I was hoping to share this on the MWA Podcast this week. Alas, we didnt manage to record an episode (next week and the week after we will). In the mean time, I wanted to be sure to share two (2) great upcoming woodworking events.
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| Chirs current shop stool. |
The first is Chris Wongs Shop Stool Build Off. Chris of Flair Woodworks is building a new shop stool and he has invited everyone to build along with him. You can read more about the build off here, on Chirs site. You can also follow the stool making madness live on twitter on Jaunary 25, 2014. Just follow the hash-tag #SSBO.
Another great event coming up is the Furniture Project, February 21 -23 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. The Furniture Project (formerly the FurnitureExpo) is a great event conceived to introduce custom furniture makers with a buying audience. It shares show space with the New England Home Show.
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| Show attendees admire Mortons table. |
Each year the Furniture Project chooses a project and invites all furniture makers to make one and enter it for display. Accepted pieces are then shown at the Furniture Project. This year, the project is a Chimney Cabinet. The rules, available here, are minimal and allow for lots of creativity.
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| Jim Ashley, Michael McCoy & Chuck Bender at FurnitureExpo 2012 |
If youre anywhere near Boston, Id highly recommend attending the Furniture Project and even entering a Chimney Cabinet if you can. Ive attended before and friends such as Morton, Rusty and Rob Bois have displayed there. Its well worth attending.
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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The abrasive paper attached to a plan surface is a good choice to flatten soles of metal planes for significantly improving their performances. Usually I use spray glue that allows a valid bur reversible bonding so you can easily replace the abrasive when it is exhausted. The only drawback is the glue residue left on the glass plate that has to be cleaned with alcohol every time . An alternative choice is to use double-sided adhesive tape which provides excellent grip and when removed leaves no residue on glass and results in faster replacement operations .
If you cant find a full sheet of sandpaper wide enough then you could join two narrow strips togheter.
. The tape thickness is minimal and does not affect the flatness degree useful to obtain a good levelled surface.
Sadly, Woodworking in America 2013 is over. For the 3+ days of the event, it was a time like no other in the woodworking world.
While each day of the event – from arrival on Thursday morning to departure on Sunday afternoon – was filled with great camaraderie and woodworking banter, there were definitive highlights to this year’s show.
Loading & Setup
As Tom, Sean and I arrived at the convention center by about 1:00 on Thursday, we headed through the empty marketplace and met with our vendor friends. We helped +Scott Meek Woodworks, +Andy Brownell and +Ron Hock setup their booths.
MWA Meet-up
On Thursday night we played hosts at a Modern WoodworkersAssociation meet-up at the Keystone Bar & Grill. Our attendance was wonderful as friends, members and listeners joined us to celebrate the start of Woodworking in America 2013. This event also lead to the weekend’s catch phrase.
MWA Podcast
On Friday afternoon we took the new recording equipment our listeners were kind enough to donate for (thank you). We included our new MWA Chapter Administrator, +Sean Wisniewski and discussed all things WIA. It was fun to record in front of an audience, and we had some interruptions special guests too.
Online Panel Discussion
After the podcast, on the invitation of +Megan Fitzpatrick, Popular Woodworking’s Editor, we participated in a panel titled
Online Woodworking Roundtable. It was billed at “a panel of the best-known online woodworkers and educators . . . [discussing] how to get the most out of your online woodworking experience, discover what goes into creating valuable online content and learn how they are reaching a new generation of craftsmen and craftswomen.” It proved to be a wonderful discussion about the thriving online woodworking world. There were 9 panelists representing the full Wood Talk Show crew ( +Marc Spagnuolo, +Matt Vanderlist & +Shannon Rogers), the full Modern Woodworkers Association podcast crew (Chris, Tom & Me), Wood Central, Woodnet & Giant Cypress (+Wilbur Pan). Megan moderated and the 50 or so audience members engaged us with questions and their own experiences with the online woodworking community. To the person, I believe we can all sum up the community as a wonderful, educational and encouraging network of friends. I’m proud to say that even I knew – and am friends with – about 2/3 of the people in the room because of the online community (
it’s certainly not because I’m an overly social person, ask my wife).
MWA Member Interviews
After the RoundtableChris, Tom and I headed back to the hotel and setup our recording rig again. We sat down with some of the MWA members in attendance and recorded quick interviews with them about the conference. We’ll be adding them to the end of the podcast when it posts.
Ejler Hjorth-Westh
On Saturday I took two (2) classes with Ejler Hjorth-Westh: Chairs: Style & Substance and Working With Curves: Design & Execution. Taking these classes with Ejler (Eye-ler) was a revelation. Not because of the content (which was excellent) but because of the instructor. Ejler brought his personal style, experience and philosophy to the classes. Through very different in both style and method, I think the best comparison as a speaker is to Adam Cherubini. Adam is another instructor from whom I would take any class – regardless of topic. As a side note, my only disappointment about the conference was Adam’s absence.
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| Ejler was awesome. |
Workbench Beefcakes
Last year we took some adorable photos of Tom on some of the benches and our group MWA photo standing and sitting on Megan’s bench. This year we wanted to take it a step further. We found the best looking woodworkers we could (or one good looking woodworkers with red hair and the only guys we could convince to do it) and shot what will be the premier woodworking beefcake calendar. We owe a big thanks to Gorilla Glue, Lie-Nelson, Lee Valley, Bad Axe Toolworks, Hock Blades, Scott Meek, Lake Erie and everyone else who let us use their benches. We also need to thank Ejler for being such a handsome woodworker (and good sport).
WTO Meet-Up
Saturday night was the Wood Talk Online meet-up at Keystone’s. It was a great time to hangout and chat with the Wood Talk guys and their listeners. I think it was a WIA13 highlight for everyone there.
WTO Podcast
After their meet-up, Marc, Matt and Shannon retired to the hotel to record an episode of the Wood Talk Show. During their recording, the MWA had fun repaying their kindness.
After all this fun it was time to go home. I’m already counting the days to Woodworking In America 2014.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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Woodworking can be as dangerous as it is rewarding. Its important that you stay safe while you have fun in the shop.
Knowing that without safety there is no woodworking, The Wood Whisperer, Marc Spagnuolo, has lead the Woodworking Safety Week campaign for many years. He’s made his own posts about safety and he’s been kind enough to share links to other community members safety posts too. This years post is here.This will be my third year writing a post for Woodworking Safety Day (formerly Safety Week). Both last year and the year before it was an easy post to write. My first safety week post was about a good friend of mine who took off two (2) fingers with a table saw. My second safety week post was about my dropping a spinning router bit into my left palm.
Luckily, this past year has left me with no injuries to speak of. Unluckily, that’s left me short of my usual cautionary tale for safety week. While I could tell you of my friend Tom’s recent kickback episode, I’ll leave that to him (Tom’s never short on things to say).
Instead, this year I’m going to share some simple advice:
If you’re nervous, or what you’re doing makes you uncomfortable, don’t do it.
These are words I live by not just in my shop, but also at my day job at a commercial roofing firm. While I’m not here saying that you can’t get hurt unless you’re nervous, I will say that I feel being nervous makes you more likely to get hurt.
When we’re nervous or uncomfortable we’re also distracted. We spent too much time being nervous or uncomfortable and not enough time paying attention to what we’re doing. Getting hurt then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So please, if you’re in the shop and what you’re doing doesn’t feel right, please don’t do it. The right tool for the job, waiting for help or just resting and approaching the task with a clear head will alchoices be faster and cheaper than your injury.
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This year the Woodworking Shows are under new ownership with renewed energy, enthusiasm and excitement.Every year the Woodworking Shows visit my neck of the woods when they stop in Somerset, NJ. Ive attended almost every show there for the last decade. In that time the quality of the show has moved decidedly downhill, the number and quality of the vendors has shrunken and it has gone from a full day to a few hour affair.
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| 2 years ago, Andy and I were able to hang out and talk chair making. |
There was a highlight two (2) years ago when Andy Chidwick traveled with the show, giving lectures and generally spreading woodworking enthusiasm. Even then the atmosphere was less than exciting though.This year, under their new management, the Woodworking Shows have rebounded and are well on the choice to their former glory. Andy is back teaching about design and his wonderful sculpted woodworking. Jim Heavey, Paul Sellers, Roland Johnson, The Crazy Canadian and others are packing the lecture spaces also. Woodworkers are excited to attend and partake.
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| Where else can you see a cool bench like this, other than the Woodworking Shows. |
There seemed to also be more vendors this year, and the vendors seem to be of higher quality. Companies like Woodpeckers, Arbortech and Clear Vue Cyclones were worth attendance alone.The sense that I, and that the other attendees I spoke with, had is that the shows are back. The energy, enthusiasm and excitement are returning. The fun day of woodworking education, tool test drives and comradery is here again.
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| If you see this trailer, go in and check it out. |
If the Woodworking Shows can maintain this return to form, next year will be a must attend. Check their calendar and see when theyll be near you. Itll be a worthwhile day.
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Paul Sellers position is that of a snob (and I think, working against the growth of woodworking). You can read for yourself here:I am still very concerned about children in woodworking issue. Yesterday I saw two girls and one boy in the whole show and only a handful of women. That is no fault of the show,me or the other vendors. I think this is directly attributed to machine manufacturers who do indeed hog the market and have nothing to offer to balance out the problem. Since machines dominate the market of woodworking and in fact invade sanity at every level, we will never see this change. No one seems to be responsible for bringing about change and so the problem goes on. Eventually this situation will be sealed and woodworking could one day become a machine only form of making and no longer a craft.
This next comments will indeed get me in deep, deep water. You cannot use a machine to work wood and call it Woodcraft. The machine substitutes for the very thing we call skill and art, but it cannot replace it. Anyone that says a machine is a tool can never understand the art and craft of woodworking. As long as we think and express this, we will never see children and women in the wood shop working with their hands.
If you’d like to read the full post, or check out Paul’s entire site, you can here. |
The children who were captivated by Chuck Benders hand cut dovetails
when the Woodworking Shows visited Somerset, NJ were apparently
not in attendance when the shows hit Tampa. |
In those closing paragraphs to his 3/16/13 blog entry, Paul says a lot.- He says woodworking “could one day become . . . no longer a craft.”
- He says that its not the Woodworking Show’s fault, his fault or other vendors fault that he didnt see more children at the Woodworking Shows (though Ive heard from others there were many children). He says it’s the machine manufacturers fault that there are so few women and children in attendance.
- He says that since machines are dominating the market and invading sanity and as long as this occurs things will never change.
- He says “You cannot use a machine to work wood and call it Woodcraft.”
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Itll come as a disappointment that this beautiful chandelier is not woodcraft.
I hope no ones told Todd yet. Hell be sad. |
Thankfully, I’m not the only (or even the first) to call Paul out on what he’s said. In her blog post, Megan Fitzpatrick, the Editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine put it this choice:There are many more examples to which I could point – but that would distract from my assertion that woodworking teachers and writers (and editors) perform a massive disservice to the craft by perpetuating a hard line between hand-tool woodworking and power-tool woodworking. And I find it breathtakingly arrogant (and irresponsibly divisive) to state that only by using hand tools can we call it woodcraft.
Machines have eradicated many of the barriers for all people to enjoy woodworking – particularly for those new to the craft (whom, as you imply, Paul, we need to cultivate). In some cases, machines lower the skill level and physical strength required to build something. In addition, machines used to fabricate tools (both hand and power) make those tools affordable to the home woodworker.
I’m glad that we have prominent woodworkers, woodworkers with soapboxes, who promote the craft and don’t discriminate based on method. Megan does more for the craft in her rebuttal to Paul than any hand or power tool does. Tom Iovino is rallying everyone around getting the next generation started with Get Woodworking Week. Matt Kenney proudly proclaims that there is no cheating. Marc Spagnolo just want’s everyone to learn to build. Todd Clippinger constantly asks, “why arent you in your shop?”These friends, and many, many others, practice a craft known as Woodcraft. They also help teach it to newcomers and spread the joy it entails.
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After all the work that went into it, I was disappointed to learn this
book stand wasnt woodcraft. |
Hopefully I’m helping too. I did think long and hard about it, and I know that my recent suggestion to a beginning woodworker that he use pocket screws instead of hand cut mortise and tenons would fall under Paul’s wrath. I also know my advice provides a much lower barrier to entry and will get completed projects under my friend’s belt. Diving right into hand cut joinery would likely just result in frustration.To Paul’s snobbish claims, I say a machine is a tool. I use tools and practice Woodcraft. I know that to be true.Since Paul spreading his snobbery instead of Woodcraft as of late, I’ll leave the last word to Megan.Tools don’t build things; people build things.
And statements such as Paul’s help to build nothing.
Editor’s Note:It has been brought to my attention that Paul’s statements are opinion, and opinion should not be treated as fact. While I agree with this, I feel that simply dismissing Paul’s statements as opinion gives him a pass for the the weight his opinion carries (given his position in the woodworking community) and harm I feel it does to the community.
With the description of Mike Pekovichs Shop done, we now bring the tour, hosted by the man himself.
If you missed Parts I & II of the Mike Pekovich Shop Tour series, you can find them here.
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Progress on the Tree House has progressed at a steady (and slow) rate.
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| The 3/4" x 12" beast. |
I began the actual site work for the tree house by setting the large bolts that will support it. The bolts are critical because they must not only be strong enough to hold up the Treehouse, they must also allow free movement between the trees and the Treehouse in order to accommodate movement of the trees. After I had installed the first few bolts, I looked at the physical space outlined by the three (3) trees I planned on using and realized that I wasnt happy with the size of shape.
In this video, I describe the change in shape and the replacement of a 10" bolt with a 12" bolt in order to accommodate the fact that the bolt will no longer be perpendicular to the beam.
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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Before I get to my November shop tour, Id like to present that of my good friend, +Aaron Marshall. In the the beginning stages of laying out his new shop in his new home. Take a look as Aaron takes us through the space and his plans.
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.
Read More..
