DAY FIVE
Now it was time to work on the big logs for the table top.
We first cut off 120 cm long parts from a trunk of a dead pine tree.
Then the branches and the sides were cut off.
I did this without the children, because those trunks were too heavy for them to handle.
But the children were able to measure, mark…
…and cut them in the right length.
After that they started to rasper and sandpaper the logs.
It was a good way to get warm on a cold winter morning 
Meanwhile the children were able to measure, mark…
… and cut the wood all by themselves.
We even made the difficult rip cut that will be invisible later to prevent the wood from twisting…
… and did some more raspering and sandpapering.
It took quite a while to cut the trunks just by hand.
But that wouldn’t keep the Turtles from doing it well.
In between one group did the last step of finishing the second set of legs.
They cut off the overlap of the legs…
… with a handsaw.
They had to continue making the logs nice and smooth as well.
Like the next group. It was hard work but the wood became nicer and nicer…
… and the children became better and better at handling the tools.
After all the cutting we had to sweep a lot of sawdust.
DAY SIX
Apart from working on the big logs for the table top,…
…we had to make two more rails for connecting the logs with the legs.
The children measured the sizes of the upper rail…
… and cut another piece in the exact same size.
After some more sandpapering…
…the next group went into the machine room…
… and cut another rail, too.
After the lunch break…
… we continued cutting the trunks with a bow saw…
… and sawing them to the right length with the circular saw.
At that time we had finished cutting two of five logs for the table top.
Sawing outside…
…was even more fun for the children.
The raspering we continued inside.
Then it was time to cut the wooden dowels for connecting the parts of the table top.
First they had to be cut from a long stick to the length of 10 cm and then we made them a bit pointy with sandpaper.
Meanwhile other children continued making the logs smooth.
By the end of the day we had four of five logs for the table top.
To be continued in part 4…