School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship

Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

7th August
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Introduction day

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today was an introduction day where I went down and

explored the workshop I would be undertaking my internship.
Tony (my mentor) gave me the opportunity to ask any
questions that I had about the machines and equipment, and
the work that he does.

(Maximum 100
words)

Annotated
photographs/sketches

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

This will have a definite positive outcome as it set up a good

relationship between Tony and myself and cleared up any
queries that I had before starting the internship.

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

14th August
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Side Panels

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today I made up the side panels that go in the side of the

table to hide the drawers. I had to make a widening joint
using biscuits, which I have done many times before. To get
one edge of the timber square I used the jointer. This is a
machine I have never used before and I had to learn the
safety aspect of using the machine before being taught how
to use the machine itself. Using the machine turned out to be
quite simple and safe using the push stick to keep my hands
away from the blade.

(Maximum 100 words)

Annotated
photographs/sketches

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

This photo shows the side

panels being glued up. I
used a biscuit joint in the
widening joint to give it
extra strength.

This part of the table shouldnt effect the outcome of the

internship project as there is a lot of leeway for error for this
part as all other parts of the table can be changed to match it

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

21st August
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Side Frame

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today I made up the side frames which house the panels I

made last week. This activity was pretty straight forward as
all it involved was cutting the posts to length and cutting a
rail for the top, then using the domino cutter to cut the slots
for the dominoes before gluing them together. Again I had
never used the domino cutter but I have previously used a
biscuit cutter and the tools are exactly the same apart from
the shapes they cut so I already had the knowledge of how
to use this machine.

(Maximum 100 words)

Annotated
photographs/sketches

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

This photo shows the finished side

frames. I used domino joints as they
are an industrial version of a mortice
and tenon joint and I wanted to have
the experience of using a domino
cutter. They worked really well and the
side frames came out square and
flush.

This part of the project can have a major effect on the project
as if they are not glued square it has the potential to throw
the whole project out of square. I was extremely vigilant in
making sure it was all square while gluing and it paid off.

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

28th August
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Draw front frame

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today I made up the front of the coffee table where the

drawers are. To do this I needed to have two sections cut out
of the centre of the length of timber for the drawers to sit in. I
wasnt sure how to do this, so Tony advised me that it would
be easiest to cut the board up into a top and bottom rail and
3 dividers and glue them together again, this way it would
eliminate the two sections in the middle. It was good to have
Tony there to guide me, as I would have used a router to cut
the centre sections out. His knowledge of knowing his way
was easier was very beneficial in time saving

(Maximum 100 words)

Annotated
photographs/sketches

The aim of this frame was to get it

looking like one solid board. While this
look was achieved it compromised the
strength of this component
dramatically due to the short grain in
the 3 dividers. If I was to do this again
I would come up with a better solution.

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

This part of the project is quite critical as it affects the look of

the finished project dramatically. Everyone will see this part
first when looking at it so it needs to be spot on

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

4th September
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Base

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today I had to make up the base of the coffee table.

Originally I had planned to make the base out of a rail at the
back and individual drawer runners for both drawers. After
speaking with Tony he told me to use a board of craft wood
on the bottom, this way the drawer will stay flat all the time
while being pulled in and out making for a smooth transition.
Again this method is something I have never done before
and I will be very interested to see how it works when the
drawers are in and the project finished

(Maximum 100 words)

Annotated
photographs/sketches

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

This part of the job could effect the outcome of the internship
because it needs to be cut and glued perfectly in square
otherwise it could effect the rest of the job and make it out of
square

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

11th Sep
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Table top 1

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today I had to make up the table top to sit on top of the

coffee table. This is quite a simple task if time is taken and
precision is used. I used the biscuit cutter to make my
widening and lengthening joints and I have used this
machine many times before so everything went according to
plan.

(Maximum 100 words)

Annotated
photographs/sketches

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

This is the table top after it has been

glued and sanded. All it needs now is
to be trimmed to perfect length and
width and its ready to be fixed.

This is a major component of the table, not only for looks but
for function too. The table top MUST be square and in wind
other wise it will look terrible if it is out of square and it could
pull a twist in the table if it is out of wind

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

18th September
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Table top 2

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today was pretty much a dead repeat of what I did last week
with the first table top, but I used longer thinner pieces of
timber, therefor I had to do more widening joints but no
lengthening joints. It worked out to take about the same
amount of time.

(Maximum 100 words)

Annotated
photographs/sketches

These two photos show the difference between

when I received the recycled timber and when it
has been re-dressed in
the bottom table top. To
re-dress the timber I had
to put one edge over the
jointer and then thickness
every edge according to
the square edge until perfect. This had to be
done to every single piece of timber used in
the job.

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

Again his is a major component of the table, not only for

looks but for function too. This table top MUST be square
and in wind other wise it will look terrible if it is out of square
and it could pull a twist in the table if it is out of wind

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:
Location:
Task:

25th September
1

(Maximum 100 words)

10

11

12

Huddle & Co.

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Gluing the base and side frames together (with drawer

separator)
Trimming table tops

To glue the base and sides together I used the domino cutter
again. This is because the front was gluing into extremely thin
pieces of timber and that is the only way I could glue it together
with somewhat strength. This was quite a delicate job but again
quite simple as I took my time to make sure everything was right.
After I had glued and cramped them together, I moved onto
trimming my table tops so they could be fitted as soon as the base
and sides had finished drying. All it took was some jig saw cuts in
the bottom table top for the posts and a few table saw cuts before
sanding them both to perfection

Annotated
photographs/sketches

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

This photo shows the table being glued

together end to end without the table tops.

This has been the most crucial part of the project yet. Gluing these
pieces together really makes up the majority of the project, and it
has to be perfect. The fact that everything has gone to plan so far
helped dramatically when gluing this part together

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

2nd October
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Fitting the table tops

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today I fit both table tops to my frame. To do so I had to cut

the top rails out of the table as I could not get the bottom
table top into position with it there. This meant extra work but
worked out fine in the end. After I had the rails back in I
screwed the top one on though the bottom so the screws are
hidden. As I already had the knowledge as to how to go
about securing the table tops into place there was no new
skills/knowledge acquired, but the old knowledge and skills
used. This is good to keep refreshed knowledge

(Maximum 100 words)

Annotated
photographs/sketches

These photos above show the process I had to go through to

fit the bottom table top after it wouldnt go into place with the
rails in
How might this
activity impact on the
Internship outcome

At this point the only part of the table that can be affected by this is
the aesthetics. If everything has been done correctly up to this
point, the only thing that can really go wrong is that the table top
gets screwed down not in line/parallel etc. which can be avoided.

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

9th October
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Making the drawers

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today I made the drawer boxes and faces. To make the

drawer boxes I used a rebate joint. I have done many rebate
joints before and I wanted to make sure that my drawer
boxes were square so I figured this would be my best option
as I had challenged myself in other areas of the table.

(Maximum 100 words)

To make the draw face it was as simple as measuring the

holes in the drawer front and cutting pieces of timber to fit in
the exactly. This wasnt hard but requires extreme accuracy.
Annotated
photographs/sketches

This photo shows how I nailed a

piece of scrap timber to the drawers
while they were drying to ensure
they did not move and stayed
square. It is vital to make sure the
drawers are square otherwise it
causes big problems when trying to
use them.

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

The drawer boxes could effect the overall job outcome as they
have to be perfectly square and in wind. If they are not square and
in wind they will not slide in and out properly and this would be a
large downfall to the project

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

16th October
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Final sanding and 1st finish

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today I had to do a final sand on the whole project assuring

it is ready for the finish. I used a random orbital sander as
this is much quicker than using a block and paper and gives
a much better outcome than belt sander. I have been
sanding the job the whole way through the project in little
parts so that the final sand isnt such a mammoth task.

(Maximum 100 words)

Once every part has been sanded to perfection I had to dust

it off very well and apply the first coat of finish.
Annotated
photographs/sketches

These photos show the contrast between the drawer fronts

and handles after the first coat of oil.

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

The preparation step is vital to get right as it will affect the look of
the finish dramatically but the first coat of oil isnt so important as it
gets rubbed back anyway

School of Arts (NSW)

TECH307 Design and Technology Internship
Daily work journal
Student name: James Olsen
Mentor Name: Tony Wong

Date:
Day:

23rd October
1

10

11

12

Location:

Huddle & Co.

Task:

Final 2 coats of Oil

Skills and knowledge

acquired

Today was about rubbing back the coat of oil from last week
and re applying another coat. This coat had to be more
careful as it only gets a very light rub back and that is it
unlike the first coat.

(Maximum 100 words)

After 3 hours the same process was undertaken with only a

very light rub back and then a perfect coat after it has been
dusted off. This coat does not get rubbed back
Annotated
photographs/sketches

This photo shows the

project after it has
been oiled 3 times
and the finish is
perfect.

How might this

activity impact on the
Internship outcome

These two coats of oil have to be perfect otherwise blemishes will

be seen in the finish and it would detract immensely from the look
of the finished coffee/storage table.