
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. I was also reflective because I used the files for smoothing
which I used last year.