Saturday Mornings at Highland complement our woodworking class & seminar offerings. Join us at our store in Virginia-Highlands on Saturday mornings at 10am EST for FREE, live demonstrations featuring a wide variety of woodworking skills, tools & techniques. These 1 to 1-1/2 hour-long demonstrations feature our knowledgeable staff and instructors, local clubs & guilds, guest authors, and others. Upcoming events include woodturning, woodcarving, care & use of hand tools, joinery, book signings, an introduction to woodworking design software, and much, much more.

Saturday, July 5, at 10:00am—Longboarding provides countless hours of fun and cheap transportation! Building a longboard is not that difficult once you learn a few basic principles. Page Burch will talk about board design, materials, and history. He will discuss a variety of finishing techniques and provide examples of different finished boards.

All demonstrations take place in Highland Woodworking's retail store in Atlanta, Georgia and begin at 10:00am EST.

Tommy shows how he created the beautiful sand shaded fan on the top of the table. After going through the construction process step by step, Tommy reviews how he inserted the piece into the tabletop. It's so easy even Al can do it!

Here's the second interview we did at The Woodworking Show in Atlanta, GA. This interview is with Jim Heavey of Wood Magazine. Jim tours the country working at woodworking trade shows for Wood Magazine.

Jim's job is to conduct workshops that teach woodworking skills such as how to cut and install crown moulding, building small jewerly boxes. installing cabinets, and everything inbetween.

I hope you enjoy this interview. If you have any questions you can email us @:

contactus@woodworkersresource.com

For more information on woodworking and to sign up for our newsletter so that you never miss a video, go to:

www.WoodworkersResource.com

The Yandles Woodworking show has come and gone - and it was a good one!
As my first time on "the other side of the bench" it was quite an eye opener. Hopefully I didn't embarrass myself too much but I am looking forward to my next show (West Dean College at the end of May) when hopefully I shall present a more "knowing" display :)

I was very fortunate to share my bench with Woodworking Guru David Charlesworth - he was a true gent and he helped me get through the weekend a little easier - thanks David! Also, I was ably assisted on the Saturday by Mike Riley and Tony Sutton (of Good Woodworking and UK Workshop fame) The guys were good enough to make piles of shavings, answer questions and do the occasional iron sharpening marathon - many thanks Gents!

So with a few days under my belt to reflect I'm back in the workshop making more planes - I have a few new models in the works that should be ready to show soon. And hopefully I'll get some more guitar progress this weekend.

Cheers
Philly

Chris Schwarz reviews Philly's Miter Plane on the Popular Woodworking blog. Nice plane, Philly!

Over at that OTHER site, the one I rarely name, is a plane makers catalog from 1833. Msrs. Hills & Richards of Norwich, Massachusetts, felt it was time to distribute...

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For the first time in my life I truly felt like a father this week.

As you know, Gail is gone for at least a couple weeks to San Francisco, so I am alone with Peyton.

Although my office is 60 miles from home (thank God for our Diesel Jetta....), Gail only works 1 mile from home. So even though Peyton spends the day in "his room" (please don't let him know the truth that it is a kennel/crate) Gail comes home for lunch and lets him out.

Well, with me 60 miles from home during the day, Gail's absence would require The Boy to spend 11 hours in "his room." So when Gail flew out Tuesday afternoon, I found a Doggy Day Care in Grand Haven (about half way between our house and my office). On Wednesday morning, Peyton wondered what was up when I didn't beg him to go to his room so I could go off to spend time busting my hump for The Man. Instead, I put his leash on like he was going for a walk.

After all of the associated Leash Dancing was done, Peyton settled down and got in the car. We drove to Grand Haven and I took him into Paw Pro (the doggie day care experts). As I got ready to say Good Bye, the dad thing kicked in. I bent down and rubbed his ears and kissed him on his forehead. I told him to have fun. I told him I would see later that tonight. I reminded him that we were one winning lottery ticket away from spending all our Summer days swimming in Lake Michigan. Then, they led him off for a day of romping, playing, chasing, chewing, etc.

As he strolled down the hallway, he didn't look back. That's when I felt like a dad. I knew he was too excited to be thinking of me, and I knew I was going to have a worse day than him.

Ever wonder how Google Books and some of those other freebie book sites manage to produce those anemic looking book pages? You know, the ones that look as if someone...

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When you design a piece of furniture to build, there are three well-worn paths (some might call them ruts) to follow.

The first path is to design a piece in a wholly original style. This actually happens about once or twice a century, and its rarity is why we don?t have furniture styles such as ?Early Bill,? ?Middle Chuck? or the ?Late Butch Period.? Few people alive can claim they have successfully launched a style, but don?t let that stop you from trying.

The second approach is to build replicas, either spot-on or with mild alterations, such as an additional drawer, or substituting a square ovolo moulding for a bead. This is a good way to learn the vocabulary of different styles, though it is time-consuming to learn everything by the doing. Some woodworkers (even professionals) might build only six pieces in a year.

The third approach is to design a new piece with vintage parts, like rebuilding an old car. With this approach, you expose yourself to hundreds of images of the form. You could look at tables, cabriole legs or Arts & Crafts desks, for example. Then you select your piece?s dominant element from the library ? say a leg, a door or a bonnet ? and design your piece around that. (However, you can?t easily mix parts from different genres. It might seem like a good idea to put a Honda push rod in a Chevy, until you hit that metric barrier.)

When asked the secret to good design, Steve Hamilton, a builder at Mack S. Headley & Sons (headleyandsons.com), boiled it down to two words: ?Picture books,? he said. ?Get a bunch. Look them over.?

Design on the Run
Designing a suitable early American wall cupboard for Woodworking Magazine began with a day in our collection of books and images. You don?t need to spend a lot of money to build a book collection, most of the resources you need are at the public library and on the Internet.

My first stop was Wallace Nutting?s ?A Furniture Treasury.? This book is available in many different forms, and it?s common to find copies for about $25. The book is as-advertised. It?s hundreds of pages of images of early American stuff that has been organized into categories such as ?chests? and ?Windsor chairs.?

The second source was auction catalogs from Christie?s (christies.com) and Sotheby?s (sothebys.com) auction houses. The catalogs these houses publish for their Americana auctions are outstanding. Good images. Good overall dimensions. And good history lessons as well. These catalogs can be pricey at $50 or more, but you can usually browse the catalogs on the Internet for free, though sometimes you have to register with the auction house (registration is free).

The third source was an old favorite of mine from my grandparents? library: ?Fine Points of Furniture: Early American? (Crown) by Albert Sack. This common book can be had for about $10 ? the new revised edition is much more expensive and rare. Sack?s book compares different kinds of pieces and ranks them as ?good,? ?better? or ?best.? This book helps hone your tastes in mouldings, proportion and turnings.

After a day of reading, I chose a fetching tombstone door from Nutting?s book and found many tall and skinny shapes for wall cupboards that looked like pieces I had seen at Winterthur, the DuPont?s Delaware estate and museum.

My design firmed up when my doctor got too busy for me one Wednesday. After showing up for my appointment, I was told there would be an hour delay. So I sat in my car and sketched about 10 wall cabinets. I didn?t worry about dimensions or joinery, just the overall look and feel of the piece. Each sketch took about five minutes and tried out variations on the door (one or two?), the drawer (one, two or none?) and the width of the stiles and rails (chunky or light?).

After those sketches, I chose the best two designs, sketched them again and showed them around to woodworkers and friends. It sounds like a lot of work, but I have found that good design is like making stir fry: You first chop vegetables and mix sauces for a long time. The active cooking time is real short ? if you?ve done your prep work.

? Christopher Schwarz

Tommy hits a "pretty big milestone" when he glues the first drawer together. Knowing how crucial setting the glue is after many long, labor-intensive hours getting the wood ready, he tries not to "freak out." When he attaches all four pieces together and clamps them, he's pleased because the drawer looks square and totally flat. Here's hoping the rest go as well.

A package from Mike Wenzloff arrived late in the day yesterday. I knew this one was coming, and it was all I could do to keep myself from tearing into it. But I waited - because there were two items for Riley as well, and I figured he would want to open it. Inside were two pairs of small saws - a rip and a crosscut. Riley's pair are quite small - but fit his small hands very well. At his request - his first project is going to be to learn to cut dovetails.



The other pair of saws were quite specifically designed. Some time ago, I asked Mike if he would be able to make a dovetail sized saw to be used specifically for cutting exotic woods. He was quite sure he could - so we moved on to the rest of the details. Ebony handles were decided on fairly early in the process, thanks to a good friend (thanks again Dan). Mike sent me several photos of different handle designs to choose from. We settled on a modified Patterson handle - and I have to say - I cannot imagine anything more comfortable. It feels as though I shaped it myself. The blade is 8" long and has 2" of usable depth.



Riley and I called Mike to let him know they arrived safe and sound and to thank him for doing such a wonderful job. He asked if I had tried them out yet and I explained that I hadn't - but the first use would be to cut the slot for an adjuster on an A2 jointer. The long silence was finally broken with “Oh geeze - now I am nervous!�



As I suspected - the rip saw worked perfectly and cut a beautiful clean kerf in the Brazilian Rosewood handle. So thanks again Mike for two wonderful pairs of purpose built saws.

If you?ve checked out a copy of Woodsmith or ShopNotes in the last couple of years, you may have noticed that articles about hand planes and their use have been showing up a little more often. That?s mostly because we have an editor who takes an active interest in promoting their usage ? Randy Maxey.

Randy will spend an hour during this Woodsmith Woodworking Seminar Podcast to give us his tips for tuning up a hand plane, a very important procedure if you?ve ever tried to use one. As you may know, an out-of-tune plane, with a dull or nicked iron, can be a real pain to use. This seminar is for “users,” not “collectors.”

Be sure to check out the Woodsmith Podcast Store for links to a few products that Randy used during this seminar. There are also links to Seminar Guide at PlansNow.com

Hi Folks
As you know, we woodies are constantly on the lookout for good sources of timber. Preferably ones that no-one else knows about...... ;)
Waka and I visited a new saw mill today near Andover, Goulden Hardwoods. Only a small mill, but some interesting timber. And a lot of fun turning over piles of boards to see what we could find. The owner, Paul, was very helpful and the prices very pleasant. If you are anywhere near it is certainly worth calling by!
I came away with some quartered Beech (some 5 inch thick!!) and some beautiful 3 inch English Walnut. And a small piece of Apple - sadly a little spongy, but we'll see.
Now I just need to wait a while for the timber to dry down to a suitable level. The waiting game......;)
Cheers
Philly

I guess we have new LumberJocks Murphy’s Law and it’s official:

If anything can go wrong, it will when I go on vacation.

As you noticed, Summer 08 Awards Section has not been working properly in the past hours. Since I was on the road at the time, I wasn’t able to fix the problem before the entry period deadline.

Now it’s fixed and I decided to move following important dates:

• Entry opens on July 1, 2008 at 6 AM CDT and ends on August 3, 2008 at 3 PM CDT.
• Voting opens on August 4, 2008 at 6 AM CDT and ends on August 7, 2008 at 3 PM CDT.

Now I can go to bed after spending whole day in the car.. Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg were cool but that’s another story ;)

Lets start right at the beginning:

Step ladders: Make sure you have a steady pair of steps not to short so you over reach. Your arms will drop of before you have taken your first lesson in how to hang curtains. Not to tall that you cannot reach the window comfortably without leaning out to the side to hang curtains throwing you off balance.

Curtain hooks for standard pencil pleat curtain tape

Curtain hooks Again make sure before you start that you have enough of the right kind of curtain hooks.Light curtains will be fine with standard plastic hooks.

Medium weight curtains use nylon hooks, stronger than plastic. They will flex without breaking.

Heavy curtains use metal nickel hooks, they are bit fiddly to handle they all stick together the box. Just like the Chinese puzzles I had as a child.

Curtain hooks for bucram headed curtains

You will need what are called "pin hooks" simply because they have a sharp pin which pierces through the fabric and bucram (not sure checkout my site) on the back of the curtain header. This kind of heading makes for the best looking curtains. As always the best all ways costs that bit more.

An extra pair of hands

When you are learning how to hang curtains large or heavy it is very useful to have someone standing at ground level holding the curtain taking the weight. This enables you to hang the curtain onto your track or rod with ease.

How many hooks will you need ?

Well for curtains with standard pencil pleat tape you will need a hook every 4th pocket.

For bucram headed curtains you will need 1 for every pleat or goblet and one for each end.

Preparing your bucram headed curtains prior to hanging.

The good news other than putting in the pin hooks setting them down 1/2 inch from the top of your curtain. there is no more prepping to do. You just have to learn how to hang curtains and dress them properly.

prepping your pencil pleat curtains prior to hanging:

Standard pencil pleat curtains to start you will need to gather the tape on the top of your curtains. You do this by pulling out the 3 cords in the back of the curtain tape. To start pull the cords out of both ends of the curtain tape and tie them together in a firm knot.

There are 2 reasons for this 1. It stops you pulling the cords completely out of the tape (not a good start when learning how to hang curtains). 2. It keeps the cords together on the end that you pull the cords out to gather your curtain.

Then continue to pull the cords out. Simple tip on gathering your curtains. Take one set of knotted cords and hook over a door handle or some other fixed object. Then use one hand to hold the curtain tape and with the other hand start to pull the tape away from the door handle. You will see the heading on your curtain start to pleat.

How wide do you curtains need to be ?

Next check what half the width of your track or rod measures. Lets say your track is 100 inches long. You half this to 50 inches, then add on 2 inches to allow your curtains to comfortably meet in the middle when hanging. So the finished width that you want to gather each of your pair of curtains is 52 inches. The more you learn how to hang curtains, the more this becomes second nature.

Before you hang curtains.....stop and check!

Before you start to hang your curtain you need to lay your curtain down on a table or the floor and check the gathered width is about right. Then if to narrow then pull out the tape a little. If to wide then gather in the tape a little more.

what about the surplus cord ?

Finally sorting out all that surplus cord and evening up the pleats in the tape. DO NOT CUT THE CORDS !. The best solution is to bundle the cords up by wrapping them around all your fingers then tie a slip knot around the bundle. This allows you in the future to alter the header tape should you want to.

Once the cords are sorted out turn the curtain over. You need to look at the pleats and try and even them out. Just do it roughly at this time because when you come to hang them the pleats will move a little.

Last job before hanging your curtains

All most there, before you can hang your curtain you have to put the curtain hooks into the pockets on the back of the tape. On most standard pencil pleat tape there are 3 pockets top, middle and bottom.

How to hang curtains from a rod or pole

If hanging under a rod or pole put your curtain hooks in the top pocket. Also note the number of rings on your rod or pole. This determines the number of hooks you put in the curtain tape. As a rule of thumb you use less hooks on a rod or pole than on a curtain track. On a track put a hook ever 4th pocket and on a ror or pole every 6 to 8 pockets.

Hanging from a track ?

If hanging from a curtain track then put your curtain hooks in the center or bottom pocket pocket. this allows the curtain to cover the track when closed. To decide which pocket to use try one and see what your curtain looks like hanging. If your happy then great do the other curtain. If not happy move the curtain hooks up or down to suit.

The 1st step when hanging

A lot of people say you should always start hanging your curtains from the ends of the track or rod and work towards the middle. I Disagree, I say you should always start from the middle and work outwards towards the ends. The reason I advise you do it this way is because if you have

too many gliders on your track or too many rings on your rod you can easily remove them from the ends of your track or rod. Where if you start from the outside in to the middle the surplus gliders or rings are locked in the middle of your track or rod. Meaning you have to unhang your curtains to remove them. Not much more now and you will have the basics on how to hang curtains.

Why do some advise to start from the middle ?

The reason is on some tracks and rods, but mostly the corded kind. They have what are called overlap arms. These are short arms made of metal or platic with holes in for the last couple of curtain hooks on each leading edge of your pair of curtains (edges that meet at center of your window). Theses overlap arms allow one curtain to pass and overlap the other curtain by 2 or 3 inches. Thus giving you total privacy.

So what's the big problem ?

So where's the problem ? the problem is that these arms are not very strong. This means when you start to hang a medium to heavy curtain. Especially without someone carrying the weight they sag and twist or break completely.

Avoiding the problem !

So how do we avoid that when hanging from the center of the track or rod and working outwards. Very simple really, if you need 2 hooks to go in the overlap arm then count in to the 3rd hook and hook this into the first real glider or ring. Leaving the 1st and 2nd curtain hooks to just hang in space. continue hanging your curtain working from the middle outwards. That's how to hang curtains my way (the best way obviously "wink")

Then once you have reached the ends of your track or rod (removing any surplus gliders or rings). You go back to the middle and hook in the last couple of curtain hooks into the overlap arms. So avoiding putting to much weight on them.

Well I hope you have picked up a few "Tips" on how to hang curtains. This is just the first stage. Next is the "Dressing" of your curtains.

Lee Stevens From Window treatments Made easy

http://www.window-treatments-made-easy.com

Luck is where the crossroads of hard work and opportunity cross.

I've successfully added a new feature to the Norse Woodsmith website - blog feeds directly from some of my favorite woodworking bloggers - including Chris Schwarz, Adam Cherubni, Alice Frampton (Alf, at the Cornish Workshop), Gary Robert's Toolemera blog, and others.  There are links to their latest blogs at the bottom of the page, and a link to a list view of posts arranged by individual blogger) or, if you prefer, the latest posts in their entirety by following the links in the "Community" pull down menu above.

I'll be adding more as I come across more that I feel have relevant content...  and blogs older than 16 weeks are automatically purged.  I enjoy reading all of these blogs on a regular basis, and hope you find them interesting as well.

Leif

Post Script:  These blogs are not located on this web site - they are simply RSS feeds from the individual's sites and contain only content available via RSS (no web site content).  Clicking on some of these links (such as those at the bottom of the page) will take you to those web-sites directly.  I am not responsible for the content of these feeds.

Note - if you are the owner of one of these feeds and do not wish me to publish it here, just let me know and it will be removed.  But if that is the case, for your benefit I would suggest you not publish the content via RSS...  Or set your teaser length to get people to click a link to "read more" on your own site.

I learned the basics of using Follow Me in Sketchup, and it solves the problem of creating round overs on the tensioner plan I've been struggling with. Now that I know how to use this tool, it's fairly easy. This task that has occupied at least 5 hours of my time can now be completed from scratch in under 5 minutes (with several mistakes). Here's how I do it:

1. Draw a rectangle 1.5 x 6 inches.
2. Using the line tool draw a section 1/2 inch long at the tip.
3. Using the line tool draw a section 1 inch long on the right side.
4. Draw a line connecting the two sections.
5. Delete the resulting triangle.
6. Using the Push tool, extrude the shape to 1.5 inches.
7. Orient the object so I'm looking right at the square end.
8. Using the tape tool, drop a reference line 12.25 inches from each side.
9. In the top left corner, use the arc tool to draw an arc that runs between two intersections and tangent to the sides.
10. Do the same in the bottom left corner.
11. Select Camera, Standard Views, Iso.
12. Orbit slightly if necessary to get a good view of the arc and the area it defines.
13. Select Tools, Follow Me.
14. Click on the small section formed by the arc and the corner.
15. Move the cursor to follow the four edges that want a round over and click when they are all defined.
16. Select Camera, Standard Views, Bottom.
17. Select Camera, Standard Views, Iso.
18. Repeat steps 13 ? 15 for the bottom.
19. Select Tools, Dimensions.
20. Add dimensions as needed.

Having learned to do it so quickly and easily, I'm almost embarrassed at the amount of time I spent trying to do this with Intersect Selected and other means. But I'm super excited about the Follow Me tool, which will allow the creation of custom moldings and other details that I couldn't do before.

It wasn't intentional. I didn't know. It was a mistake. Your money will be refunded as soon as your claim is processed by our customer service department located conveniently (for us) in a country that an English speaking person has never left alive.

Well, it isn't all that bad, but this website let you down. In particular, inadvertent alphabetical discrimination of the worst sort (ok, so you didn't get the pun, yes, it is a bit obscure, think: sort, lists... oh, nevermind) was practiced. It isn't bad enough that you always had to sit at the back of the class just because your name started with "X" or "Z". It isn't enough that we put you at the bottom of the list in the best of times. This time, you were left out completely if your name started with one of the latter letters of the alphabet and you were "listed" on one of our longer directory lists.  read more »

Tommy demonstrates how he is cutting the shell. Using a chisel, he shows how working with the grain poses a unique set of challenges. He then utilizes the V-tool on the design and laments his lack of carving skills.

... happens at the bench using the tools you’ve made.

I have been working away on the kitchen doors these last few days, and was reminded of why I started making planes in the first place. I have spent several hours taking the final finishing passes on all the 27 door frames. It only took a few minutes of planing for me to forget about the plane as an object and focus on the plane as a working tool. I stopped thinking about the infill wood, the choice of sidewall material, the stainless steel lever cap. All I cared about was the quality of the shaving, the comfort of the handle, the balance point of the plane and where I had placed the candle butt to wax the sole. For a few blissful hours - I felt like a furniture maker.



I have been collecting quarter sawn wood for years - and it really paid off for the kitchen. All the door frames are QS walnut. In a few cases, I had entire boards that were quarter sawn - but I also dipped into my stash of really wide walnut planks to get the quarter sawn wood from the edges. It worked out perfectly because the planks were wide enough to get two 2" wide frames off each edge and still have enough material in the middle to get the single board panels I wanted.



Most of the panels were resawn from 5/4 stock to yield two 7/16" thick panels. I wanted to keep the weight down as much as possible, plus this also allowed me to bookmatch all the panels. There is a large floor to ceiling pantry where I used 5/8" thick panels. I left them a little thicker so I could put a raised panel on the inside as well.

Below are two shots of all the freshly planed frames before assembly.





To really geek out for a minute - here are some technical specs. I re-honed the blade in the A5ss 6 times without going to the grinding wheel to hollow grind.



The above photo is an attempt to show the surface reflection of the last rail I planed (click on it to enlarge). This is the type of surface on all the frames. On average, it took two sets of two overlapping passes to remove all the jointer and thickness planer marks.

The mortises were cut with a bench top hollow chisel mortiser. With over 100 mortises - this felt like an appropriate tool. The haunched tenons are 1-1/2" long and were cut on the table saw using a dado set. Again - 100+ tenons... .



I pre-finished all the raised panels. There is nothing worse than that unfinished line and ridge of dried finish that appears in the dead of winter when the panels shrink.

I am hoping to assemble all the doors over the weekend and start fitting them. Once they are fit, I can apply the finish to the frames.

My next logical step in the progression is to create the rabbets for the frame and panel back. The rabbets in the left and right side panels are fairly straightforward. I selected a 5/8 inch depth and 5/16 inch width for the rabbet. The 5/8 inch thick frame provides sufficient strength for the 5/16 inch back panels. The will be two back panels housed in the frame which is divided by a center stile, or at least this is what the plan is. It is fairly important to have the depth of the rabbet uniform in both side panels and the top and bottom panels, this involves careful measuring and allowance for the chamfer edge profile of the top and bottom panels.


The rabbet in the top and bottom panels is a stopped rabbet, ending just before either end of the back of each of the top and bottom panels. After removing most of the wood to create the rabbet, I squared the ends of the rabbet using chisels and careful marking. To ensure all the panels are squared up and exactly the same size I overlay the top panel onto bottom panel without the side panels and then with the side panels in place.

In the photo, the panels are loosely assembled to confirm all the rabbets are the same depth and uniform around the carcase. I also take this opportunity to mark the outline of each of the side panels onto the top and bottom panels. This paves the way for the next step which is to create the joinery for the panels, in this case dowels. I create a doweling guide which is the same dimension, thickness and width as one of the ends of the side panels.

More about this in the next post..

My two younger daughters are completely fascinated with fairies right now. All they seem to be talking about lately is fairies. My seven year old told me earlier today all about how she and her neighborhood friends built a little fairy house in the back yard under a bush.

Apparently the fairy didn?t want to sleep outside with the bugs and decided to set up a little condo in our hallway.

Hardwood floors are part of an established home?s heritage. The look of the wood is what draws a guest in and what adds warmth even on the coldest of days. When you decide to install solid wood flooring in your home or office you are not only going for that old familiar aesthetic, but you are also acknowledging that wood flooring is extremely sensible. There is a treasured stability with hard wood flooring, something that immediately elevates the value of your property. With wood flooring you give a nod to the baroque.

In addition to looking beautiful and lush, wood floors are also unquestionably good for the environment. The flooring is, in a sense, insulation between your home and the elements. This insulation is said to be sixteen times as powerful as steel and four hundred fifteen times more productive than steel. Most solid wood flooring is made in America and therefore must adhere to the nation?s strict environmental codes and ordinances.

What grain of wood you select will determine the overall character of your floor. Nothing exudes dependability like oak solid wood flooring. Within each plank you see the life of the tree: the knots and burrs. Another benefit to choosing solid oak flooring is that it does not scratch easily. With proper care, the warmth of the color will last a very long time.

Engineered oak wood flooring is a less expensive option. You get the same look and character, but the installation is much easier. In most cases nails or screws are not necessary, all that you need is a foam underlay. Since most of the engineered oak wood flooring is made in China some may argue that the quality is lower.

While some of the heartiness of solid oak wood flooring may be lost, and the value of your home or business may not increase as much, the appearance is not sacrificed and most people rarely can detect the difference. The greatest difference is in the cost and the installation. A professional with elaborate and specialized tools must install solid oak wood flooring.

A benefit for choosing engineered oak wood flooring is that you have the option of putting in the floor yourself. With the do it yourself craze at full tilt many new and established homeowners are getting excited about improvement projects that can be accomplished within a weekend.

Most major chain home improvement centers not only offer a large variety of engineered oak wood flooring, but they are now offering workshops that will guide you through the step by step process. An added bonus to doing it yourself is that now under floor heating is becoming mainstream. In the same workshop where you learn about wood flooring you can learn about the under floor heat process and how energy efficient a row of heating coils can be.

Choosing to upgrade your home or business flooring is simple, and in most cases, affordable. Going with solid oak flooring or engineered oak wood flooring is up to your taste and your wallet.

Natalie Aranda writes on home improvement. Hardwood floors are part of an established home?s heritage. The look of the wood is what draws a guest in and what adds warmth even on the coldest of days. When you decide to install solid wood flooring in your home or office you are not only going for that old familiar aesthetic, but you are also acknowledging that wood flooring is extremely sensible. What grain of wood you select will determine the overall character of your floor. Nothing exudes dependability like oak solid wood flooring.