During 8th Grade shop class, most of us chose a project to fabricate a letter opener. These were all based on the prototype known as a Bowie Knife, capable of disemboweling every soldier of General Santa Anna’s Army. Our shop class instructor thought of nothing of it, as this had been the most popular project for at least the last 20 years.
My eighth grade shop project was a gear puller. The metal working was great. The metal used was so soft, though, that the first time I ever tried to pull a gear, the grapplers just bent off.