My 3year old makes Chopsticks

Over my Christmas holidays I had grand plans on making all these different bits and pieces and a heap os stock for my sites. Basically none of those plans came to fruition. But I did manage to make some chopsticks and recruited my 3year old to make a pair with me.

My boy absolutely loves to be up in the shed, for Christmas all he wanted was his own drill, not a toy one a REAL one.

To to start, we selected a nice straight piece of Tasmanian Oak and chopped it down to about 12" long on the drop saw.

Then we need the material at about 8mm square, so we go to the bandsaw and re-saw the stock into blanks.

Then we go over to the Japanese chopstick jig. This is paired with a traditional Japanese plane. The difference between a standard plane and a Japanese plane is that the Jap plan gets pulled towards you, where as western planes are pushed. This little puppy is razor sharp and a dream to use.

So the jig helps put on the tapers that you're used to seeing on a normal chopstick. You're meant to go around and taper all 4 sides, but they goes too thin for my liking, so I just taper 2 of the sides.

Then comes the fun part, the part all woodworkers look forward to. The Sanding !!! Perfect job for the kids. I plonked him down in front of the TV with a sanding block and told him to make it smooth.

Next we seal them in Mineral Oil. The best by far is baby oil, its non-toxic, food safe and dirt cheap.

Then to buff them down

Then to show them off. He's as happy as a pig in .......

This was a great fun little project, doesn't take long to make. I actually burnt his name into them, but the photos of that didn't show up very well.

I hope to make this type of story a regular feature here, let me know if there's anything you'd like me to make.