Hi Leanne here. This week I got to escape the paperwork and spend a day in the Community Shed with the Thursday Women in the Shed group. How fun!

It was just their second class and they were finishing off their first project, a gorgeous cherrywood chopping board. To make these they’ve used a variety of handsaws along with jigsaws for cutting, and planers, rasps and files for shaping. Then they’ve practised hand sanding, explored the orbital sander and the mouse sander, and also checked out all the grades of sandpaper.

This week in the morning we looked at finishes - beeswax was our go-to as a food safe option, but we also talked about estapol and danish/other oil, and had a practical intro to shellac and French polishing.

In the afternoon we briefly used the drop saw and looked at screws and nails, practised countersinking both, had a crack with the electric drill and all the bits … and started to think about putty for filling etc.

The women also started to think about and plan for the next project they will be self-selecting.

ACC is pretty pleased to let you know that this program that has been so popular has just been announced as a State finalist for the Fiona Richardson Gender Equity Award 2021, by our peak body NHVic. We’re proud to have pioneered it. Lots of other houses are running similar programs now - and we’re sharing our model and hoping that heaps of women can build skills and confidence - and local friendships - from participating in the locally adapted versions of this course that are popping up in metro and rural areas all across Victoria!