How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck, Exactly?
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Numbers are a big part of myjob here, as is looking at data in new and different ways. In light of that, Ithought Id share some interesting informationI found as I was getting ready to start at Popular Woodworking. Back in the 90s, a couple of scientists decided to answer the burning question of How much wood would a woodchuck chuck...
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posted at: 12:08am on 30-Sep-2014
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Rohlfs & Stickley: A Case of Flowery Inspiration
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Darrell Peart raised an interesting questions during my recent web seminar on "Unkown Arts & Crafts" for Popular Woodworking University. He noted the similarities between one of Rohlfs' tables and the poppy table by Gustav Stickley and asked if one maker influenced the other. Both tables share a similar form, trunk-like slab legs support a flower-shaped top, executed in an Art Nouveau style, which suggests the possibility for [
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posted at: 12:08am on 30-Sep-2014
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Holiday Projects & that Sinking Feeling
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Its been warmoutside and there are still some tomatoes in my garden, so its been easy to stay in denial. But when I saw holiday stuff on display in a local mall I knew I was in trouble, those projects I meant to make as gifts might have to be given as Valentines presents, maybe even Fourth of July presents. That sewing-machine-shaped inlay I have in mind for a []
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posted at: 12:03am on 28-Sep-2014
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Another 21st Century Workbench
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Every day I receive dozens of e-mails. Everyone suffers from this affliction, but when youre on the staff of a magazine youre an attractive target for photographers, illustrators, PR people and marketing gurus. I wade through them all, and every now and then Im pleasantly surprised to get a message from a reader with a photo of his version of something Ive designed and built for Popular Woodworking Magazine. That []
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posted at: 12:00am on 27-Sep-2014
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On the Merits of Blue Furniture
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I'm sure you get asked the following question a lot: What's your favorite style of furniture? My answer to that question has always been rambling and indecisive, I love styles from the 15th century up to mid-century modern. But I now have a simple and direct response: I like blue furniture. If you subscribe to color theory, people react physically to different colors. Reds, yellows and oranges increase our []
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posted at: 12:00am on 26-Sep-2014
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Furniture Spotting
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Beginning with my first job in journalism, I self-imposed a rule to not discuss my political thoughts in public, so the below is in no way constitutes personal commentary on President Obama and his administration. But no matter what ones thoughts on any past, current or future office holders, theres no arguing that those in power have access to some mighty fine furniture. Case in point: Todays New York []
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posted at: 12:00am on 26-Sep-2014
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Hello I'm Mike Wallace (No, not that one)
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I'm excited to be the newest addition to the Popular Woodworking staff. I've spent my career as a reporter, editor or copy desk chief for a number of newspapers, but most importantly, I'm an avid hobby woodworker. I'm the least accomplished woodworker on staff by far, but I have a passion for the subject and I'm looking forward to learning from readers and my co-workers. (Pins or tails first?
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posted at: 12:09am on 25-Sep-2014
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Design by Substitution
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I've enjoyed Chuck's and Bob's posts on design and recently had cause to think about them while working on a coffee table for an upcoming book on Mid-Century Modern furniture. At the risk of over-simplifying, these posts suggest an axis for approaching furniture design: on the one end, evaluate a class of furniture and synthesize elements to produce a design; on the other end, reproduce a piece to really understand []
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posted at: 12:06am on 24-Sep-2014
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Lots of Woodworking Resources for Little Money
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Im gonna let you in on a little secret: I dont read all the e-mails we send out. (I know, I know, there are too many; Im pleased to let you know that were reducing the number.) So Im guessing you dont always read them all, either. But sometimes, you do miss something good. Really! Every month, we select a group of product organized a single theme, be it []
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posted at: 12:00am on 23-Sep-2014
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The Manufactory, Our Local Makerspace
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A couple of weeks ago, we took an afternoon field trip to The Manufactory a makerspace here in the Cincinnati area. Back in June we visited two makerspaces in Columbus (read about that visit here) in preparation for an article in an upcoming issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. If youre not familiar with the term, a makerspace is a lot like a health club, but with a fully equipped woodworking []
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posted at: 12:00am on 23-Sep-2014
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The Peabody Essex In Plain Sight
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Nathaniel Gould has long been associated with some of the finest period furniture to come out of Salem, Massachusetts, but we didnt know how much until recently. In 2007 three of Goulds account books were discovered locked away in the Massachusetts Historical Society and they showed he was far more prolific than originally thought, the ledgers document over 3000 pieces made between 1758 and 1783. The ledgers have been []
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posted at: 12:01am on 20-Sep-2014
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Practical Woodworker 4-Volume Set, Now in Paperback
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Last year, we released an exclusive, limited run of the 4-volume set of Bernard Jones The Practical Woodworker in hardcover, which quickly sold out. But now, you can get The Practical Woodworker set in paperback; its the same great information, but at a more affordable price, just $65 for more than 1,500 pages of expert woodworking instruction (plus an indexthank goodness!). And, when you buy from ShopWoodworking.com, youll get []
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posted at: 12:02am on 19-Sep-2014
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Hand Drafting Skill-builder FAQ
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Q: Is there ever a time in the hand drafting process when you use paper with lines on it, such as graph paper? A: If I am out in the field and do not have a portable drafting setup, then graph paper is desirable paper to have on hand. The most common graph paper is 1/4″ squares, but better office/drafting supply companies will offer it in various sizes. I like []
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posted at: 12:05am on 18-Sep-2014
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Hand Drafting Skill-builder FAQ
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Q: Is there ever a time in the hand drafting process when you use paper with lines on it, such as graph paper? A: If I am out in the field and do not have a portable drafting setup, then graph paper is desirable paper to have on hand. The most common graph paper is 1/4″ squares, but better office/drafting supply companies will offer it in various sizes. I like []
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posted at: 12:05am on 18-Sep-2014
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2014 PWM Excellence Awards Winners
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At Woodworking in America last Friday morning, I presented a slide show of the winners of the 2014 PWM Excellence Awards Winners, and now Im sharing them with those who werent able to make it to this years conference. The winners are featured in the November 2014 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, with information about each piece and its maker (The issue begins mailing to subscribers (both print and []
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posted at: 12:05am on 18-Sep-2014
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Pgas Coping Saw Blades the Best
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While teaching in England this summer I had a sudden and miraculous encounter with Pgas coping saw blades, and I am a convert. I rarely say this sort of thing, but here we go: Buy them. Buy as many as you can afford. Encourage the company to make more blades like this. If you want to skip the backstory and just order the darn blades, go to Tools for []
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posted at: 12:00am on 17-Sep-2014
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What is Shellac?
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This 11-minute video excerpt, featuring the one and only Don Williams, is a fairly complete answer to a common question, what is shellac? I say "fairly complete" because the video generated a couple follow-up questions in my mind. Fortunately, theres WIA, our annual woodworking conference. Don spoke for 4 hours at the conference this weekend, covering shellac and a lot more. It was a real pleasure to sit []
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posted at: 12:01am on 16-Sep-2014
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Dovetail Joints: How Tight is Too Tight?
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Last weekend I built a dovetailed campaign-style officer's trunk for the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association and several of the members were shocked when I drove the carcase dovetails together. What was shocking to them was how tight my fit was between the tails and pins; it required a few hard whacks with a dead-blow mallet to seat the tails into the pins. The members asked me a lot []
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posted at: 12:01am on 16-Sep-2014
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Dovetail Joints: How Tight is Too Tight?
Furnished content.
Last weekend I built a dovetailed campaign-style officer's trunk for the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association and several of the members were shocked when I drove the carcase dovetails together. What was shocking to them was how tight my fit was between the tails and pins; it required a few hard whacks with a dead-blow mallet to seat the tails into the pins. The members asked me a lot []
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posted at: 12:01am on 16-Sep-2014
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Pictures from Woodworking in America 2014
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Tomorrow morning, I depart Winston-Salem for a long and lonely drive to Cincinnati in the slow, loud and uncomfortable 24′-long truck (I cant believe Im allowed to operate this thing without a CDL license!). So I have a little time to kill. After four days of fun, frivolity and being on my feet nonstop, I just dont think I have it in me to walk any farther than the room []
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posted at: 12:00am on 15-Sep-2014
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Customizable Bevel-down Planes from Veritas
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As a crowd gathered round the Lee Valley Tools booth at high noon on Saturday, Sept. 13 at Woodworking in America 2014, Robin Lee, president, unlocked the chains and opened the cases to reveal a project the company has been working on for more than two years: five new ...
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posted at: 12:00am on 15-Sep-2014
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The "Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Hand Tools" Is Winner
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Congratulations to Remwoodz, the winner of my extra advance copy of Michael Dunbars newly revised book Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Hand Tools. And my goodness, 154 comments! I was initially planning to print out the comments, cut them apart and drop them in a fishbowl to choose. But I dont have that kind of time today (we leave tomorrow morning to drive to Winston-Salem for Woodworking in []
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posted at: 12:00am on 10-Sep-2014
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Pressed Brass Campaign Hardware from Lee Valley
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With campaign-style hardware, there are many choices out there for different budgets and aesthetics. You can go for full-on rustic, sand-cast hardware, this looks great but can be tricky to install because every piece of hardware is slightly different. Or you can opt for modern die-cast hardware, easy to install but a little too-consistent looking to look historically accurate. I have installed both kinds of hardware, and I []
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posted at: 12:00am on 10-Sep-2014
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To Get Perfect Seams, Remember: Don't Stop
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One of the best pieces of woodworking advice is, Go slow, it's faster. But that doesn't apply to gluing up narrow boards into panels. When I have to glue up panels, I start in the morning by jointing and planing the stock to its finished thickness (assuming I'm using machinery), and then I immediately joint the board's edges and glue up the panels that same day. By compressing all that []
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posted at: 12:00am on 09-Sep-2014
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A Good Look at Some Marcou Handplanes
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At Woodworking in America 2010, the award for having traveled the farthest went to Philip Marcou, a toolmaker in New Zealand. I was joking on Twitter a few days ago that we were looking at New Zealand as a potential site for a future conference (in which case wed have to call it Woodworking Ex America, I suppose)because I desperately want to go there. Were not, of course; while Im []
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posted at: 12:01am on 06-Sep-2014
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Win a Copy of "Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools"
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Recently, Michael Dunbar updated two of his classic books, Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools (which has just been added to ShopWoodworking.com) and Make a Windsor Chair, and I happen to have an extra advance copy of the first one on my desk. Its an excellent revision of his 1989 edition, but I really dont need two copies. So Im giving one of them away. Simply leave a []
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posted at: 12:01am on 06-Sep-2014
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Innovative New Products From Milwaukee
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A few weeks agoI traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to the New Product Symposium at Milwaukee Tools. If I had to sum the entire symposium up in a single word it would be; innovation. Milwaukee tools have had the reputation for decades as being among the best professional grade hand-held power tools: That reputation has continued to this day. Its refreshing to see that a company with such a legacy has []
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posted at: 12:00am on 05-Sep-2014
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Shop Talk Sessions at Woodworking in America 2014
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At Woodworking in America 2015 (for which I leave in one weekand to which Im possibly driving the truck with the benches), in addition to the education sessions in the classrooms from such woodworking luminaries as Will Neptune, Roy Underhill, Drew Langsner, Phil Lowe, Patrick Edwards, Don Williams and more, were offering a variety of hour-long Shop Talk sessions in the Marketplace (included with admission). Heres the schedule: Friday, Sept. []
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posted at: 12:01am on 04-Sep-2014
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2 Workbench Vises I'd Like to Try
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The more I study workbenches, the more I'm convinced there is no end to the clever vises out there. This week I have two vises that are worth a close look. One is a ratcheting leg vise made by Will Myers, a woodworker who teaches at The Woodwright's School and is one of the assistants at the French Oak Roubo Project. Will writes a lot for WKFineTools.com[]
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posted at: 12:01am on 04-Sep-2014
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Better Panel Glue-ups Have Little to do With Glue
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I've watched a lot of beginners glue up panels and end up disappointed with their results. Their routine goes something like this: Find two boards the correct length. Work the board's edges until they come together perfectly. Glue them together. While the glue seam might be perfect and tight, the panel itself usually looks jarring. The color or the grain flow is mismatched. Sometimes the problem isn't obvious until there []
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posted at: 12:01am on 04-Sep-2014
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Silas Kopf Named "Master of the Medium"
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Congratulations to Silas Kopf, who has been named the winner in the wood category of the 2015 James Renwick Alliance of the Smithsonian Institutions Master of the Medium Award. The cabinet above, Bad Hare Day, was acquired by the Renwick in 2008, and his work is on display in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum, and hes represented in many []
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posted at: 12:02am on 03-Sep-2014
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A Coffin-building Party
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When I die, I want to leave this world in the same way I lived in it. As a woodworker who has spent his entire life building furniture for myself and others, I couldn't imagine being placed into a box that someone else made. In 2005, I read this article in TheNew York Times about Chinese coffins that were made much like a dugout canoe (and were banned by the []
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posted at: 12:00am on 01-Sep-2014
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