When I was planning my senior project, I knew I wanted to create something that I could keep and use for myself, but I didn't really know who my mentor would be. Then I thought it would be special to do something like this with my grandfather who is now 84 years old and has over 40 years of construction experience. He even built his house that he and my grandmother live in today, in 1954. My grandfather started making canes for himself, as a donation and just for fun and I thought it would be cool to make myself a cane and personalize it with designs. Before starting my project, I had no prior knowledge of woodworking or heavy machinery. The only time I ever worked with wood was hammering a nail into a wooden wall. Now, after completing my project, I know how to stain and varnish wood, use a table saw, stationary sander, wood stove, and drill press. To start my project we first had to purchase supplies such as vinyl stamps, rubber. spikes, dowels 3 feet long and ¾ in. wide and a handrail 3 feet and 1 ¼ in. wide. Then we started making my cane. First, my grandfather explained to me what a table saw was and then showed me how I would use it to make my handle. The first thing we did was set the miter gauge to 90 degrees and place a magnetic block on the table vertically to the miter gauge and 4 ¼ apart. Now we turn on the saw. I have to hold the handrail firmly against the miter gauge and slide it until it is against the magnetic block. Then I slowly slide the miter gauge and handrail up, past the magnetic block, and then over the blades. Once my handrail is cut, I can turn off the blades. After that we head over to the stationary sander with my 4 ¼ inch handle. Before starting, my grandfather explains to me what it does, why we are going to use it...... middle of paper ......ss. Before he started with a machine, he would tell me its name, what it did, how to turn it on, and how to use it safely. I think the only thing I could have improved on was filling the entire body of the cane with designs; there are places where I could have added more. I thought my project made a lot of sense; I was able to do this with my grandfather who is getting very old and I'm glad I was able to spend time doing this with him. The result of my cane is better than I expected and I am very satisfied with it. I think it was a great learning experience; I did something I had never done before and learned a lot not only about woodworking and machines, but also about myself. I learned how patient I am and how much I love working with wood. I have enjoyed every process of making my rod and in the future I see myself taking it up as a hobby..