The Rocket Shelf!

In addition to his beef projects and an aerospace project (a.k.a. rockets), our younger son decided to try his hand at woodworking in 4-H this summer.   In June, he and I put together 2 model rockets.  He also has a third model rocket that came with the rocket launch pad he got for his birthday.  So, when deciding what to build for a woodworking project, we came up with the idea to build a shelf to display his rockets. 

We took a family trip to Menards (yay!) to buy some lumber.  Then dad helped him cut the shelf board down to size. 

  Dad helped him drill some holes for attaching the side parts to the shelf (I'm sure there is a technical name for these...), as well as some holes for dowl rods for the rockets to sit on for display. 

Mom shared her high school woodworking skills:  how to sand, varnish, and polyurethane for the best finish possible.

And, Viola!  A fantastic shelf to display his rockets and ribbons on!  He received a blue ribbon on General Projects Judging Day, and his judge commented on his original and purposeful design.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but he and dad also screwed 3 hooks on the bottom of the shelf for displaying his ribbons from all his projects. 

The red rocket in the middle is the rocket that younger son took to G.P.J.D. for judging and launching.  He also got a blue ribbon for this, but the launch was quite a sight, I guess.  The rocket did a nice corkskrew as it came nearly crashing to the ground.  The parachute did come out and all was well in the end, phew!