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 Thursday, March 11, 2010
Catch A Woodworking Class In 2010
The snow is finally melting.
You can see the greenish-brown grass again. That means we are heading
into spring. That, in turn, signifies that I need to get busy preparing
for upcoming teaching gigs and you need to get on the phone to schedule
classes. So to be as self-serving as I can – and to help get you
motivated to attend the schools that have so graciously invited me to
teach – here’s my schedule, along with a snippet of information to help
prompt you to action.  Rolling down the calendar, the first
class I come to is in April, the 24th and 25th to be exact. That weekend
I'll be in Franklin, IN at Marc Adams School of
Woodworking (MASW). The class is "Giving Your Furniture a Leg Up."
As you might guess from the title, the class is all about feet and legs.
This is not just a lecture class. You're going to work on a few
different feet and legs over the weekend. The need for good design is a
given, but knowing secrets that make the work easy is usually learned
through trial and error. I have a few shortcuts to pass along such as
how to develop patterns from antique originals and quick and easy
setups. With each leg or foot design, you'll pickup hints about proper
shaping and learn various ways to work depending on what tools you have
available in your.
 May finds me up in Minnesota at Mike Siemsen's School of Woodworking. On the 24th
through the 29th, we’re building a Chippendale Small Chest. This
project was my first woodworking DVD. The class introduces case
construction, including dovetails (hand-cut, if you please), sliding
dovetails and proper 18th-Century drawer construction. The techniques
learned throughout the week enable are a proper foundation to building
quality case furniture from the mid-1700s design to contemporary chests.
There’s a true mix of hand tools and power tools. Hybrid woodworking at
its finest.
 Beginning the 28th of June, I'm back to Kelly Mehler's School of Woodworking in
Berea, KY to for a week long "Baltimore Card Table" class. This project,
from the pages of Popular Woodworking Magazine, is an example of the
most iconic pieces of furniture from the Federal period. Veneer, string
inlay, marquetry and edge banding are part of the class, as is bricking
the front apron which is a great way to make things curve in woodworking
– the good kind of curve. Slip on your safety glasses. This class is
power tools producing handwork results. As I write, there one bench
open.
 During the month of July, join me just outside Philadelphia in
East Coventry, PA for a class at The Acanthus Workshops. Chuck Bender has me coming in the
19th through the 23rd to build a Chester County Chest. This isn't an
ordinary chest. The drawer fronts have line-and-berry inlay. The
original inlay was scratched into the surface and fill with string –
which we will do some of as part of the learning experience – but in our
class we'll power up the process to work with patterns and routers.
Acanthus accepts six participants per class. Call or click to register.  The following month I’m back at MASW
for two classes that run back-to-back. Beginning the 23rd, we'll build
the Shaker Press Cupboard from my first book, "Fine Furniture for a
Lifetime." This piece was the most-often purchased piece in my days as a
"for pay" furniture maker, but you won't find it in any Shaker books.
This piece began as a blind-door cupboard, but when a customer suggested
true divided-light doors, the piece changed dramatically. From a
woodworking perspective, this cupboard offers a multitude of instruction
from mortise-and-tenon joinery to dovetails to pegged shelves set in
dados. But the most interesting technique is how to build glass doors
without router-cut rabbets for the panes. Immediately following the Shaker
Press Cupboard is a one-day class on "Finishes That Pop." This process I
use to finish most of the pieces in my books or in Popular Woodworking
Magazine. Find out there is a difference in aniline dyes and that there
is a reason to apply boiled linseed oil to your work. Also, discover how
to use shellac even if you aren’t setup with spray equipment. Take your
projects to the next level. If you cannot make the finishing class, and
by all rights you should if you can because of the "hands-on" aspect,
you can pick up a copy of "Finishes that Pop" from our Woodworkers
Bookshop. (Click here) If you have any questions about these
classes, please contact me. But more importantly, contact the schools
and sign up. It looks like a great woodworking year. — Glen D. Huey
Read other entries by Glen D. Huey
Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:38:40 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Generations in the Making

A couple weeks back, I wrote about the step-chair I was making for my
niece, per a Fitzpatrick family tradition that began in the 1950s. The
project plan was from U-Bild, which discontinued the plan probably in the
early 1990s, said a company official who cited poor sales as the likely
culprit. But I had a fair number of people request the plan, so I
e-mailed U-Bild again, and they kindly gave permission for me to post
it.
I've done so in the PDF below (compatible with Adobe
Reader 7.0 and later) – and my apologies in advance for the image
quality. This is a scan of a photocopy of a photocopy from a plan from
the '50s, shrunk down to work on our server – it's the best I've got to offer.
Note: I did modify the
plan a wee bit by trimming the bottoms of the base pieces so the sides
would rest on the floor in the step-stool position. If I built it
again, I'd simply shape the sides with more of a swoop, or move the
dowel down (it seems to me important to have the sides rest on the
floor; otherwise, the thing is tippy).
And I had to chuckle at
the first paragraph under "Recommended Finish," which reads: "Use
plenty of sandpaper. The beauty of the finished article depends largely
upon the amount of time spent in sanding." My grandfather (the original
owner of this much-used plan) didn't enjoy time spent in sanding. But to be fair,
neither do I – which is why I love my No. 4.
By the way: We're
working on our own design for a flip-stool; look for that in the August
"I Can Do That." Glen's building it out of scrap tiger maple (natch).
StepChair.pdf (171.3 KB)
Read other entries by Megan Fitzpatrick
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 1:38:51 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Talking Birdhouse With A.J. Hamler
We sat down (metaphorically) with A.J. Hamler, author of the upcoming "Easy to Build Birdhouses" to get his take on the subject:
Q: Why birdhouses?
A: Birdhouses are among the most satisfying of woodworking projects. They’re fast to make, require only small amounts of materials, and can be made with just a basic toolkit. Besides, birds are sneaky. Leave your windows open for even a minute and they move right in. By making birdhouses you can keep those refrigerator-raiding birds outside where they belong.
Q: Can anyone make the birdhouse projects in the book?
A: I found that birds have a difficult time making them. It’s that lack-of-opposable-thumbs thing, I guess. For everyone else, the house projects are very accessible. Most can be made in just an hour or two. Even though the fancier houses take a bit longer because they have more parts and require some creative painting, all the procedures used in construction require only basic woodworking skills and tools. Opposable thumbs are pretty much a must, though.
Q: Are these good projects for kids?
A: With adult supervision, these are perfect family projects – they’re both easy and fun, plus a birdhouse project is a perfect introduction to woodworking for young people.
Q: How are the houses made for specific birds?
A: Like people, birds have preferences. By making the houses with dimensions they like and matching the entrance holes to the size of the birds, you can attract specific ones to your backyard. You still have to take the birds’ regional differences into account, though. I’ve had no luck attracting Amazonian parrots to my backyard, for example. But even if you can’t get one species to move in, you can still attract wrens – among the most desirable birds – with any birdhouse. Wrens will live anywhere, just like my cousin Cletus. But they’re cleaner and a lot nicer to have around.
Q: One of the most unique houses in the book looks like a spaceship. Was that difficult?
A: It’s actually one of the easier houses to make, because all the major components are standard PVC fittings from the home center. The hard part was finding some science-fiction geek with a spacesuit to pose for a photo with the finished birdhouse. Fortunately, I still had my old spacesuit up in the attic.
Q: The birdhouse made like an old-time box camera is great! How’d you come up with that?
A: Yeah, well, the first one I designed was made like a Web-Cam, but none of the birds would fit.
Look for Easy to Build Birdhouses this June from Popular Woodworking Books.
— David Thiel
Tuesday, March 09, 2010 10:21:54 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Monday, March 08, 2010
SawStop Safety System Saga Steams Forward

Blade-braking technology is a vital part of the table saws from SawStop –
the ability to stop a spinning blade in 1/100 of a second is what put
the company on the map. SawStop table saws are the only woodworking
machines with this technology. Is that about to change? Below is a link
to a Boston Globe article detailing a jury-awarded verdict for a
lawsuit that's the first of its kind. We're working on what this might
mean to woodworkers and the woodworking industry. What do you think?
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/03/06/man_wins_15m_in_first_of_its_kind_saw_case/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed5
What
changes do you see springing from cases such as these? If you don't
think changes are in the pipeline, take a look at this link.
http://tablesawattorney.com/index.php
For
more background information, check out this article from INC. Magazine.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050701/disruptor-gass.html — Glen D. Huey
Read other entries by Glen D. Huey
Monday, March 08, 2010 1:55:33 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Popular Woodworking Magazine by the Numbers

I dislike
writing about the magazine business because it's not useful for our
readers, who expect us to write about woodworking instead of engaging
in navel-gazing.
But because we have received a lot of questions and mail about the merger of Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine, I'm going to make an exception, lift up my shirt and take a quick peek.
First:
Thanks for your letters – both positive and negative – about the new
magazine. We read them all and respond to every one that we can. In my
e-mail inbox, the sentiment about the new magazine is about 2-to-1 in
favor of the changes. The criticisms have mostly been about the
addition of advertising and the amount of woodworking information we
are now delivering. So let's take a look there.
The April 2010 Popular Woodworking Magazine
is a 68-page issue with 19 pages that are advertisements. That's 49
pages of "meat," for lack of a better word. Let's check the "meat
index" of an issue of Woodworking Magazine. There are 36 pages in each issue with only one page of advertising (the "Extras" page on page 35). That's 35 pages of meat.
What about Popular Woodworking
before the merger? The February 2010 issue was 76 pages with 17 pages
of advertisements. That's 59 pages of stories. (Note that we have
averaged about 60 pages of meat in each issue during the last couple
years.)
It looks like Popular Woodworking Magazine is smaller than Popular Woodworking but larger than Woodworking Magazine. Right?
It's not that simple. 
The design of the new magazine is quite different. The paper is larger than what we used with Popular Woodworking,
and we have less white space. We also have constrained the size of the
photographs at the beginning of each article – no more full-page
spreads. And we have tightened up the columnists. "Arts &
Mysteries," "Flexner on Finishing" and "Design Matters" are all two
pages each instead of three. We tightened things up with old-fashioned
editing, by the way. Instead of removing information, we removed
unnecessary words that weren't doing their jobs.
So counting pages isn't a good indicator. Why don't we count the words instead?
Personally, I think counting words is silly. No one will argue that Golden Corral is better than The French Laundry because the Golden Corral gives you more calories. But it is one indicator. Here are the numbers:
1. During the last year, Popular Woodworking has averaged 33,642 words of editorial coverage in each issue.
2. Woodworking Magazine has averaged 24,850 words of editorial per issue.
3. The April 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine has 34,254 words of editorial coverage – about the same as you would get in an issue of Popular Woodworking during the last couple years.
Second Complaint: Those tinyurls At
the end of each article in the magazine is a box that points you to
online stories and web sites that are related to the article so you can
dive deeper into a topic that interests you. In this issue we used
"tinyurls," a long-standing Internet redirect service, so you don't
have as many characters to type.
A fair number of readers don't
like tinyurls. We don't particularly like them, either. But they are a
stopgap until we get a new web site in place this summer. We won't use
tinyurls going forward, and if you want to find any of the links listed
in the print issue you can go to this page: popularwoodworking.com/apr10 (we're building out this page right now. Links are being added as I type).
Third Complaint: When Does My Subscription Run Out? Some
customers have been confused by the merger, especially if they had
subscriptions to both publications. If you want to confirm the number
of issues remaining in your subscription, check the line on the mailing
label above your name; the last issue in your subscription is printed
there. If you'd like to clear up a problem, send a message with your
name and mailing address where you receive your subscription to Debbie
Paolello, our subscription specialist: debbie.paolello@fwmedia.com.
But Why Did You Do It? The
other big question from readers is "Why?" While I tried to address this
in my column in the April 2010 issue, I'll add some more details for
you.
Many of my colleagues in the magazine business think we're
all swirling around the toilet bowl to our watery grave. I'm not that
grim, but it's hard to ignore the fact that a lot of my friends in
media are out of work.
We know that big changes are coming. And
instead of waiting to have it roll over us, we decided to sprint in
front of this boulder. While both our magazines were profitable and
stable, they consumed all our staff's time and energy to produce 11
yearly issues (those of you who get e-mails from us during nights and
weekends can attest to this).
We decided that we had to put more
energy into growing our quickly growing online business. And we knew
there was no hope of expanding our staff in this time of dwindling
corporate resources.
So that's what drove the decision to merge
the two magazines. And it's the honest truth. Any speculation you might
read on the message boards is simply not grounded in our world, which
is based on raw number-crunching, decades of media experience and a
desire to stay employed in the best job in the world – getting to write
and edit a woodworking magazine.
It is indeed a dream job. But it's a dream that has to live in the real world.
— Christopher Schwarz
Read other entries by Christopher Schwarz
Monday, March 08, 2010 1:01:03 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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SketchUp Shop Class Coming Soon
Along with updating the look of the magazine, we've been busy working on some new ways to share knowledge. We're big fans of the free modeling program SketchUp and in the next week or so you'll have the chance to join me in a two-part online class. And a few weeks after the classes are available online, you'll be able to purchase them on DVD. Later this year, we'll have more "Shop Classes" available on a number of topics, by some of the best teachers around.
 Each part of my SketchUp class is two hours long, and you'll follow along onscreen as I explain how to setup and use the program specifically for woodworking tasks. Part one covers the basics, and part two delves into more advanced topics. If you've tried SketchUp and given up in frustration, or are struggling trying to learn on your own, I will show you how to model efficiently and accurately. You'll be making dovetailed drawers and cabriole legs before you know it.
 We've recorded and edited these classes in short three to five minute long segments. You can watch a segment on your computer, then switch over to SketchUp and try the techniques at your own pace. When you're ready to move forward, the next segment will be waiting for you. I used these techniques to teach Megan, Glen and Chris how to use SketchUp, and they've all become accomplished 3D modelers. Believe me, if it can work for them, it can work for anyone.
Watch the blog and the newsletter for more details. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for the blog up and to your left where it says "Free Updates" and you can subscribe to the Popular Woodworking Magazine "Weekly Wood News" by clicking here. We have a short sample of the video available to give you an idea of what the class will be like. The video is in HD format, so you will need to download the QuickTime player for the best results. Like SketchUp, QuickTime is free, and you can download QuickTime here. Click Here to watch a sample of the SketchUp Shop Class Video
Click Here to download the free QuickTime player. –Bob Lang
Read other entries by Robert W. Lang
Monday, March 08, 2010 11:52:51 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Wednesday, March 03, 2010
'Tool Crib of the North' is Back as 'Acme Tools'

Woodworkers of old (of more than a decade, anyway) may remember the Tool Crib of the North (TCN) as among the premier online dealers in woodworking tools and supplies. Well before he was editor (and before he dove headfirst into the hand tool world), Christopher Schwarz relied on the expertise of the company's call center staff when making machinery purchases – because, with more than 60 years of expertise as a company, Tool Crib of the North's employees knew far more than he did, and Chris (among many others) could always rely on them for excellent buying advice.
The successful company attracted notice from the business world as well, and 11 years ago, TCN was acquired by Amazon.com – one of that online retailer's first forays beyond books – and TCN signed a non-compete agreement that took them offline (though they still had 10 retail stores in North Dakota, Minnesota and other Midwest locations). While the tools were still available, the expertise wasn't (have you ever talked to a live person at Amazon.com?).
But now, the non-compete agreement has expired, and the venerable company is back online as of February 8 (and still in bricks in mortar) as Acme Tools (acmetools.com).
"Over the last five years, we've worked on expanding our retail stores into Minnesota and Iowa and so we've built the Acme brand in the Midwest region," says company Vice President Steve Kuhlman. "And now, with the non-compete release, we're utilizing that brand on the web site and are able to market it nationally."
Kuhlman and his brother Paul Kuhlman (also a vice president) stress Acme Tools' long-term relationship with their 60 outside salesman who know the markets inside and out, and have helped shape the online product information. But if you need more information than what you find on the web site, Acme also has a customer call center where you can not only place an order, but get detailed information on any of the products or brands the company carries (online right now are more than 10,000 key items from 147 manufacturers). "These people have experience in the industry, and product knowledge and training," says Steve Kuhlman. "We're able to answer any questions from our customers."
While the site is an excellent source for woodworking items, Acme Tools also offers stuff for other trades – plumbing, roofing, siding, drywall and plastering and more – and one of the most inviting features of the site is the "Shop by Trade" area, which categorizes the tools trade professionals actually use; Paul Kuhlman says they'll continue to grow that feature. "If you're a woodworker, a drywaller, a tileworker, you'll be able to click on the trade and see the products that those who do the job really care about," he says.
The number of manufacturers carried by Acme is really too long to list, but from Bosch to Porter-Cable, Freud to Gorilla Glue, you're likely to find the power equipment and shop supplies you need. And if you don't know exactly what you want, help is only a phone call away.
— Megan Fitzpatrick
Read other entries by Megan Fitzpatrick
Wednesday, March 03, 2010 10:06:03 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Tuesday, March 02, 2010
WGBH Returns to Woodworking
Most woodworkers followed Norm Abram at New Yankee Workshop and you know how fast the word of his retirement spread across the woodworking community. It was a sad day indeed. The fact that WGBH,
Boston’s public television station, no longer has a woodworking show on air is something we have to accept … or do we? It seems New England’s most prolific PBS affiliate has a new show in the works. An announcement was made at
the New England Home Show this past weekend (Feb. 25-28, 2010). While the show's title has yet
to be determined, the host has been named.
The woodworker who will take the mallet in hand is Thomas J. MacDonald. You may know
him as T-Chisel, or the driving force behind the 207 Woodworking
Community. MacDonald studied carpentry at the Blue Hills
Technical High School in Canton, Mass. After joining the
Carpenters Union and earning a journeyman’s certificate, he ventured to
Boston’s North End and studied at the North Bennet Street School (NBSS).

MacDonald
displayed his furniture-making talent while at NBSS when he reproduced a
Salem, Mass., secretary during his second year. It was about
then that Bob Vila profiled MacDonald on his
television show, while Vila was visiting the school. In 2002, MacDonald graduated from NBSS and has been
active in woodworking ever since. So what’s the show going
to be? We interviewed MacDonald this morning and according to him – and he emphasized that things may
change – the show is all about the woodworking community. He stated more
than a few times during our conversation that he’s interested in
getting woodworkers inspired. As for the show, one idea
he envisions would be a visit to a museum to meet with a curator and
focus the conversation on a specific piece of furniture – or maybe one
aspect of that piece, say a ball-and-claw foot. Back in
the studio – and this next part is way cool – MacDonald hopes to have a highly skilled
woodworker demonstrate that aspect (carve a foot) in front of a live
audience – a live audience! He then added that it would be great to pull
an audience member on stage to also work on the technique while guided by the expert. Museums and other great places to
visit, fantastic furniture, skilled craftsmen and hands-on
demonstrations. We’re all for it. I’m sure more
information will surface during the coming days and weeks. As it does,
we’ll post it here. Stay tuned. In the meantime, below is the New
England Home Show video announcement. — Glen D. Huey
Read other entries by Glen D. Huey
Tuesday, March 02, 2010 1:16:36 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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Planes That Make Me Say SQUEEEEE! (And They Work)
 Cute as a bug's ear – though far more useful than any insect's tympanal
organ – are the new detail rabbet planes from Veritas (the high-end,
made-in-Canada house brand of Lee Valley Tools). These wee planes are
machined so the sole is square to the sides, and they're very narrow,
so they're good for laying flat on a tenon cheek to trim small tenon
shoulders in lieu of a shoulder plane, or where I might usually turn to
a router plane, such as in cleaning up the floor of small dados. And
because the planes fit easily into the palm of even my very small hand,
and with a smooth finish both on the front and back edges, they're easy
and comfortable for me to control with either a push or pull stroke. (I
tried to take a picture of the 1/4" plane in use – but with a 3"-long
body, it's so small that my hand covers it up.)
Available in
five sizes (6 mm, 1/4", 5/16", 3/8" and 10 mm), the planes have a
ductile cast iron body with a fixed mouth and a forged brass handle.
The blade is O1 steel with a standard 45° cutting angle (15° bed and
30° bevel-up blade angle). Adjustments are made with a gentle nudge –
at the blade's heel to adjust skew, at the front to adjust lateral
projection, and with a small screwdriver between the blade and body to
increase the depth of cut. It takes a bit of fussing to get everything
just right, but once you do, the screw holds everything firmly in place.
This
plane (or planes, if you want more than one) could take the place of a
small shoulder plane and a small router plane (though you'll need a bit
more practice and skill to achieve the same cuts as with the dedicated
tools) and save you some cash. Each plane is U.S. $65; replacement
blades are U.S. $9.75. Or you can get a set of three (either metric or
imperial) for $149 through March 25 (after which the three-set price is
$169).
— Megan Fitzpatrick
p.s. If you're not familiar with the Daily Squee, check it out (unless you don't like cute animals).
Read other entries by Megan Fitzpatrick | Read other Tool Tests
Tuesday, March 02, 2010 11:42:07 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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 Monday, March 01, 2010
What's That Angle
When you’re learning something new, it’s hard to sift what you need to
know out of what you assume you need to know. You can spend a lot of
time and money on something that doesn’t move you any closer to where
you
want to be. There are plenty of these traps on the way to becoming an
accomplished woodworker, and it doesn’t help the beginner that there are
plenty of pundits and purveyors of tools who will gladly lead you down a
wayward path. Angles other than 90 or 45 degrees are a good example of
this.
The practice of measuring, laying out and cutting angles in
terms of degrees is rather new in woodworking. Old woodworking texts
discuss
angles in terms of rise and run; make a mark a certain distance
horizontally and another mark a set distance vertically. Connect the
marks with a line, cut
and trim to the line and your done. What’s important is that two pieces
of wood fit nicely together when assembled.
The pile of tools in the photo represents a progression of
devices used to measure angles. Most of them claim an advantage due to the
ability to resolve angle measurements in finer and finer increments. But
the one tool that actually gets used is the simple bevel with no
numbers at all. The reason for that is it works reliably and accurately,
quickly and without confusion. Just because someone can make a device
that displays angles in hundredths of a degree, doesn’t mean there is an
advantage in using it.
So here’s one of the secrets of what we do when we publish plans
in Popular Woodworking Magazine. We draw angles by making marks and
connecting lines, when we design with our CAD program and when we work
in the
shop. If someone wanders by while we’re in the shop and asks us what the
angle is in degrees, we give them a lengthy discourse on why they don’t
need to know that. Then at the very end, we let our computer measure
the angle and we throw the angle measurement into the drawing. Because
we know that someone will ask.
–Robert W. Lang
Monday, March 01, 2010 9:19:43 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
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