Episode 7: Math in Woodworking feat. Anika Gandhi
“The feeling of taking like pieces of lumber and actually turning it into this tangible piece of furniture that is so useful. Because that feeling was so empowering.”
-Anika Gandhi, DIY Woodworker and Founder of Anika’s DIY Life
For the seventh episode of The Numeracy Report, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Anika Gandhi, a PhD in Electrical Engineering who discovered a passion for woodworking and began a wildly successful career as a woodworker, content creator, and social media expert. She takes us on a fascinating life journey that’s peppered with both life lessons and examples of math at work.
Listen in as we discuss the following topics:
- How Anika Gandhi Got Started in Woodworking
- How Anika’s Career as a Founder and Content Creator Began
- Examples of Geometry in Woodworking
- Examples of Trigonometry in Woodworking
- Examples of Algebra in Woodworking
- Encountering Calculation Errors in Woodworking
- The Importance of Curiosity and Understanding the Why in Woodworking
- The Impact of an Inspirational Teacher: Knowing How to Learn
Highlights Reel: Episode 7
As before, we’ve pulled together a Highlights Reel. It’s a 5-minute compilation of some of the key topics covered in the full interview. Check it out to get a flavor for the conversation with Anika.
Check out the Full Episode (29 min) below!
Anika’s DIY Life
For more information about Anika, and to see more of her craft in action, please check out her site, Anika’s DIY Life by clicking here!
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Full Interview Transcript and Sections
Introduction to Episode 7 of The Numeracy Report
Santhra: Welcome to the seventh episode of the Numeracy Report. My name is Santhra Thambidurai. I’m a math teacher, a math coach, a mother of two, and a lifelong learner. One of the most influential men in the world right now, Elon Musk, has said, the why of things is extremely important because our brain has evolved to discard information that it thinks has no relevance. My goal for this show is to explore the many ways that math is used in various industries so that students can understand the reason why they’re learning the math they’re learning in school.
Welcome to Anika Gandhi
I am so excited to talk to our guest today, and she is none other than Anika Gandhi. Anika is the creator behind Anika’s Do It Yourself Life, where her goal is to inspire and empower beginners with woodworking and home improvement ideas and skills. In her previous life, she was a PhD scientist, engineer, and started woodworking as a weekend hobby. She picked up a power drill for the first time nine years ago and realized she could build her own furniture. She launched her website and channels in 2016 to showcase her work and inspire others.
Her goal is to break gender and cultural stereotypes to unlock the creative potential in everyone and experience the feeling that comes with making with one’s own hands. She keeps her projects approachable and easy to follow while adding a unique personality to them. She also loves experimenting with different materials, wood, concrete, metal, et cetera, no materials off limits. She has been featured in Popular Woodworking, Family Handyman, Volume Akes, Highland Woodworking, Apartment Therapy, HGTV.com, DIYnetwork.com, Buzzfeed, and more. Wow.
Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for Anika Gandhi.
Hi, Anika.
Welcome to the show.
Anika: Thank you. It is an honor to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
How Anika Gandhi Got Started in Woodworking
Santhra: Yeah, of course. Your story is really inspiring and it would be wonderful if you can describe your journey to becoming a DIY woodworking content creator. How did you get started?
Anika: Okay, so I started out in 2011, when I was actually looking for a table and chair set for my daughter. And all I could find was, you know, plastic primary colored furniture that was affordable enough, or there was pottery barn, which was way out of our reach. And to be honest, before then, I had never ever touched a power tool, I had no access to a power tool, we had only just bought a power drill, because we had moved into a new house, we had bought our first house, and we were trying to put curtains up and stuff.
So we bought our first power drill at that time.
And really, before then, I had zero exposure to power tools, I grew up in India, and I was always very crafty. So I did like paper crafts, paintings, painting, pottery, and things of that sort, but never anything to do with power tools. And so the jumping back to the IKEA table, or sorry, I didn’t mention the IKEA table yet. But so we were looking for the table and chair set for my daughter. And I found IKEA, IKEA had a $20 table and chair set for little kids. So I was like, that’s not bad. I can paint it and I can give it some personality.
So it’s not just bland. So that’s what I did. I bought that and I spray painted it, which I should not have spray painted.
Of course, I didn’t know what I was doing.
It to make it colorful. I bought some colorful flowery fabric, and I upholstered it with hot glue. And the chairs of the set, and it worked.
I mean, it worked for a few years, like, it was fine.
And I had friends who had kids the same age, who, and they wanted similar sets. So I made like another, maybe I think I made three more sets for them. And so we had fun. And then I was having fun. And during that time, I had also discovered a bunch of websites, specifically Anna White, who was, who was like a major inspiration to getting started. So she shared very simple projects and things. And looking at all of that, I was like, I think I can build furniture. And at that point, I had a friend who has like three kids.
And she said that I really want a table and chair set for my kids. But that is IKEA table is way too small.
It’s not gonna work.
So I was like, okay, maybe I can build it. You know, I discovered that it’s probably something that I can do. So I purchased a thing called a pocket hole jig.
And it’s essentially a tool that helps you join boards.
And it’s a lot easier than the traditional joinery methods.
And it looks neater than just, you know, putting a screw into two pieces of wood to join them.
So I bought that.
So using that and the power drill, I built the first table.
And I actually, I didn’t even have a saw, I had Home Depot cut the boards down for me, I hand sanded it, I bought some sandpaper, and I hand sanded the whole thing. So and it was obviously it wasn’t like, I put it together, and it worked well. And it was amazing. It wasn’t that of course, I went through all of these things of things not working and figuring it out and problem solving, and all of that stuff. So that’s, that was the first project I built. And my kids still used it up until about a year and a half ago, and they completely outgrew it.
Like we held on to it as long as possible. We ended up not giving that to my friend, because I moved before, you know, I could paint it and stuff. But yeah, that that was there. And it was like my baby.
Santhra: I know.
Anika: So finally, yeah, but just building that that whole, the the feeling of taking like pieces of lumber and actually turning it into this tangible piece of furniture that is so useful. Because that feeling was so empowering. And I was like, Okay, we need a media console. Let’s build a media console. So, you know, snowballed from there. Wow. So did you see that?
Santhra: Like, did you I know you felt that passion when you were building and you felt this is something that you can do. But you saw that vision that you know, or was it more like I want to share with other beginners, you know how to do this because you you know, you kind of like did you document your journey from the beginning?
How Anika’s Career as a Founder and Content Creator Began
Anika: No, I did not. So originally it was just for fun. Like it was a hobby and I was just doing it on the side, right? I had found this, it was empowering. And I over the course, because before I built that media console, I convinced my husband to buy me a miter saw for my birthday. So I was just doing it for fun over the weekends, I was still working a full time job. And we actually decided to, so my husband got a new job. So I quit my job and we moved cities. And I just had my son.
And I thought, okay, this is a great time for me to take like maybe six, seven months off and spend some time with both my kids because my daughter had been going to daycare since she was three months old. So I always felt that, you know, I think so I was like, okay, you know what, I’m going to take some time off. And I’ll find a new job in like six, seven months, because we moved to the Bay Area, San Jose. So you know, I would find lots of jobs there.
Santhra: Right.
Anika: That’s, that was the plan. And I couldn’t not do anything, right? I couldn’t just sit and not do anything. Right.
Right.
I kept building furniture. I, and my husband actually was a major catalyst. Like he was, he would tell me that I have a talent there and I need to explore that more. So he pushed me to, you know, start doing furniture to order and things like that. So I did do a few of those, but I, you know, like, put it on Craigslist and have people order table and chairs for kids. But that got pretty boring pretty soon because I was just building the same thing again and again. I really wanted to build things for my house.
And that wasn’t, there was no time for that. And when you’re building things for someone else, like you really, there’s a lot of pressure for everything to be perfect. Everything is like the best ever. And the amount of time and energy you put into that, it’s not worth what you get paid for it. It’s not fun anymore. So in the meantime, I started looking for jobs, but I also realized like I had, I had all gotten into looking at these other women that were doing woodworking online. Like there were three or four at that time.
There weren’t very many, but there were three, four at that time. But then I also discovered this whole world of blogs where people were just, you know, showcasing all their things and stuff. I had, you know, started to follow a bunch of them and I would kind of make things that they would do, like not just furniture, like just painting things or like little tiny projects or stuff like that as well. And I just had it for fun. I was like, you know what, I’m just gonna start a website and let’s do this. Let’s just put things out.
Like, here’s what I made today. That’s what blogs were, right?
Santhra: Oh, right.
Anika: But I built today. Right. Right. Right. So I started doing that and actually I was looking, I was, I actually was I had a job lined up, but then we decided to move cities again. So I’m like, okay, you know what, we’ll just scrap this whole idea and let me focus on this blog thing. Cause I’d also discovered a few a bunch of people like, okay, you know what, you can actually make money doing this, but I never expected that it would be something that would like completely replace my income.
But at that point I just started out, I was like, okay, you know what, let me just do this for a year or so. You know, I really like, you know, having the flexibility to be able to take care of the kids and stuff. And yeah, that’s kind of how it started. And I gave it a year and it started to, at that point I was like, you know, this is going somewhere. This is something because once I started putting everything out, I started getting all the feedback that it was actually empowering people and inspiring people.
So that was just yeah, that was, that was it. Yeah.
Santhra: Cause you know, that’s, it’s it takes a lot of courage to do that. And so, you know it’s, it’s inspiring to me also, you know, to put yourself, you put yourself out there and it’s, it is also tough, but at the same time like you push through it and you are doing great with it. So it’s very inspiring on so many different levels, you know. But again, now back to what this project is about, and you, I’m so excited to talk about this because.
Examples of Geometry in Woodworking
Santhra: You seem to be using a lot of math in woodworking. So can you give examples of how you use geometry in woodworking?
Anika: Yeah, of course. Because I mean, woodworking, everything that you’re building, you’re basically building shapes in three dimensions.
So it’s all shapes.
The first thing is, of course, everything is square.
Like, I think 80%, 70% or 80% of woodworking is all about building boxes. If you can build a box, then you can build a lot of furniture.
Like cabinets are boxes. Your dresser is a box with boxes inside it. A table is basically a box with the legs.
So everything is a box. So the first thing, of course, is getting all those angles to be perfectly 90 degrees.
So there is that where you think about it as the Pythagorean theorem. You use that as a gauge to measure and make sure that all of your ends are square. It’s called square in woodworking terms. But what that means is that your corners are 90 degrees.
Santhra: OK. OK, I see.
Anika: So this is frame.
So you really, really want each of these corners to be 90 degrees.
If it’s not 90 degrees, it’s going to be a little skewed.
And a frame, you might not notice if it’s just a little bit off. But with a dresser or something, it’s just going to scale up with the problems. If your frame is not perfectly a box, your drawer is not going to work. It’s going to stick.
All of that kind of snowballs.
So you really, at every step, whenever you’re building, you want to make sure that every corner that you make is perfectly at 90 degrees. And the one way we do that is you measure the diagonals. So you measure this diagonal, and you measure this diagonal. So they should be perfectly equal. And essentially, that’s the Pythagorean theorem, right?
Santhra: Yeah.
Anika: You are same, and this is the diagonal.
And these are the same opposites, and that’s the diagonal.
So you want to make sure that the two diagonals are exactly the same.
Santhra: So I guess the diagonals are congruent because it’s a rectangle. Even though in woodworking terms, you call it a square, it’s a rectangle. Yeah. And then so in terms of the Pythagorean theorem, do you specifically use it? Do you have a vision on, OK, I want how much each side length should be and then go from there? Or how do you start from having a vision and putting that into place?
Anika: So when you’re building, you usually know what size you want, right?
You want it to be this high and this width.
So you already know that.
You don’t know what the diagonal is going to be.
Santhra: Right.
OK. So that’s where you’re calculating your Pythagorean theorem.
Anika: Yeah.
You just know that both the diagonals need to be identical.
Santhra: Have to be congruent. Uh-huh.
Anika: Yeah.
So that’s one of the applications. And so this is a small thing. But sometimes if you’re building this huge cabinet or something where you really can’t measure the diagonals, you can use the 3, 4, 5 rule. So you measure and you mark 3 and you mark 4.
And then you measure from there to there.
So that should be your 5. 5.
Santhra: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anika: So yeah, you do that.
So there’s a bunch of that. And then what else? Geometry angles.
I mean, it’s all angles, right?
Of course, most of it is 90-degree angles.
But then you can introduce angles to your projects and takes the projects, elevates it a little bit, right?
You add a little angle to the leg or whatever.
One of the very popular things is to make Xs, like X leg furniture and stuff. So there’s a whole bunch of angles involved in that as well.
So there’s a whole bunch of calculations.
One of the things that we use very often, and a lot of woodworkers use that without realizing it, is that whenever we cut a board on a saw, we are never cutting the actual angle.
We’re always cutting the complementary angle.
Because if you have a board, right?
So the saw blade always goes through the board like this. Always, if you want, so like here, if you want this to be at 30 degrees, you are going to measure this angle.
You’re not going to measure this angle. So the saw blade is here.
So you’re moving the saw blade to this point.
So you’re doing some speed on the saw blade.
Santhra: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anika: What’s left behind is 30 degrees.
So how it’s calculated, so you’d go like this to cut it off.
And what’s left behind is what you need.
But what you’re actually setting your saw to is the complementary angle.
Santhra: Because complementary angles add up to 90. That’s awesome. Any other examples of geometry?
Anika: I mean, I can’t think of any off the top of my head.
Like we do so many things with like calculating cells all the time.
So you got to know your angle math.
Examples of Trigonometry in Woodworking
Santhra: Yeah. And do you, I’m sure you may even use some trigonometry also.
Anika: Yeah, especially with angles, right?
A lot of times, if you want to, like say this was a table or whatever, like a table leg, right?
And I wanted to add a piece of wood like this in here, right?
How would I calculate exactly how long this board needs to be? Or rather, how would I calculate what the angles need to be, right?
I need to figure out what’s the angle that I’m going to cut this at so that it fits perfectly.
So that’s where you kind of can use like sine and cos, because they are the relationship of the angle with the length of the sides.
Santhra: Right. That’s awesome. So geometry, like a good project for trigonometry could be to build something, because kids are using angles and trig and all of that. That’s awesome. So you have your diagonal length, but in order to find your angles, you’re pretty much solving the triangle. Yeah.
Anika: So you’re actually doing the inverse trigonometry, like parts you’re in, doing that. Right.
Santhra: Yeah.
Anika: Or the other way as well, right? If you have the angle, if you already have the angle, and then you want to figure out this actual length.
Examples of Algebra in Woodworking
Santhra: So that’s awesome, Anika. And did you, have you ever encountered a situation where you had to use algebra to solve a woodworking problem?
Anika: Well, algebra is pretty much used all the time because now like if I’m building something and I know what dimensions I need, but I need to figure out how many boards I need to buy.
Right.
Because the boards, they come in eight feet lengths. So I need to kind of distribute all my cuts onto the boards. What is the best way to kind of make it more efficient so I don’t lose material.
So you know, it’s a lot of times where I was like, okay, if this was this much, then how many do I need for this kind of math all the time?
Encountering Calculation Errors in Woodworking
Santhra: Yeah. Wow. That’s awesome. Have you had any time where, you know like you’ve made a calculation error and which led to a design flaw and then you had to correct it, something like anything like that?
Anika: That happens like all the time.
Santhra: Yeah.
Anika: Yeah. Part of the process.
That’s just part of building anything or doing a project. It always happens. Right. Like actually this week I’m building cabinets for my laundry and we have a water softener that I want to enclose and I measured it, but apparently I didn’t measure it well enough because I am about an inch and a half short of the wall.
So because I’ve needed to push it all the way across it and it’s not hitting the wall and it’s because of the width of the softener.
So now I have to add in some extra boards and stuff to reinforce it, but it happens.
Santhra: And you just figure out at that time what…
wrong and then you just, I guess that’s with life in general, right?
So that’s inspiring.
Anika: It’s just a whole bunch of problem solving, like figuring out how to make a project is one part of problem solving and then, you know, making sure that everything actually works is another part of problem solving. But I think one of the major things and like I mentioned, you know, checking for square, that’s what they call it in woodworking, checking for square, right? Doing that, like for any furniture project, if you keep doing that as you keep going, then things usually just work out really well.
Santhra: Right, right. That’s a great trick for if you will. Yeah, yeah.
Anika: Yeah.
And also making sure that your measurements are accurate. That is very important.
Santhra: Yeah.
The Importance of Curiosity and Understanding the Why in Woodworking
Santhra: And when you, is it true that, you know, maybe your engineering background has helped you a little bit in figuring out how much materials to use and all of that, or how did that background help you in this journey?
Anika: So I think what it really helped me was, so I mean, I do have a degree in engineering, but I was mostly like physics.
Like I was very like semiconductor physics, material physics. So and like I had like a master’s in physics and stuff.
So I think what it really has helped me with is one, I love to look at like how things really work. Right. So I really, really try to understand how does the drill work?
Right.
Why does it do what it does? Why, what are all those numbers and exactly how that works? And I am able to understand the motor part of it, like what’s going on, like when they say that you have a brushless motor, what does that mean?
Like, why is that good and stuff? I’ve worked with, like, I’ve built motors and stuff as well.
So there’s a whole bunch of that. Like it, I think it helps me in being able to grasp things a little bit faster probably because of the background.
Santhra: Yeah.
Anika: I think, yeah, just really, really understanding the fundamentals is kind of what I feel like I bring in because, you know, a lot of people, like we just do things because somebody said, oh, you know why you just need to cut it this way. And that’s why you do it this way, but you don’t understand why you need to be doing it a certain way. Like you’re like, oh, you know what? You set up the thickness of your board on your drill bit and you go for it. I’m like, but why do you need to do that? What would happen?
Because once you understand why, you will also understand what would happen if you don’t do it.
Santhra: Right.
Anika: Yeah.
Yeah.
Santhra: Asking those questions is so important. You know, why something is working, why something is not working.
The Impact of an Inspirational Teacher: Knowing How to Learn
Santhra: And yeah, so it’s been a really wonderful conversation Anika. And but before we wrap up, is there anything you’d like to say to a teacher who’s had a main impact on your life?
Anika: I think I would probably say to my PhD thesis advisor, because he really, you know, I mean, the whole process of going through a doctorate is really persevering and really thinking about things and figuring things out.
And I think that whole process was really, really helpful.
And, you know, whatever I do now, because it, what I do now is not just like, woodworking is a part of it.
But then there’s also all of this other stuff involved.
Like there’s a whole bunch of other skills like photography, social media management and marketing, all kinds of like, things that just being able to have know how to learn.
Right.
Santhra: Yeah.
Anika: Yeah.
How to learn.
Santhra: Yeah, yeah.
Anika: It’s, it’s, it’s really inspiring, because, you know, it’s not like you went into a program for this, you know what I’m saying? Like, you everything is self taught. And there is no There is no prescribed steps to things like, you know, you’re learning it and you’re figuring out, okay, I need to learn some marketing, perhaps for to market my product.
So, it’s, I’m also grateful for that, for that professor who, you know, instilled in you that wanting to learn and, and to figure things out, because if especially I feel like the way things in this world, that’s what you need, you have to be able to adapt, you have to be able to, you know, and you have all the information, you just have to find and look for that information.
Santhra: Right.
Anika: So, yeah, it’s like, puzzle pieces together and figuring it out.
Santhra: Right, right.
Anika: Awesome.
Santhra: Yeah.
So, Anika, so thankful for you for giving me your time and, and for sharing how math is used in woodworking. I had such a good time.
And I wish we can go on, go on, but you know, want to be respectful of your time also.
But thank you so much. And yeah, I will, you know, I’m sure my listeners also will have a great time listening to you and learning from you.
Anika: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on here. It’s absolutely wonderful.
And I love your initiative. That is so important.
Santhra: Thank you.
I appreciate it. I appreciate it.
I really do believe in it and really hope it inspires kids to learn math more knowing why they’re learning it or perhaps they’re interested in a career and see, you know, that math is used in that career, which will encourage them to learn.
So, yeah. Thank you so much again.
Listeners, I hope you enjoyed how math is used in woodworking. If you know anyone who is passionate about the way math is used in their work, whether it’s yourself or someone you know, please reach out to me. I’d love to have a conversation. Details are on my website, numeracycoach.com. If you enjoyed this content, please subscribe. And if you know anyone who could benefit from listening to the show, please share it with them until next time. Adios.
