Woodworking in America 2013 is just around the corner. If you’re planning on attending, I’m sure you’re getting excited about a weekend of non-stop woodworking discussion already. If you’ve attended previous WIAs you know that the talk of - and camaraderie around - woodworking extend well past the actual conference hours of about 8:30 am to 6:00 pm.
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| Steve, Niks Dad, Sean, Vic, Kyle & Matt have fun at Keystone |
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| We work wood and eat German food (and were loud). |
Beginning at 7:00 pm, we’ll be hanging out in the upstairs bar room at the Keystone Bar & Grill. It’s a quick walk from the convention center and most of the hotels. Meeting at the Keystone on the opening night of registration has become a tradition for WIA and we hope you’ll join us. Many fellow MWA members, woodworking bloggers and other WIA attendees will be there. If you’re going to to the Roubo Book Release, don’t worry. You can join us at Keystone afterwards. All are welcome.Friday: Hofbrauhaus
What makes Woodworking in America the MUST ATTEND Woodworking event of the year are the WOODWORKERS!
The highlight of the 2 hours I spent at WIA 2009 was my meeting Tom Iovino. What made WIA 2010 one of the best weekends Ive ever had was meeting and hanging out with not just Tom, but Kyle Barton, Rob Bois, Nik Brown, Matt Gradwohl, Kari Hultman, Adam King, Allen Lindsey, Ian Mackay, Aaron Marshall, Mike Morton, Marc Spagnuolo, Steve Taylor and Matt Vanderlist (a many, many others).
If you can’t make it to WIA, be sure to make it to a local woodworking event and meet you’re fellow woodworkers. They’re a great bunch. You’ll be glad you did.
The Hofbrauhaus excursion on Friday night is another WIA tradition. It’s less organized than the meetups at Keystone, in that we don’t reserve a private room. We just jump on the trolley and head to Hofbrauhaus. It’s a fun night of great beer, great food, great company and loud music. If you’re going to the official WIA Banquet, please join us at Hofbrauhaus afterwards. We usually stay late. If you’re looking to meet us at Hofbrauhaus, there’s no telling exactly where we’ll be, though in past years we’ve started the evening at the outside bar area and then moved to one of the many long tables. Just listen for Tom Iovino and you’ll be sure to find us. All are welcome.
Saturday: WoodTalk Meetup at Keystone
The WoodTalk guys have setup their own Meetup at the Keystone on Saturday night. It begins at 6:30. Since it was organized by and features Marc, Matt & Shannon, you should expect that this will be the smoothest running event of the weekend. Still, it’s going to be an absolute blast and all should come. I know we’re going to try to represent the MWA there in force.Afterwards:
Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.
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Just about every night some folks will stop by the Behle St Cafe before heading back to their rooms. If it’s late, but you’re still looking to hang out with woodworkers, joint us there. All are welcome.
Because the outlets are all color coded, I can now easily avoid over using the same outlet. I simply plug the second tool into a different colored outlet.
Ive not yet been able to build a full project with the new electric, though I have milled up a piece of 8/4 oak with no blown fuses. Running off my old, single 15A outlet, this would have been an exercise in frustration.
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Venue Information
Keystone Bar & Grill
313 Greenup St
Covington, KY
Hofbrauhaus Newport
200 East 3rd St
Newport, KY 41071
Take the SouthBank Shuttle (trolley) to the stop between Monmouth St & Saratoga St (it doesn’t have stop names)
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Behle St Cafe
50 East Rivercenter Blvd
Covington, KY 41011
Across the street from the convention center in the same building as the Embassy Suites
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Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.Sabtu, 26 Maret 2016
Color Code Your Outlets To Eliminate Fuse Blowing Frustrations
For years Ive dealt with the frustration of running every power tool (& the lights) in my shop off of a single 15A outlet on a circuit shared with the hall in the house. This has meant that I faced constant mid-cut circuit popping. Because I do most work in the shop at night, Ive also had to learn to find my circuit breaker by feel when the lights go out.
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| My sorry old original 15A outlet. |
Thankfully the new 110V electric for the shop has just been finished. There are now three (3) 20A circuits dedicated to the shop alone. This has meant fewer extension cords, much less unplugging & re-plugging, the ability to use multiple tools at once (table saw, shop vac, air filter & lights!) and most importantly - no blown fuses. I chose to install 20A circuits in the garage so that it would be near impossible to blow a fuse with a single tool. However, running multiple tools (such as my planer & dust collector) simultaneously on the same circuit could still exceed 20A. In order to avoid this, I used a two (2) step process.
First, I wired the shop so that the three (3) circuits were each equally distributed around the shop (or at least the wall I wired so far). While its not quite an A, B, C, A, B, C, A, B, C . . . pattern, it is close. From anywere on the wall at least two (and often all 3) circuits are easily reachable. |
| Outlets. So many outlets. |
The second thing I did to avoid overloading any single circuit was to color code the outlet covers. I left one (1) circuit white and used the Rust-Oleum spray paint for plastic to paint the outlet cover plates for the second circuit blue and for the third, green. I dont expect the paint to look pristine for long, but as long as theres some trace of color, I should be OK. I had initially intended to buy outlets in multiple colors, but buying so many 20A outlets in non-standard colors proved prohibitively expensive. I think Ive managed to achieve the same effect for much less with spray paint.
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| White, Green & Blue. One color per circuit. |
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| Its now super easy to tell which circuit Im plugged into. |
Jumat, 25 Maret 2016
Wont Your Fireplace Be Jealous
The start of the year had come and gone with nary a word from the Furniture Project. Typically the promotion of their traditional February event begins in the fall. The lack of information this year had me wondering if the event would continue (and hoping for the best). Though it didnt make it to air, I even had the question "whats up with the 2014 Furniture Project?" in the show notes for the most recent Modern Woodworkers Association podcast.
Then, as if in answer to my question, the Furniture Project tweeted this teaser on Friday: |
| My friend, Rusty, with his stool from the 2012 Furniture Project |
Coming Monday: We are announcing a new project for this years show. It is meant to be designed and built quickly by makers of all levels.
— TheFurnitureProject (@DesignBuildShow) January 10, 2014 Today the announcement came:
You’re all invited to The Furniture Project! Cost of admission? One cabinet: http://t.co/aN4wTbTmp2
— TheFurnitureProject (@DesignBuildShow) January 14, 2014
The whole announcement can be seen on their blog here.
While I cant admit to being in any need of a Chimney Cabinet, they have succeeded in choosing a project which can be as simple or complex as the maker likes.
Additional information on the actual 2014 Furniture Project isnt so easy to find. Luckily its on the Rules and Eligibility form for entering a chimney cabinet. Here are the details:
The Furniture Project 2014Seaport World Trade Center – Boston, MA – February 21-23, 2014
Call for Entries - Design|Build|Show Challenge:
Category Constraints:
- The piece must be 3-6 tall, no more than 24" wide and no more than 18" deep.
- The piece must have at least one door.
- The piece must be made primarily of wood, though the use of other materials is encouraged.
- All finishes are acceptable (paint, oil, lacquer, shellac, etc.), including unfinished.
- If you have any questions, email us at info@designbuildshow.com. We will update the rules with any frequently asked questions.
Dont forget about the +Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast. We talk woodworking with Guests from around the world of woodworking every other week. Subscribe to the RSS feed or iTunes today.
Kamis, 24 Maret 2016
Build a Case for your Books with your Friends
Its Wood Whisperer Guild Build time again. Because Marc is currently dealing with a limited shop as his new one is built, the current build is a one or two sheet plywood bookcase. Its a useful project that makes great use of one of my favorite materials: man made sheet goods. Unlike my projects that often leave the sheet goods exposed, Marc will show you how to hide it and make a damn fine bookcase.
Previously Ive talked about The Wood Whisperer Guild and why I feel its a must for any online woodworker. Now, you can watch me go on about the Guild, and why its such a great experience to build a project with fellow guild members. As you watch, Im the one who looks like a zombie.
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| The One & Two Sheet Bookcase |
Senin, 14 Maret 2016
A Good Thing But Not The Next Best
The next best thing to attending Woodworking in America if you cant? Hardly.
Ill say it here, it is now very likely that I will miss WIA 2011. Im still hoping to go, but forces well beyond my control (also known as life) are conspiring against me. I cant complain though, because I was able to stop in breifly for WIA 2009 & and I kicked it with the cool kids all wekend long at WIA 2010. |
| Ill have my homework in tomorrow, Mr. Schwarz. |
For anyone who hasnt been lucky enough to attend, dont let this blog post from Popular Woodworking fool you. The hand tool techniques you pick up at WIA are great, yes. And these are great DVDs to suppliment the instruction. But they are not what make the weekend great. Neither is the market place filled with its tool porn and fantastic deals.
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| Ahh! Woodworkers everywhere! |
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| Marcs as entertaining in person. |
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| Youll leave any woodworking event with great friends. |
Minggu, 13 Maret 2016
The Modern Woodworkers Association on Shop Talk Live
Last week fellow +Modern Woodworkers Association member +Rob Bois and I headed up to Newtown, Connecticut to meet up with the +Fine Woodworking crew and represent the MWA on their podcast, Shop Talk Live.
We had a great time and really appreciate the invitation.
On the podcast we joined +Asa Christiana, +Matthew Kenney & +Ed Pirnik to talk woodworking. The specific topics discussed ranged from the pro & cons of sliding compound miter saws (Im on the Pro side) to the dangers of drinking shellac. |
| Publishers, and just all around nice guys who love woodworking. |
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| Matt Kenney sits down in their decked out podcasting studio |
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| Yours truly, behind the mic. |
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| Ed Pirnik made this decked out mic stand just to accommodate us. |
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| Rob & Matt talk shop. |
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| Yes, Rob, jointers do come that big (By the choice, he won a Bad Axe Tenon saw). |
Minggu, 06 Maret 2016
WIA11 We Came We Saw We Kicked Its Bad Axe!
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| The marketplace gathered around the Hand Tool Olympics booth. |
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| Panorama of the party. |
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| Charles Brock talks chair joinery. |
Friday began with the sun glaring through the hotel window (I had forgotten to close the shades at 3:30 am). Somehow I dragged my butt to a 9:00 am class and I settled in for “The Maloof Leg-to-Seat Joint with Charles Brock”. The class was interesting, and Charles is a nice, considerate southern gentleman. Unfortunately, I’ve already seen this joint demonstrated by Andy Chidwick, and having listened to Shannon Rogers’ interview with Charles Brock during my drive to Cincinnati, I had already heard all the anecdotes.
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| "Find the hidden drawer." |
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| "This is how you cut it" says the Hand Tool Headmaster. |
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| Matt records Rob making a dovetail joint. No pressure. |
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| Vic gets a little "illegal coaching" in the Hand Tool Olympics. |
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| You MUST take a class with Adam Cherubini |
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| Silly, Tom. Dancing is allowed on the seats, not the tables. |
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| How many woodworkers can you fit at a table? |
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| Another great class with Adam Cherubini. Did I mention you must take a class with him? |
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| With speed and accuracy like that, howd we lose? |
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| His plane making makes up for any deficit in public speaking. |
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| Matt Gradwohl, hand model to the stars. |
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| Nothing to add. Just a great bunch of guys. |
After Adam’s final talk there were no classes left needing to be taken, so I headed down to the marketplace again and met up with my blue shirted brethren. We managed to amuse a few spectators (and maybe even Charles Brock) when we shooed folks achoice and took our group photo in front of the fantastic Sinclair Tool Museum.
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| Yes, we can dominate a dining room. |
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| See you next year, my friends. |
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| Rob Bois: Tenon Saw Winning, Woodworking Underwear Model. |
Kamis, 03 Maret 2016
BooYah!
After last year, the thought of missing it this year (especially on top of all that is going on) was a serious downer. I’d been in a funk for days. To all my friends who are going to miss it, I know how life intrudes. We’ll be thinking of you and we’ll all be doing out best to attend WIA 2012 also. So put it on the calender now, and we’ll call it a date.
In the mean time, if you are going to miss WIA this year, be sure to join in Google +. Al Navas is setting up a Hangout for all to join in. It’ll be a lot easier to schedule than WIA, and it’ll feature the best part of WIA . . . the people.
Rabu, 24 Februari 2016
Build Your Pants Off At Fine Woodworking Live 2013
With the announcement of the FWW Live Build-Off, Fine Woodworking Live 2013 just got a lot more interesting.
When FWWLive 2013 was first announced, the change in format and speaker list showed it would be even better than last year (and last year was great). When +Asa Christiana appeared on our Modern Woodworkers Association podcast to discuss FWWLive 2013, he let the cat out of the bag and mentioned that as an evening activity during the conference there would be a build-off. The details were sketchy, but the idea of conference attendees using limited tools, time and materials to build a project and then judging them against each other sounded like the kind of competition I could get behind.
Last week the formal FWW Live Buildoff announcement was made:
Weve filled in the final blank in the packed schedule with a Friday-night build-off open to all conference attendees. Whether you want to join a team or just hang out and watch the action unfold, you are sure to have a great time as show-goers partner up to design and build a piece of furniture using only 2x4s and screws.
Teams (made up of any attendee who wants to participate) will have about an hour and a half to design and build a piece of furniture. The type of furniture being build will not be announced until the day of the Build-Off (I bet they don’t know yet).
Bosch has stepped up to supply these brave woodworkers with jigsaws, cordless drills, and bits. FWW will supply the wood, screws, and sawhorses to work on. Along with bragging rights for the next calendar year, the top three teams will take home some of those very tools and supplies, plus theyll be featured on FineWoodworking.com.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be getting to FWW Live 2013 until Saturday morning, but here and now I’m publicly calling out +Christopher Adkins and all other MWA members who’ll be in attendance. I expect us to have a team, to build a kick ass piece, and talk more smack than all the other teams combined.
If you’re going to FWW Live 2013, be sure to build a piece of furniture while you’re there.
Rabu, 17 Februari 2016
Safety Week Be Careful About Your Router
Originally Posted June 12, 2011:A few weeks ago for safety week I wrote about a friend of mine who lost two (2) fingers to his table saw. In that post I emphasized that you must respect your tools.Listen to that advice: Respect Your Tools. By that I mean pay attention; know how they work, where they are & what theyre doing.It is important you do as I say, not as I do. For if you do as I do, then youll be an idiot too.
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| My Birds Mouth Jig |
You see, last Sunday I wasnt paying attention,I wasn’t heeding my router any respect. I was routing some birds mouths for some window trim. Completing each joint took many back & forth passes with the router. As I finished the last pass, I wasnt paying attention. My right arm maintained the fluid back and forth motion as the router came off the jig. I’m not sure what my left hand was doing, but the next thing I can remember is pulling my left hand achoice, realizing that I had just made contact between my palm and the 1” x ¾” pattern bit which was fully extended beneath the router base.
Thankfully a trip to the ER revealed nothing more serious than a laceration about an inch long just below where my index finger connects to the palm. Eight (8) stitches later I got back home and finished the trim piece I was making.
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| My Trusty Old Porter-Cable 6912 D-Handle. |
Why’d I make out so well? Just dumb luck. The router I was using was a trigger activated D-handled 1-1/4 HP Porter-Cable, actually the first power tool I ever owned. Thankfully, though the bit was still spinning when the accident occurred, I had already released the trigger, turning the machine off and leaving no power behind the rotation.
Will you be as luckly? We can only hope so. Better yet, Respect Your Tools. Don’t let your mind wander off and your router wander into your hand in the first place.
Have you been an idiot too? Comment here or use the hash tag #WWSW (WoodWorkers Safety Week) on twitter.
Update: Thankfully, since I first wrote this my hand has healed fine. Nothing more than a small scar. I hope any accident you have ends up just as well.
Update: Thankfully, since I first wrote this my hand has healed fine. Nothing more than a small scar. I hope any accident you have ends up just as well.
Selasa, 16 Februari 2016
Dads Benchtop Bench Part V
With the bench built, all that was left was to screw in the two veneer press screws which held on the front vise jaw.
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| The completed benchtop bench. |
While they fit fine, I unfortunately found that once I tightened them, the handles came off the screw shaft. It seemed that since they were meant to exert pressure between the vise nut and the end of the screw shaft, Shop Fox hadnt bothered to attach the handles with anything more than friction.
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| Nope. That handle wasnt meant to exert clamping pressure. |
While the discovery of this issue after I thought I was done did give me pause, I thought about it for a night and by morning I’d come up with a solution.
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| The pins and drill bits. I only needed 2. I bought 4 just in case. |
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| Locked and ready to drill. |
I headed down to the hardware store and picked up some metal pins. After drilling through the handle and screw shaft with my drill press, the pins were easy to knock in with a hammer.
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| Locked and ready for action. |
Once the handles were pinned on, the vise worked great.
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| Clamping like a champ. |
I’m very happy with the choice the benchtop bench came out, and my Dad appreciated it as a father’s day gift.
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Sabtu, 13 Februari 2016
Jointing Fence
Squaring board edges is one of the typical job for traditional woodworking hand planes where they show their effectiveness. Stanley produced the famous but rare 386 as help to be applied on side of jointer planes.
Of course best modern plane makers offer similar solutions. I recently found myself having to do the squaring job on long fir boards, using the new Stanley 62, a low angle plane with the length of a jack which reproduces the historical N° 62. It is not a jointer but the low-angle configuration offers advantages in softwood planing. The sides are very low, not allowing the anchoring of traditional guides. That required a self-built solution. So I made a simple guide with a beech board (composed of several pieces assembled for greater stability), reproducing in the upper portion the shape of the plane and leaving a protrusion from the bottom of the plane of about 7 cm. 
Another removable piece, anchored to the main board, covers one of external parts to the mouth ; so, when you join the guide to the work piece you are within the cutting area of plane. This piece could be replaced in special situations with a shaped board in order to have a different angle than 90 degrees. The
anchorage system consists of two L-plates with a central pivot to create a very effective third type lever in wich the grip is guaranteed by rubber interposed between the plate and the plane. 
During processing, the main strength is carried laterally to held the fence tightly in contact with the board. The knob is used to improve lateral handling. And here it is at work.
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