That long-ago first project

I must have built this in 1981 or 1982, in sixth grade. It's getting close to 30 years old, and still works, so long as my mother can find replacement cash register rolls.

Sixth-grade note-paper wheel.

I'm not sure what the holes above the crossbar were for. They might just be a nicely-integrated mistake. It's pretty much a shaped, nailed, glued, and sanded object. One side did break along the grain when it fell, but that just adds to the patina, right?

My seventh grade project, a strange mostly useless box built out of random maple scrap, has I think disappeared. It was pretty much only good for holding dice, which you could shake out of the gap between the handle and the main box. Oh well.