Ten Days to Senco
Furnished content.
Including today, there are 10 days left until Senco descends upon thePopular Woodworking Magazineshop. Ten days left for you to register for the event so you have a shot at winning some cool new tools and an exclusive tour of the Senco factory with the editors of PWM andAmerican Woodworker. If the thought of trying Sencos new 21LXP pinner (and other pinners and compressors, too) before it even hits the []
Read more here
posted at: 12:03am on 29-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Quick Like a Dutchman
Furnished content.
During the last year, I have been trying to figure out how to build the Dutch Tool Chest in two days during a class without sacrificing any of the joinery or important handwork lessons. I think I have it pretty much nailed. If you are interested in building one of these chests (featured in the October 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine) during two long days, here's how to get []
Read more here
posted at: 12:03am on 29-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Nakashima's Shop Designated a National Historic Landmark
Furnished content.
The George Nakashima Woodworker Complex in Bucks County, Penn., has been designated as one of four new National Historic Landmarks. Internationally renowned furniture designer and woodworker George Nakashima is recognized as one of America's most eminent furniture designer craftsmen. Nakashima's work expresses a worldview that is based upon a unique set of circumstances, including his formal education in architecture, his exposure to European Modernism, Eastern religious philosophy, and traditional Japanese []
Read more here
posted at: 12:06am on 26-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Fast Prototypes of Bamboo-leg Stools
Furnished content.
While waiting for a flight to Alaska today I decided to spend my morning knocking out prototypes of a folding camp stool using bamboo turnings. The first piece of custom furniture I ever owned was a bookcase that my grandfather made for me. The bookcase was huge almost 7 tall because all I did as a kid was read, write, build stuff and blow things up with fireworks. […]The post Fast Prototypes of Bamboo-leg Stools appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.
Read more here
posted at: 12:13am on 25-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
A Place to Call Hone
Furnished content.
When I think of all the things that improved my sharpening skills, two things loom large. No. 1 is practice, of course, but close behind that is a dedicated sharpening tray. About 14 years ago I built a shallow tray from scrap plywood, nails and glue. No fancy joinery, no water-resistant materials and no finish. The tray sat beside my bench and contained all my sharpening mess, keeping it off […]The post A Place to Call Hone appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.
Read more here
posted at: 12:13am on 25-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Too Much Work for Quotidian Hardware
Furnished content.
In a foolish move executed to save $150 or so on my kitchen rehab, I initially purchased hinges and pulls from a mass-market supplier. Upon receiving that package, I opened it, and sighed over the fake screw heads on the bin pulls and the altogether lightweight feel of the pieces. I tried to convince myself that, for a house Im planning to sell, it was silly to spend the extra []
Read more here
posted at: 12:01am on 24-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
A Place to Call "Hone"
Furnished content.
When I think of all the things that improved my sharpening skills, two things loom large. No. 1 is practice, of course, but close behind that is a dedicated sharpening tray. About 14 years ago I built a shallow tray from scrap plywood, nails and glue. No fancy joinery, no water-resistant materials and no finish. The tray sat beside my bench and contained all my sharpening mess, keeping it off []
Read more here
posted at: 12:05am on 23-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking/Techniques | permalink | edit (requires password)
Taming Tear-out Tuesday
Furnished content.
Working on projects with stump feet is fun. One thing you have to remember is how to handle end-grain feet on a floor. If you just leave them come straight down to the floor, you run the risk of continual tear-out. The easiest way to eliminate the problem is to plane a little chamfer around the foot. This ensure the outermost fibers that are rubbing against the floor are being []
Read more here
posted at: 12:05am on 23-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Call for Entries: 2014 PWM Excellence Awards
Furnished content.
Show off your excellent work in 2014 Popular Woodworking Magazine Excellence Awards. Winners in each of five categories, a grand-prize winner, and a Readers Choice winner will be published in a feature article in the November 2014 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. You can enter up to five pieces; the categories are: Casework, Cabinets & Bookcases; Seating; Tables; Boxes & Smalls (e.g. beautiful tools); Turnings, Carvings & Objet D'Art (by []
Read more here
posted at: 12:10am on 19-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
The Shellac Archive from Don Williams
Furnished content.
Don Williams, conservator, historian and woodworker extraordinaire, was in town a couple weeks ago to shoot a video on historic transparent furniture finishes, for which he brought a truckload of examples and props (the video will be available in mid-August). He was kind enough to leave some of his stuff behind for us to try out, including the lemon shellac flour pictured above. Now Don cares about shellac []
Read more here
posted at: 12:15am on 18-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Senco Turns 21
Furnished content.
Last September the Senco representative stopped by the PWM shop and offices to drop off the new 23-gauge pinners (read Glen D. Hueys post about it). What we couldnt tell you then was they also brought a brand new product with them that we got to play with briefly before they whisked it away the new 21-gauge pinner. You might ask why Senco would make a 21-gauge pinner when []
Read more here
posted at: 12:00am on 17-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Design in Practice: Negative Spaces
Furnished content.
Continuing last weeks post (read it here) on comparative design, I thought it might be fun to move to Chippendale style chairs. The great thing about American Chippendale chairs is theres tremendous variety, yet few are direct translations of Chippendales designs. The chair to the left is a perfect example. Chippendales The Gentlemans and Cabinetmakers Director features no ball and claw feet in the book, but they remained popular in []
Read more here
posted at: 12:00am on 17-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Tool Storage Solutions
Furnished content.
Im yearning for the day I will have a space at home that is dedicated to woodworking. Right now, as many of you know, my shop shares space with books and my computer in my study. Its a small room, and I have scads of booksand scads of tools. The books, most of which in said room are literary criticism and drama are arranged by subject area (and []
Read more here
posted at: 12:06am on 16-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Techniques for Gluing
Furnished content.
For the last few decades, Ive kept one indispensable tool readily available in my shop, glue sticks. Basically, they are milled material about 2″ thick and around 4″ wide (in my shop they were always made from hardwood because there was always plenty of scrap) that is cut to approximately 3′ in length. The idea is to elevate the material you are gluing up in order to be able []
Read more here
posted at: 12:06am on 16-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Questions About the Moxon Vise
Furnished content.
Almost every day I get some sort of question about the Moxon vise, a double-screw vise that I wrote about for the December 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. It's an ingenious portable vise that has been around for almost 400 years, yet it still generates controversy and questions whenever it is in the limelight. I know this blog entry won't stop the questions, but it might help you decide []
Read more here
posted at: 12:00am on 15-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Senco is Coming to Popular Woodworking Magazine
Furnished content.
On May 7, 2014, were going to give you a chance to act like an editor for Popular Woodworking Magazine for the evening. Thats right, were going to let you (and a limited number of other folks) come into the workshop here at the magazine and test some of the newest tools from Senco. Can you tell me more about whats going on? Were hosting the event for Senco to []
Read more here
posted at: 12:00am on 15-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
The Most Domesticated Dog
Furnished content.
One of the unanswerable questions in woodworking is: What type of bench dog is best? (Other unanswerables: What does Peter Follansbee hide in his beard? How many puns are possible with the word "rabbet"? Would you like to see my feathered crotch?) At least on the bench dog question, I have answered it for myself. I prefer a round wooden dog that I make myself. I've had these dogs for []
Read more here
posted at: 12:00am on 15-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
What Hand Planes are Good For
Furnished content.
The difference between school and real life is that in real life the tests come first and then the lessons. This is especially true of woodworking; you never know how far you should take one step of a project until you are knee-deep in the next step. Thats when you realize you didnt fuss enough and now have a painful correction to make, or that you fussed too much and []
Read more here
posted at: 12:01am on 14-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking/Techniques | permalink | edit (requires password)
Senco & Pizza
Furnished content.
Senco, pizza and Popular Woodworking Magazine. All I can add, at the moment, is May 7th, 2014. Stay tuned; details to come. You might want to check out this little video. Chuck Bender The post Senco & Pizza appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.
Read more here
posted at: 12:00am on 14-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
What Hand Planes are Good For
Furnished content.
The difference between school and real life is that in real life the tests come first and then the lessons. This is especially true of woodworking; you never know how far you should take one step of a project until you are knee-deep in the next step. Thats when you realize you didnt fuss enough and now have a painful correction to make, or that you fussed too much and []
Read more here
posted at: 12:05am on 12-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Furniture Details: Feet
Furnished content.
Im often asked about blocking on feet (sad, but true). Woodworkers want to know how bracket and ogee feet were attached and how to deal with cross-grain gluing. The answers to these questions are: lots of ways, and you dont necessarily have to because they didnt. Cross-grain gluing and consideration of expansion and contraction wasnt a universal primary concern. Now, I know the first photo isnt of feet, but it []
Read more here
posted at: 12:05am on 12-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Design in Practice: Sack Back Windsors
Furnished content.
One of the hardest things Ive tried to teach is good design. There are lots of architectural and mathematical rules that can be applied to proportions, but many pieces of furniture just dont dovetail. Some pieces, like some chairs, dont fit into a proportioning system. They are made using general rules like seat height usually ranges from 16″ to 18″ on most chairs used at tables (and tables tend []
Read more here
posted at: 12:04am on 10-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
An Observation on Vintage Handplanes
Furnished content.
Note: I started writing this blog entry more than a year ago. I shelved it and have revisited it several times since. Each time, I thought: I dont need this kind of grief. For whatever reason (four beers, perhaps?), I offer this as an observation based on teaching students, both amateur and professional. For the last decade Ive had the privilege of teaching woodworking students all over the world about []
Read more here
posted at: 12:04am on 10-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Clever Magnetic Sharpening System
Furnished content.
DMT recently began offering what it calls the Double-Sided Dia-Sharp 12″ MagnaBase System, in other words, a two-sided diamond stone that attaches to a magnetic base. I havent yet had time to give it a thorough workout (Ill report back after I do), but after touching up the edges on two plane blades and three chisels, I can report that its nice. The diamond stone, (available in extra-coarse/coarse and []
Read more here
posted at: 12:04am on 10-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
It's a Bosch-mas Kinda Monday
Furnished content.
Its tough showing up on a Monday morning only to find that work has piled up considerably over the weekend. How am I seriously supposed to wade through two new Bosch cordless drills and a vacuum (I refuse to call them extractors, but I may be forced to in the official review)? And I wont even mention all the new hand tools from various companies that are slated to []
Read more here
posted at: 12:03am on 08-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Come to Toronto; Bring Your Rotten Produce
Furnished content.
This Friday and Saturday (April 11 and 12), Ill be at the new Lee Valley Tools store in Vaughan, Ontario, to help celebrate the locations grand opening (the store officially opened this morning). Im very much looking forward to my trip across the border; Ive never been to the Toronto area and I hear its lovely. Ive been asked to do a talk on my recent kitchen rehab adventures, so []
Read more here
posted at: 12:03am on 08-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
A Correction to my Entry on Polissoirs
Furnished content.
My recent article on the new polissoirs from Don's Barn and a long-term test of the burnishing effect from the tool had a significant error: The photo showed the wrong sample board. That similar-looking sample board was given to me by woodworker Steve Schafer, he'll be blogging about the finishing schedule on that sample board in the near future. Last night I rooted through my wood rack to find []
Read more here
posted at: 12:03am on 08-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Make Yourself a Nice Polissoir
Furnished content.
Reader Greg Merritt of Parkersburg, W. Va., drew up plans for making a nice-looking polissoir using broom corn and tarred nylon. The polissoir features two knots, a constrictor knot and a decorative Turk's head knot, which are both easy to make. Merritt drew up complete instructions for making the polissoir and provided a nice pdf that you can download and print out: Polissoir_Polisher2 So if you cannot afford one []
Read more here
posted at: 12:21am on 07-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Furniture Details, Compass Seat Back Stiles
Furnished content.
Lots of folks think that back in the day, good quality wood was in such great supply that the craftsmen gave little thought to its judicious use. I have the perfect example to show that they were not only frugal with their use of raw materials, but their time as well; Queen Anne compass- (or balloon-) seat chairs. The back legs (or stiles) extend from the floor to the crest []
Read more here
posted at: 12:05am on 05-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Polissoirs: New Models & a Long-term Test
Furnished content.
Last weekend during the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Charleston, S.C., I completed three try squares and even applied the finish right at the bench using a polissoir (French for "polisher"). For the attendees who had never seen a polissoir or the surface it leaves behind, it was an eye-opener. Photographs don't do the surface justice. It's an experience that is both tactile and visual. Most people assume that the []
Read more here
posted at: 12:10am on 04-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Don Rosebrook, Tool Collector & Author
Furnished content.
Don Rosebrook, past-President of the Early American Industries Association (EAIA), a prominent member of the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association (M-WTCA) and author of Wooden Plow Planes, American Levels and Their Makers and America Level Patents Illustrated and Explained, died Monday following a brief illness. Carl Bilderback, a longtime friend of Dons, said that in addition to his love for plow planes and levels, Don was an avid collector of high-end []
Read more here
posted at: 12:10am on 04-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Update: Magnetic-mount LED Work Light Review
Furnished content.
In the April 2014 issue, I reviewed the Magnetic-mount LED Work Light thats carried by Lee Valley Tools (click here if you wish to read the review). I had only one complaint, and it was that my rechargeable batteries didnt fit, and that non-rechargeable batteries lasted on average only five hours, so I use this otherwise excellent light sparingly. On Twitter (where you can find me @1snugthejoiner), a []
Read more here
posted at: 12:02am on 03-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
A Soupon of Woodworking
Furnished content.
While working on my kitchen last Saturday, I had to cut a notch in the butcher block countertop to fit the apron-front sink in place. One side of the counter was long enough and therefore heavy enough to stay in place as I sawed (and had sufficient overhang into the sink area to allow me to work), but the other side was smaller and moved easily. It it was, however, []
Read more here
posted at: 12:03am on 02-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Do it With Your Mortise Full
Furnished content.
Here's a basic trick for planing up the rails and stiles for your doors. If you use power sanders, move along quietly to some other blog entry. The random-orbit sander was pretty much invented to solve this problem that occurs in traditional work. So you've cut the joinery on your rails and stiles and are getting ready to assemble the frame, be it a door or face frame. Planing the []
Read more here
posted at: 12:03am on 02-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
In the Arms of the Angles (Rake, That Is)
Furnished content.
Even if you care nothing for backsaws, I urge you to watch the video below to the sad, bitter end. And as you do, imagine Sarah McLachlans plaintive voice saying...
Read more here
posted at: 12:04am on 01-Apr-2014
path: /Woodworking | permalink | edit (requires password)
Promoted by Feed Shark
|
