Today we're talking Wood Science 101 with Hendrik Varju.  All of us have been, or should be at sometime concerned with what wood movement can do to our finished projects.  So understanding how and why wood moves is crucial to designing and building pieces that will last through the years.  So check out today's show, which is the first half of a two part discussion on one of the most crucial topics in woodworking.

I'd really like to thank Hendrik for agreeing to come back and talk with us again.  If you're interested in learning more about Hendrik or to order a copy of his DVD "Jointer and Planer Secrets" stop by his website at www.passionforwood.com .  

If you're interested in meeting Hendrik, he'll be making an appearance at the Kitchener-Waterloo Woodworking Show this weekend March 14-16, 2008.  For more information on the show head over to Wood Shows for dates, times and so much more.

Coming up next month we're talking about dealing with twist, cup, bow and other wood problems.  So if you have questions drop us a line at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com and that's also where you can enter for the free schwag drawings too!!

 

いよいよ来週２７日から、「アメリカの第一人者に学ぶ〜グリーンウッドワークの椅子づくり」の講座が始まります。２年前にグリーンウッドワークの活動を始めてから、いちばん大きな行事です。
全長２メートル、直径２５センチのクリの丸太が５本、飛騨から届きました。
この丸太を割るところから始め、すべて人力で、６日間かけて椅子をつくります。

The green wood chair making class will take place from 27th Sep at Gifu Academy. It is going to be the biggest event for us since we started our green woodwork activity two years ago.
The material, five chestnut logs of two meters in length and 250 mm in dia, arrived from Hida.
Every student starts from riving this log to finish a chair, all by human power.



こちらの道具は、何だか分かりますか？
手前は、椅子を組み立てるときの角度を測る定規。講師のドリュー・ランズナーさんは、これを通称「おまる」と呼んでいます。
奥は、後脚を蒸して曲げるときの型です。型の両側に２本の後脚をはめて固定します。
講座まで、あとわずかです。

These jigs are for the chair class, too.
The front one is for checking the angles of rungs. The instructor Drew Langsner call it ' potty seat' in his book.
The forms at the back are for bending the rear legs.
The class is coming soon!

Hey everyone it's the beginning of a brand new month and that means it's time for Router Bit of the Month!!

For the entire month of October Woodcraft is featuring Whiteside's 1/2" diameter Round Nose Core Box Bit.  A great grooving/veining profile for projects such as fluting, sign making, etc.

If you're not today's lucky winner of this great bit you can still take advantage of the sale price and add one to your collection just click here Woodcraft.com.

Also as mentioned in the show, is the SignPro Kit from Milescraft.

If you'd like to enter for free schwag, have a comment, question or suggestion, drop me a line at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com or  head over to the website.  Or...leave a voicemail at 231 354-2338.

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And I am still a little stunned.

Riley and I just came in from the shop - lesson one of hand cutting dovetails. We had finished dinner early and I looked over at the clock - 6:45. Hmmm... I wonder if there is enough time? Jill gave us her blessing so we headed out.

As we did the long walk to the shop, I realized I did not really know where to begin teaching Riley how to do this. Where do I start? Stock preparation? No... that is a lesson all on its own. How to hold a saw? No... experience is the best teacher for this. Show examples of how they look? Geeze... I was getting bogged down in the details. K.I.S.S. with emphasis on the simple.

I grabbed a scrap piece of 1x6 pine, cut it to 7" long, ripped it on the bandsaw to two equal width pieces - stock prep done. I did have a sample box that I built while at Rosewood studios several years back. We used that as reference for what through dovetails look like.

I could tell Riley was in the right headspace for doing this - he gently unpacked and admired his Wenzloff saws. I gathered the tools: the Tite-mark gauge, the 4" adjustable square, the sliding bevel and a pencil.

The first task was to define the baselines with the Tite-mark. I showed Riley how it worked, and he layed them all out. I was a little surprised that he had the sense to hold the fence firmly against the stock - I was anticipating having to gently remind him a few times.

We did not bother measuring to locate the tail lines - he just marked them wherever - and they were surprisingly well placed. Then he transferred the tail lines on the top and back down the other side. Again - he held the square correctly against the stock. This was going surprisingly well!



Next was sawing. I explained the difference between a crosscut and rip saw and marked each saws with a quick piece of masking tape (sorry Mike:) I then explained that it was easier to use a saw when you were making vertical cut as opposed to a sideways one. So Riley positioned the wood in the vice so the tail line was vertical (according to his eye) and then he started to cut. Note the index finger!



He held the saw incredibly well. We marked the waste with a Sharpie marker. He switched saws and cut off the waste. The shoulders were surprisingly strait and square.

Onto the pins. We used the tail to mark the pins and drew a big “X” on the waste. Riley grabbed the square to draw in the vertical lines... did I even need to be here???



He reached for the rip saw again, and used his own finger to help start the cut. The two shoulder kerfs were really good - now for the waste. For a second, I debated between coping or chopping the waste. We opted for chopping. Riley was a little nervous about using the chisels... but he soon got over it knowing he was going to get to use the green mallet. We chopped half way through from one side - I held the chisel. The second side went very quick and suddenly - we were done. I was preparing to break into a long speech about how they never fit the first time and would need some fine-tuning... when Riley grabbed the two pieces and pushed them together.

My jaw hit the floor - he was beaming.

The joint was a little loose - but it fit, it had square shoulders and kerfs and it was magnificent. I am not sure who was more proud at that moment.

As we walked back to the house Riley said he wanted to do a four sided one next time. I looked at the clock - 7:30.

Make all the fun you want to about all his “routahs,” but you have to admit that Norm Abram has done more to foster a worldwide interest in woodworking than anyone else. While I don’t always agree with his choice of construction techniques and joinery, he has made woodworking approachable and less intimidating for millions of people.  I had the chance to meet him (actually, just a handshake) at a Delta/Porter-Cable gathering at the AWFS show in Las Vegas in July. He seems like a great guy and I’d like to have the chance to sit and have a cup of coffee with him sometime.

In Design News, there’s a great article about how Norm got started and how he managed to make it into his 20th season this year on New Yankee Workshop. Did you know that Norm attended college with the intent of getting an engineering degree?  Here’s an intersesting quote from the article:

“I hated sitting in a class of 600 in a thermodynamics class, but I loved being in the lab working with metals. I hung in there for a couple of years and said this isn’t for me. You can learn a lot from school and books, but you really learn from experience,” he says. Going with a gut feeling, he switched to production management in business school, sensing he wanted to be a building contractor. He came close but never earned a degree because midstream in college he “felt it was time to go to work.”  

And the rest is history, as they say.

Safety Week is coming to a close and here's the last installment from Matt's Basement Workshop.  Eye protection is vital in the woodshop, with sawdust, chips, splinters, and even finishing chemicals flying around keeping our eyes safe is crucial.

We have plenty of options for all the various jobs we do in the woodshop, so it's just a matter of choosing the right one for ourselves.

Whichever one you choose, just wear them!!

A couple of good links to visit include OSHA's Woodworking eTool, Prevent Blindness America and also this 2002 report on eye related injuries from the Dept. of Labor.

Oh by the way...I'm giving you one more day to enter for the big Safety Week Schwag drawings.  Saturday I'll be drawing the names of the winners and posting a special video.  So check back to find out if your a winner of free stuff!!

If you have the time, please take the new listener survey.  And don't forget to drop me a line with your questions, comments and suggestions, especially since Hendrik is back in May and we're talking about starting a small woodworking business.  Just drop us a line at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com.

Also, Hendrik is starting his annual three part finishing seminars: 
Part 2 "Hand Finishing and Rubbing Out"    - May 10th or 24th.
Part 3"Antique Restoration Techniques"      - May 31st or June 7th.
So if you live in the Toronto area or feel like visiting it, and you want more information about Hendrik's finishing seminars, send an email to info@passionforwood.com

Listen to today's show by clicking on the player below

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I know that based on the numbers of posts rolling through this blog lately you would be hard pressed to think anything was happening at all in my little dungeon of a workshop... and you'd actually be wrong!

I actually do have a few projects in the works!

~ I have a couple of pens that I need to get finished. They really should have been done a long time ago, but sadly they kept getting stuck on the backburner.

~ I have another set of Adirondack chairs to do. This set is going to be painted white. They are for one of the girls at work that has already purchased two others. She also wants a couple more foot rests to go with them. The foot rests aren't quite as far along as the chairs though...

~ I have another small table in the works also. Similar in size to the table I made for my daughter, this one is being made with some oak that once was a hand rail in a local college.

~ I also have that dresser from oh so long ago that I would like to make some progress on. In a way, I'm actually glad that project got halted. I've found a few ways to overcome some perceived obstacles in that project that I feel fairly confident in tackling now.

So if I can stay focused and busy, I might actually have some interesting posts coming up soon. It would be nice to end the year with a barrage of completed projects and postings!

This is part 2 of a multi-part series following me building a bookcase for a friend of the family.  As promised I documented the build, the good, the bad and the ugly and I'll be posting new episodes on Wednesdays from this point out, enjoy!!

REMEMBER!  If you have any comments, questions, suggestions or you want to enter for some free schwag drop me a line at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com or you can always leave a voicemail at 231 354-2338.

Don't forget that Hendrik is conducting a seminar on June 14th, based on his book "Starting and Running a Woodworking Business".  If you'd like to attend or just get more information about this seminar contact Hendrik at info@passionforwood.com.

If you have the time, please take the new listener survey.

To download directly to your computer Right Click and "Save Target as"

I have let the components of the cabinet base or the cabinet stand sit for a couple of days to have them release any internal tension from the resawing operations performed earlier. This tension is due to the interior part of the wood not being as dry as the outside , therefore typically contracting inwards to form a concave form. After a day or so I began to plane the legs a small amount to create flat reference surfaces on two adjacent sides. I then use these perfectly flat sides to dimension the legs to the proper thickness all around. This is one area where it is best to take the time and do it right regarding the judicious dimensioning. I monitor the leg stability every so often, making sure there is no bowing or twist occurring from pent up tension. Th extra material I had left in each dimension would allow me to remove this safely if it does occur. I have also highlighted the grain orientation of the legs and aprons.

I also have the parts for the four aprons almost ready, they are rough dimensioned at this stage with a flat reference surface. I also check this flat reference surface periodically to confirm that it is still flat and not cupped, bowed, etc. When these base or stand components have stabilized further, I will dimension them to the finished sizes. Afterwards, I introduce a taper to each of the legs which I perform initially with the bandsaw and then handplaning the surfaces flat. I also have the blank for the drawer faces selected. The blank is a straight, fine grained Santos mahogany and from it I will rough cut three drawer faces.

Well, it's that time of year again. My wife and I are off to the mountains for a few days of hiking, kayaking and relaxing. With our warm and humid summers up here, we like to go to the mountains as it's cooler and drier. I'll continue where I left off when I am back.

N.C., Andrew, and Jamie Wyeth's paintings figure prominently in the galleries at the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA.

Photos of the artwork are not permitted, however I was allowed to photograph this elaborately carved coat of arms which originally adorned the pediment of the Dauphin County Court House in Harrisburg—Pennsylvania's capital city.

The carving, created in 1861 by E. Omensetter, was constructed with four horizontal pine boards used as a backing for the pine relief carvings that were attached with nails. Originally painted, the coat of arm's colors were worn away by weather and age.

The state's motto, "Virtue, Liberty, and Independence," is deeply carved into the banner, and the other design elements are also representative of Pennsylvania. The ship symbolizes the state's ports and vast commercial network; the American eagle is the traditional symbol of liberty; the horses protect and honor the motto; the plow represents coal and mineral resources; and the wheat and corn depict Pennsylvania's agriculture.

I love the chunky gouge marks and stylized eagle and horses. The beefiness, the deep shadows, and the folksiness of the design seem to accurately portray PA, which is replete with farmland and steeped in history.

While I enjoyed the Wyeths' and other artists' paintings, I found myself lingering in front of this piece longer than any other.

It's the beginning of a new month here at Matt's Basement Workshop, so that means today's Feature Friday is Router Bit of the Month!!  Once again Woodcraft and Whiteside sent us another great router bit to try out and for one of you lucky listeners....well you're getting one too!!

The Whiteside Shaker Style Raised Panel bit is a great addition to anyone's router bit collection who enjoys building Shaker style furniture.  Unlike more ornate raised panel bits, the shaker style stays true to the straight lines and simplicity of it's namesake.

 

Drop me a line with your questions, comments and suggestions.  And don't forget that Hendrik is back in May and we're talking about starting a small woodworking business, so get your questions in for Hendrik too.  Just drop us a line at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com.

Also, Hendrik is starting his annual three part finishing seminars: 
Part 1 "Preparing the Surface and Staining" - May 3rd. 
Part 2 "Hand Finishing and Rubbing Out"    - May 10th or 24th.
Part 3"Antique Restoration Techniques"      - May 31st or June 7th.
So if you live in the Toronto area or feel like visiting it, and you want more information about Hendrik's finishing seminars, send an email to info@passionforwood.com

 

It's the beginning of a new month and that means it's time for Router Bit of the Month!!  For the entire month of April, 2008 Woodcraft is featuring Whiteside's 1/4" radius Cove and Bead Edge Profiling bit. 

This little decorative edge profiling bit is like getting two bits in one.  The combination of a 1/4" radius cove profile and a 1/4" radius bead give plain old square and chunky edges a beautiful decorative look that's very pleasing to the eye.

The great thing about Whiteside's cove and bead bit is that when you use it in your router table it's like getting four profiles for the price of one.  By running your stock flat against the router table you get an edge with the bead leading the profile, but by standing the stock on edge and running it up against the router table fence you get an decorative edge with the cove leading the profile.

Or, if you're just looking to use the cove or the bead profiles by themselves it's once again a matter of adjusting the height of the bit and moving the fence back and forth.  In a matter of minutes you're making separate profiles from this one combo bit.

If you're interested in ordering this month's Router Bit of the Month from Woodcraft.com just click on the picture:

Congrats to Frank Bylo, this month's winner of a Whiteside router bit!!  If you haven't entered your name for free schwag or just have a comment, question or feedback, drop me a line at mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com.

If you're in the upstate New York area this weekend April 5 & 6 checkout the Northeastern Woodworker's Association's Showcase.  Filled with great seminars and demonstrations, check it out at www.nwawoodworkingshow.org.

For anyone interested, coming up on April 11 & 12, 2008 there's a great little tool demo and woodworking school openhouse going on at J. Miller Handcrafted Furniture in Chicago. The details can be found at Lie-Nielsen.  There will be some great demos by a number of well known woodworkers and I'm planning on checking it out myself.

Don't forget to get your questions in for Hendrik's next visit in April, we're talking lumber defects and how to work around them. 

Listen to today's show by clicking on the player below

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There's more you can do with a block plane than just cleaning up end-grains.  I love to use mine for freehanding chamfers on projects.

The technique is quick and simple, and with a little practice your chamfers can look as good or even better than those you can make with your router.

Comments, questions, feedback and schwag entries can be sent to mattsbasementworkshop@gmail.com .

I assembled the stand and am test fitting it in the photo a few hours after glue up. It fits well and is in very good alignment with the cabinet. This is a concern otherwise the stand looks more like an afterthought than designed with the cabinet if it doesn't fit right. The twin stretchers at the bottom work out well and introduce a small focal point into the design. It is quite a small feat getting the rails and stretchers in position for the glue up and a good point to stop and plan this out well. I assembled the sides initially, then put everything together with the front and rear rails and stretchers. The upper and lower rails are mortised into the legs with single tenons, whereas the twin stretchers are dowelled into the bottom side rails.

I am quite pleased at the aesthetics of the piece and the harmony between the cabinet and stand. I needed to spend some time at the edge treatment phase of all the stand components. The edges of each component are slightly chamfered with a small hand plane, then the edge transition is touched with a very fine sanding block to knock out any sharp edges. Since this is all done by hand, I find myself counting the exact number of strokes with the hand plane, in this case two. It is recommended that all the components be completed in one pass to avoid confusion. In other cases, where multiple passes are necessary, counting the handplane strokes is a good technique.

The stand is also beech and all the front and side facing components have non-descript grain pattern, straight grain for the most part, to not introduce any crazy graphics which take away from the main focal point, the cabinet.

I'm kind of anxious at this point to complete the interior of the cabinet, create the drawers and a small partition, then the pulls, so I can begin to apply finish. I'm curious to see how the figure of the door panels comes out. Of course, I can always wet the surfaces with naptha to temporarily see the figure pop, but I can wait a few more days.

I had a little deliberation deciding on the final height of the cabinet and settled for a 55 inch height , along with a second opinion from my better half. Having the piece too low and it begins to look like a credenza , too high and the stand begins to look spindly. I also wanted to provide an opportunity to see the cabinet as a whole, including a partial view of the top. Accessibility and visibility of the cabinet interior is also important as this is somewhat of a showcase cabinet, and my wife and I did take this into consideration.

When the Dremel folks stopped by our office a couple of weeks ago, one of the products they were showing us is the new MultiVise. I’ll admit that my first thought was, “This can’t be a serious tool — it looks like it’s made out of plastic.” But I was soon to be impressed. The way this thing can twist and contort to clamp almost anything is amazing. 

It clamps to your workbench or table. A ball-and-socket joint can rotate the clamp 360° and tilt up to 50°. I was skeptical that this ball-and-socket couldn’t be locked too securely. But once you tighten the blue ring, it’s there to stay. The clamp itself as a 7½” capacity. And it has removable “soft jaws” for clamping delicate or irregularly-shaped objects. I was impressed.  Really.

Now, as a woodworker, the first question I had was if the clamp was available in longer lengths. The Dremel reps said that they honestly hadn’t considered it but really appreciated the comments. I suggested that they offer “accessory kits” with longer clamps for us woodworkers. The reason is that the clamps are great by themselves. They’ve got large “feet” that sit on your benchtop and won’t topple over as you clamp down. The only problem I had with the clamp was that the screw was rather stiff and took some effort to turn. But I suppose it would loosen up over time without compromising it’s clamping ability.

Oh…I almost forgot. It comes with an adapter and wrench so you can fasten your Dremel rotary tool to the vise. It’s great for grinding or sanding operations.

I’ve got to get one of these for my own shop.

 

Welcome to The Wood Shop? This entry was posted on 9/21/2006 3:11 PM and is filed under Welcome. Picture Saloondoors2 Courtesy of Warsaw WoodWorks Welcome to The Wood Shop !  Let me first start by Introducing myself to you and let you know what we're all about . My name is Dan Rose . I am the head broom and dust-pan guy around here , so let's help keep it clean. I'd like to discuss Mesquite HardWood and other things wood as well.  Some basic rules : Feel free to post here and visit often. A reminder this is a public forum , your postings here are NOT a private matter. Please no foul language , no links to pornography ,  no extreme political , race , or religious views need to be posted here. Difference of opinion or approaches to a problem are OK , but personal attacks and name calling will not be tollerated. Please let this be a retreat from those things and a place to come and discuss the beauty and warmth that is offered by our common passion , wood. I'll be writing some articles that cover basic properties of Mesquite , Industry News and specific things we are doing here at Arizona Desert Mesquite to improve our service and support of the Mesquite HardWood market in the USA. We'll showcase some of our dealers and end use customers and their pictures and experiences they have had with Mesquite. Most of all I hope this can become a place to learn new things , to share information and knowledge . Everyone that will be featured here can teach us all with something new and exciting to be shared with others . Again as a reminder , this is a public forum. ADM does not take responsibility for content here posted by others. As time permits , I WILL edit any comments that in MY opinion do not meet our standards. So pull up a Log and Set a spell. The Root Beer is cold and there's a gentle breeze a blowin' from the SouthWest. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2/2/'07 - Check out the New photos Submitted by Murdock Floors on the HardWood Flooring Page ... Awesome ! Reminder : to see full page content click on  the    MORE>> marker wayyyy over to the right under the opening page.

 

Ancient Kauri wood.

One new story and one very old story.

A lovely couple from Ohio contacted us a few months ago and asked if David would make them rings of Kauri wood. The couple specially ordered the wood from ancientwood.com and had the wood shipped directly to David.

The ring you see here is David's first kauri wood ring; his test ring.

Dusty and Erin's rings will be kauri wood with bird's eye maple liners.

Now for the old story. This Touch Wood Ring is crafted from ancient kauri timber that is aged from 30,ooo to more than 50,ooo years old. Ancient Kauri wood comes from forests buried at the time of the last Ice Age, which are located on the Northern Island of New Zealand. It is called the World's Oldest workable timber. Read The Kauri Story on the Ancientwood website. These points are from their pamphlet.

• The harvesting of Ancient Kauri is a very ecologically friendly practice.
• No standing trees are cut
• These incredible trees are excavated from underground and any disturbed land is carefully restored.
• Every tree grew for more than 1200 years.
• They stopped growing over 50,000 years ago.

This ancient Kauri wood is pretty spectacular stuff and it fills us with a sense of wonder to hold something so very very old.

Bespoke Wooden rings
meticulously hand crafted
in Canada
by David Finch.

Touch Wood Rings

Today I have a walk-through of making a herringbone pen.

The creation of this pen isn't difficult or complex, as long as these things are kept in mind:

1. Your table saw or band saw can make glueline quality cuts.
2. You are patient.
3. Your turning tools are sharp.

I don't know that a band saw can make these cuts, but I'm certainly not a band saw expert. I do know that I can't get flat, smooth cuts from mine.

• Start with a thin board 1" wide or wider.
  Make it as thick or thin as you like, but remember that the thinner the board, the more glue joints you'll have to make.
• Cut the board in 1" sections.
  I use my Rockwell table saw with a 64 tooth carbide tipped blade. It makes absolutely smooth cuts, perfect for gluing. (Photo of the saw is in this post: November Shop Tour ) I also use my Small Crosscut Sled because it is safer to use for small piece cutting.
• Glue up in an alternating pattern.
  The pattern itself isn't really critical. As long as you used good tools, the faces will all be square to each other and the glue up will be easy. The glue you use isn't terribly important, as long as it is strong enough to handle the torque of being turned on the lathe. I used Titebond II for this particular one, but I've used CA glue as well. If you have woods that bleed, such as padauk, CA may be a better option because it will seal the wood surface.
• Clip its "wings".
  Square the blank. If the glue-up went well, the sides will still be straight and square, so you can use a crosscut sled or miter gauge to square the ends. Once the ends are square you can CAREFULLY trim the sides lengthwise. I again used my sled, holding the blank against the rear fence with a scrap piece of wood long enough to keep my hands well away from the blade.
  
• Cut to length and drill, just like any other blank.
  Well, not completely. Because of the changing grain direction, and possible glue joint weakness, you need to be extra careful when cutting and drilling. VERY light cuts with the drill bit, inspecting for glue joint separation, and being aware that heat can weaken glue are all necessary. Particularly with denser woods that are prone to heating up anyway.
• Mount and turn!
  I use my 1" gouge to rough the blanks. Light cuts and frequent inspections are needed. Make a pass, turn off the lathe, and look for cracking or separating of the glue joints. If a bit of the blank starts to look fishy, soak it in CA. Thin CA is great for this. Let it set for a minute or two and spray it with some accelerator, or let it cure longer naturally. Make sure your tool is VERY sharp. Hone it frequently, or if you're like me and have cheap "High Carbon Steel" tools, keep the grinder running and touch the tool to it frequently.
  
  
• Finishing
  Generally, you can use whatever finish you like. If you are using a brittle or open pored wood, I would soak the pen in thin CA first. That will stabilize the wood and harden it to some extent. The one in the pics is finished with BLO and shellac. This rustic looking pen needed the texture of the wood to come through, so my usual thick CA finish was out of the question.
  

As you see, it's not "difficult", but it does require some patience and care.

Enjoy!

What does a furniture maker do in his spare time except spending even more time in the shop? Sometimes it's good to get away from the woodworking environment altogether and just do something completely different. In my case I like to get back to nature and do some hiking or kayaking in summer, skiing in winter, or anything outdoors for that matter. This past week my wife and I were away in the mountains for a few days of just this, getting away from everything, clearing our minds, and regaining focus. I have to admit, it's very hard for me to pull myself away from my studio and from my love of making furniture, but in the end I'm always glad I got away. Shifting focus is a good thing and often puts things into perspective.

We often head to an area two hours or so away, in the mountains, which prides itself on a very outdoor way of life. The surrounding towns and villages offer great craft and art type shops which open up the mind to new design possibilities. Something both my wife and I love to see is other crafts people's work, regardless of the media. We both have a soft spot for crafts and craftspeople in general and their typically modest, rewarding and fulfilling lifestyles.

While visiting some small shops, I found this beautiful small irregular shaped bowl, handmade in Central America. An ideal small piece to complement one of my small cabinets. The workmanship that went into this decorative bowl is amazing and I had to have it. I already have it placed in one of my cabinets.

I also had the opportunity to read parts of a good book, it is furniture related, but nonetheless I had the free time to be able to sit down and focus on this book, which I've sort of read before, but never really in depth. I find I need to set aside an hour or so every day to be able to catch up on my reading, usually much later in the evening at home. This doesn't always work out, and I begin to accumulate partially read books, etc. I'm a book hound and have shelves full of interesting books that I've read, but also a few small piles of books in the process of being read.. I still hope to address this dilemna somehow, maybe I'll just pack a pile of books into a bag and get away for a few days to do just this.

We talk a lot around here about the Woodsmith Store. For a little over fifteen years, it was a small, out-of-the-way haven for woodworkers tucked into the Beaverdale neighborhood of Des Moines. Then in 2003 everything changed.

That was when the old Payless Cashways building in Clive was remodeled and Des Moines became home to one of the largest independently-owned woodworking stores in the country. It is truly a regional destination store for woodworkers from all over the Midwest. The store, now over 20,000 square feet in size, is filled with woodworking supplies, tools, machinery and hardwoods. Think Cabella’s, Bass Pro Shops, or L.L. Bean.

This coming weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (September 21st, 22nd and 23rd), the Woodsmith Store will celebrate its 20th Anniversary with a Fall Fair event. There will be a lot going on, not only in the woodworking departments, but in the painting and gardening departments as well. I just thought it deserved a shameless plug here. Hope you can stop by.

Stained glass reached the state of the art in the early 11th century. Many gothic structures used such windows and even today they impose themselves with their beauty and their ingenuity. In those times men set up a glass factory wherever nature allowed one to be built, namely near a silica deposit. Silica is the main and most important ingredient in glass making. To obtain colored panes, people used the help of chemistry. While still liquid, an amount of metallic oxide was mixed in the melting pot. This gave the material its color.

Man knew colored glass from ancient times so the Romans, the Egyptians and the Greeks were renowned glass artisans. During the 5th and 6th century, the technique we know today as stained glass began to show its face. Early creations can be admired today in museums. At first, they combined thin pieces of alabaster inside a wooden frame; this gave a similar effect. Later on, Asian manufacturers used pieces of colored glass to create what we know today as stained glass.

For more detail, artists use painting techniques that enhance the overall design and complete difficult to fill areas. One interesting thing about these marvelous windows is that the only role they play is to dose the light and to make it difficult to see what happens inside the structure. The themes used in these masterpieces are religious (inspired from bible), symbolic or inspired from literature and myths. Some of them display scenes from the life of Jesus Christ and other religious figures. These are present everywhere on the windows of medieval churches.

Creating state of the art stained glass panes involves a lot of artistic genius and a lot of experience. Artistic skill and engineering skill are a must for designing the theme and the structure of such an artwork.

Nowadays, in the 21st century, this technique is used in combination with modern forms of art. A revival of the gothic style took place after WWII. Many monuments lost their windows during the war. Great German artists like Ervin Bossanyi, Ludwig Schaffrath, Johannes Shreiter, and Douglas Strachan took the matter in their own hands and struggled to make and old art form a contemporary one. Nowadays there are not many places where to study the traditional ways of stained glass making.

Despite this fact, stained glass is frequently used for home accessories and interior design elements. Either if it?s a lamp or a window, a piece of stained glass will always add a finishing touch to your home.

Keith Londrie II is the Webmaster of http://www.stained-glass-info.info/ A website that specializes in providing information stained Glass that you can research on the internet. Visit http://www.stained-glass-info.info/ now!

Referring back to Flattening Traditional Oilstones on 15th Nov 07, here is a picture of the rounding or bellying of a chisel ...

If you’ve read Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines for any length of time, you know that we’re a fan of threaded inserts. They make it easy to build jigs and fixtures and knock-down furniture or projects. They’re a great way to add machine threads for attaching screws and bolts.

E-Z Lok is a manufacturer of threaded inserts for a variety of industries and applications. And I’ve recently discovered that their web site is a valuable resource of information you can use when building projects that make use of threaded inserts. Their web site contains PDF documents that contain detailed dimemensioned drawings and complete charts listing dimensions and recommended hole sizes for their inserts. (They caution you to try out the insert on a scrap piece to get the exact hole size.)

Click here for a chart of their inserts for hardwood.

Click here for a listing of the knife-thread inserts for softwood.

I like to use press-in “Finserts” whenever I can (see photo at left). I don’t have to thread them and risk not getting them in straight. You can simply press or tap them in place. Click here for more information on finserts.

If you scroll to the bottom of these pages, you’ll see links for PDF documents of drawings and charts.

E-Z Lok’s products are sold through a variety of distributors like McMaster-Carr, Reid Tool, and MSC.

Sometimes there’s nothing better than tinkering in the shop and making something just for the sake of doing it. For me, it’s often making my own wood hinges. For Canadian engineer/woodworker Matthias Wandel, it’s wooden gears, geodesic spheres, and other fanciful, if not always practical contraptions. His most recent creation is a Binary Marble Adding Machine, the latest in a series of “rolling ball sculptures.”

Why build a marble machine? Well, according to Matthias, “My Marble Machines are complicated and ingenious, but utterly useless pieces of toy machinery that automate the process of playing with marbles. With toys like these, mankind is free to pursue more productive ends, while leaving the playing with marbles to his trusty automated machine servants.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Some woodworkers consider a band saw the most useful tool in a woodworking shop. You’ll learn why Doug Hicks feels this way during this week’s Woodsmith Woodworking Seminar Podcast. During this podcast, you’ll get some tips for buying a band saw and blades. Plus, you’ll learn how to properly set up a band saw and a few techniques you can perform with this versatile machine.

If you’re interested in picking up a downloadable copy of the seminar guide (in case you want to follow along during the podcast), be sure to check out the Woodsmith Podcast Store. Also this week at the store, you’ll find a link to some good deals on a few band saw upgrades that Doug mentioned during his seminar. And as always, all of the great information provided during the seminars comes right from the pages of Woodsmith magazine. If you like what you see in the podcasts, click here for a free preview issue of the magazine.

I have been initiated; I broke my first chisel handle.

I was chopping deep mortises with a 1" Lee Valley plastic handled chisel. I was beating the poor thing. While I wasn't using a heavy mallet, I am a 200 pound guy and it was getting enough of a beating that the chisel got quite warm at times which may have softened the plastic. Anyway, about halfway through the fifth mortise, it gave way.

I really wasn't trying to break the handle, honest. I thought it would hold up to the abuse, but between the chopping and levering out the chips, it just didn't make it.  read more »