By Mike D.

At Sanborn Regional High School in Kingston, NH, four students and one intern from UNH are forging and constructing six oarlocks for the class "Project Whaleboat," a class where students and intern-teachers come together to teach and learn from each other.

After researching the specifications for the oar locks, the group of students, Jason S., Kiley R., Michael D., and Daniella C., and intern Patricia R., sought the advice of Mr. Baglieri, the metal shop teacher. With the knowledge they gained from him, they compiled an order for twenty feet of 5/8" cold rolled 10-18 carbon steel.

With the help of Sanborn's art teacher, Allen Taylor, the students built a fire-brick forge that is powered by propane gas. The first forge that was built was smashed by unknown persons when the group left it outside. To insure the forge would not be destroyed again, the students built the forge on a plywood platform then enclosed the bottom half with planks of wood. This made the structure portable, and held the bricks together.

After the forge was constructed again, the crew took the metal rods they cut, and heated them in the forge until they were red hot, then the heated metal was removed from the forge, and hammered on an anvil until it was shaped properly. Everyone had their own way of doing this, which led to everyone using the best ideas, as Daniella C. notes "Even though we all started out not knowing how to do it, we ended up learning from each other in the end".

Following the hammering, the newly formed oarlock had to be cooled. Using a convenient near by puddle, the oarlocks were cooled by water. After about ten minutes you could pick up the oarlock. In twenty minutes the steel was completely cooled.