Popular Woodworking Editors' Blog

A tool that I noticed in more than one booth at AWFS (Association of Woodworking and Furnishing Suppliers) this year is a benchtop lathe. Manufacturers are hopeful that woodworkers plan to turn more in the coming year. And these lathes aren’t just ordinary machines with set speed controls; these lathes feature electronic variable speeds.

It’s called a mini-lathe if you’re talking with General International or Rikon, but if you’re looking at new lathe from Delta, you better say midi-lathe (a company-derived title it promotes and has registered). With either name, it still sits on a bench – unless you purchase a stand to go with the lathe. So, how do the different lathes stack up?

General’s lathe is the 25-114 M1. This machine has three variable-speed ranges (as do the other two lathes) set by adjusting a drive belt on successive size pulleys. The General lathe is powered by a 3/4-horsepower (hp) motor that spins the drive spur at 300 – 800 rpm, 640 – 1,750 rpm and 1,300 – 3,600 rpm, depending on the pulley. General has boosted the available turning diameter of this lathe so it’s possible to shape a 14"-diameter piece. The 25-114 M1 is 93 pounds of solid weight to hold the lathe steady when turning. The company says you can turn a full 17" between centers. Additionally, General’s variable-speed lathe has 24 indexing positions (every 15º). Look for this machine to be priced around $699 with a delivery date yet to be set.

Rikon also introduced a benchtop lathe, model 70-200EVS. With this lathe you can set speed controls at 400–950, 650–1,700 and 1,500–3,850 rpm. The swing over the bed is 12"(the smallest of the three lathes discussed) and the working area between centers is 16". A nice feature on Rikon’s variable-speed lathe is a self-ejecting tailstock that allows the removal of the tail center without the use of a knockout bar. Included with a 70-200EVS is an 8" tool rest, a spur center and live center and a 3" face plate. Rikon’s benchtop lathe has a weight of 86 pounds. The 70-200EVS is available in Fall 2009 and is priced at $699.

Delta actually introduced its variable-speed lathe last year at the major tool show in Atlanta, but the company re-introduced the lathe at AWFS and brought in a craftsman to demonstrate the machine. Model 46-460 (the variable-speed model) is available now and is priced at $599. This lathe has many features that look appealing. The foremost, in my mind, is the reversing switch that potentially reduces your sanding time, and with the spin reversed, the dust is easily thrown away from the operator and toward dust collection. Also, a feature of interest on this lathe is the belt tensioning system. The adjustment process is quick and secure, and the belts are wide with five grooves, versus the three grooves found on most other benchtop lathes.

Speed changes with a 1-hp motor are again in three steps with the range from 250 (the lowest available rpm for slow roughing of stock) - 700, 600–1,800 and 1,350-4,000 rpm. Work between centers is a maximum 16-1/2" with the largest possible diameter for bowl turning at 12-1/2".

If you’re looking for a lathe, don’t look past these benchtop models, unless you want to turn lengthy legs. Of course, bed extensions are available for these machines.

— Glen D. Huey

Monday, July 20, 2009 3:00:58 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1] 

We never know what will stick with our kids. We hope it’s the good things, but we can't predict if they will remember to be polite to their elders, or the vocabulary to use when someone cuts you off in traffic. I spent some time recently helping my son build his first piece of furniture, and was happy to see that good things had rubbed off on him.

When Hunter was younger we spent a lot of time together in the shop. I put a coping saw and spokeshave in his hand back then, and together we made all manner of things, mostly toys and other amusements. He was one of the few kids in Cub Scouts who did his own work on his Pine Wood derby car (although I will admit to fine-tuning the wheels and axles), and we still have and use the bird feeder, but when he discovered computers, he left woodworking behind.

He’s 17 now and needed a new desk (for his computer). I convinced him he could build a nicer one than we could afford to buy, and I convinced the other editors here that it would make a nice article for the magazine. The desk is done, the article is in progress, and it will appear in an upcoming issue of Popular Woodworking. As Hunter worked on the desk, we reminisced about the things he made when he was younger. At one point he mentioned that he was feeling like a “real” woodworker; he was enjoying the process and was comfortable with the machines and tools.

That was something I had noticed. He was taking to tools and procedures he hadn’t done before and catching on quickly. When I handed him a dovetail saw he stuck his index finger out as he grabbed it without thinking about it, and it only took him a minute or two to be able to use a block plane effectively. He recognized the band saw as an efficient version of the coping saw and had no trouble adapting to it. But the ultimate proof of his being a “real” woodworker came when we took the desk home and put it together in his room.

As we assembled the desk, he spotted a place on the inside where the finish had dripped and left a run. We hadn’t noticed it before because it was in a hidden spot, and no one would ever see it again. He ran his hand over it, picked at it a little with his fingernail and said, “I really ought to fix that.” Later on, as his mother gushed about how nice it was, he began to point out the flaws, small things that no one else would ever notice: an edge that could have used another minute of sanding; an area his brush had missed on the second coat; the place where he leaned the trim router just enough to leave a tiny divot in an otherwise-clean edge.

We told him to look at the big picture and not be such a perfectionist, but I knew that was useless advice. He picked up the way I and a lot of other woodworkers look at our work, and I don’t believe there is anything he can do about it. He is now the owner of a pretty nice desk. For as long as he has it, people will be impressed with the fact that he made it himself. And when he allows himself, he too will be impressed with his effort and justifiably proud of the result.

But that unseen drip will always bother him, and he will consider now and then what he would do differently, or more thoroughly, if he had the chance to make it again. And that is what makes him a “real” woodworker.

– Robert W. Lang

Monday, July 20, 2009 12:02:17 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [5] 

Thank you all. We received more than 150 entries in our “Caption the Photo Contest." But curses on those  who mentioned “The Macarena” – that  song has been stuck in my head for days. I don’t like that song. I never liked that song. (That said, it does look as if Glen could be practicing the dance…). And a special shout out to Farm100 who put a  more enjoyable song in my head with the “Pirates of Penzance” parody – very clever.

To the Shakespearean entries: Pandering! Pure pandering! (Which of course I enjoyed.) And to those that were perhaps a bit, well, too close to home (does this blog make me look fat?): I simply can’t condone that type of behavior…because I suspect I’m soon to be in the firing line.

A lot of the entries made me chuckle, some elicited a guffaw, but only a handful necessitated the cleaning of Diet Coke off my keyboard. And if you didn’t win, just chalk it up to my warped sense of humor.

Here’s my Top 10:

10. "Work fascinates me, I can think about it for hours."
– Jamie Ray

9. Senior Editor Glen D. Huey testing the structural integrity of local trees while memorizing his lecture material.
– Anonymous

8. Worn out after completing the macrame components, Glen tests the strength of the timber laminations in our hammock swing project.
– anonymous

7. During research for an upcoming article, Glen spent hours using this elaborate rig to test the strength properties of the oak board (shown in photo above his head).
– Lynn Hagans

6. "Oh, you wanted me to "Go find some hemlock!?" I thought you said "Go find a hammock." My bad.
– Raj

5. Glen demonstrates power tool safety by staying as far away from them as possible.
– Ken Copenhaver

4. "I'm not sleeping, I'm testing a new butt-laminate press."
– JJ Gray

3. "And here kids, we have the "supinus glenhueyus," also known as the Southern Yellow Supine. It's often planted as an ornamental and has little commercial value."
– RC

2. Welcome to the Acanthus Workshops wood carving course. Today we will sculpt the classic "Glen in Repose". Does everyone have the required 250lb block of White Pine and your chainsaws?
– David Pearce

1. (Who gets a free copy of our latest CD, "The Arts & Mysteries of Hand Tools"): "I'm so sorry I had to lay down for a spell, I saw someone sharpen a chisel - by hand no less - and got the most awful case of the vapors. Why I near fainted at the site of it! Savages"
– Josh (and Josh, if you're reading this, please send my your address!)

Again,  thanks for playing!

— Megan Fitzpatrick

Friday, July 17, 2009 2:02:09 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2] 

Thursday was my day at AWFS 2009 to stop by SawStop and catch up with Mark Pennington, marketing director. He shared a few things about SawStop’s new Professional Cabinet Saw (PCS) and provided some insight on SawStop table saws in general. (Did you know that a single turn of a SawStop handle moves the blade exactly 1/8" in height?)

The PCS has the same blade-stopping technology as other SawStop saws but the PCS is different from the Industrial Cabinet Saw in a few ways. First, the trunnion on the PCS is lighter than that on the Industrial saw and the dust shroud around the blade is also a molded plastic instead of cast iron. Those changes, along with a couple other things, add up to the Professional Cabinet saw being nearly 180 pounds lighter than its bigger brother.

Why did SawStop change from a cast iron dust shroud? That has to do with the increased dust collection levels achieved in the newer saw. By molding the shroud differently (something not easily accomplished in cast iron) and adjusting the blade guard (which SawStop is calling its "V-stream blade guard") the company has pushed dust collection to 99-percent efficient (there may be some difference when using a thin-kerf blade, but the drop would be minuscule).

To demonstrate just how effective the dust collection is due to the way the turbulent air around the blade is re-directed toward the rear of the guard, SawStop manufactured a dust collector that captured the dust from the cabinet in one section and the dust from the guard in another, and they are using a simple shop vacuum with 120 CFM to do the job. As cuts were made, you didn’t notice the flow going into the guard section of the collector until the wood covered the openings in the throat plate. Then you began to notice the increased efficiency.

Take a look at the new blade-guard design. The rods you see extending to the front are there as a limiter. If the stock you’re working doesn’t fit under the front piece attached to those rods, it won’t fit under the pawls either. And take a closer look at the pawls. You see two distinct sets. The smaller pawls are there for light cuts in thin stock while the larger pawls, the size we’re used to seeing, are for typical operations. When not needed, the larger pawls hook into the guard setup to stay out of the way.

Another creative innovation on the PCS is the quick-release function on the throat insert. SawStop has a bail-type handle that swings to engage a lock to hold the insert in place. Posts on the insert, at the rear, slide under catches affixed to the saw and the front is held by the bail lock.

If you want a Professional Cabinet saw from SawStop, there are two things to decide: Do you want a table saw with a 36" extension table ($2,899) or a 52" extension table ($2,999), and do you want a mobile base for your saw. That’s it. You can pre-order your saw now for delivery in August – just around the corner.

Thursday, July 16, 2009 11:39:00 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [5] 

There are always new products introduced at AWFS and this year is no different. Because I ran into so many items, I’m going to give you a quick-hit review of a number of them rather than focus on one company right now – but there is a tool company here that brought 22 new tools to the show.

First up, let’s begin with the small items that are the tools that make you slap your forehead and say, “Doh!” Festool, having introduced its T-12+3 and T15+3 drills (more on them in another entry), is working diligently on a new vacuum system that is way cool – look for it in Q1 or early Q2 in 2010. But at this AWFS, Festool is showing hand sanding pads (shown above). Big deal, right? Well, these are clever. The pads are shaped to ergonomically fit your hand and there is hook-and-loop material that wraps up both sides of the pad. That allows you to use round sanding discs without having to grip the disc as you work. The pads are due out this September. Pricing and packaging are yet to be determined.

Here’s another product that’s small and looks very interesting. I can’t say the product is slick because it’s just the opposite. Bench Cookies (you gotta love that name) are small discs made with high-friction rubber pads fixed to both faces. One pad grabs the workpiece while the second grabs the bench, table or saw top, wherever you’re working. The cookies are superb for holding small pieces as you route or sand (I’m sure you’ll have more ideas) and they work even if there’s light sawdust in the mix. The Rockler guys told me they test the cookies by dumping them in the dust in their table saw then pull them out, simply knock off the excess sawdust, then put the Bench Cookies to work. There’s no slippage. Rockler’s Bench Cookies come four to a pack and should be out in early August for $11.99 per pack.

How about a woodworking machine? Rikon has joined the 12" jointer/planer market with its model 25-200. The company states that this machine is the industry's fastest changeover jointer/planer. What adds to the speed of converting from one tool to the other is that to get from the jointer to a planer operation, you need only to lift the outfeed table; the infeed table stays put and that should maintain accuracy in the machine. Another thing I hear woodworkers discuss on these machines is the amount of time that’s lost in moving the planer bed from a workable height to the lowest position to convert back to the jointer. Rikon has designed the threads that raise and lower the bed to speed up the movement. Additionally, the 25-200 has three knives, a three-horsepower (hp) motor and European scallop grind on the table surfaces. You can add this machine to your shop for $1,999.

Another new machine is a 1-1/2 hp, 866 CFM cyclone dust collector from Grizzly. This setup stands only 65-1/2" and has a footprint of 38-1/4" x 23-1/4" – a great size for smaller shops. The unit includes a 30-gallon drum that rolls on swivel casters and the entire unit is also on wheels. A simple quarter-turn of the handle moves the internal shaker paddles to clean the dual-pleated filter to allow maximum air flow and efficiency. This cyclone comes with a remote-control switch that allows you to activate it from across the shop. Ready to go when plugged into a standard 110-volt outlet, the G0703 sells for $825 and should be ready to ship this September.

Thursday, July 16, 2009 11:24:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

The big news at the AWFS show came from a Canadian company. General International announced plans to restructure and expand into the United States to improve its operations in the lower 48. The company wants to reinforce and increase its U.S. sales presence and market share. General International wants its U.S. customers to easily find General Manufacturing, General International and Excalibur products.

To accomplish that objective, the company brought in a big gun. You may recognize the guy on the left in the above photo standing over a granite-top General table saw, alongside Norm Frampton. Two years back, at AWFS 2007, Scott Box rocked the woodworking world with a granite-top table saw. As you can see in the photo, Mr. Box – formally a major player at Steel City Tool Works – is wearing a General International shirt; he has assumed the role of Operations Manager for the newly expanded U.S. division of General International.

The company says a U.S. warehouse and distribution center will be centrally located in the states. With Box’s base in Tennessee, I wonder where that location might be – Murfreesboro, maybe?

At the same time, General International has added several new Territory Sales Managers including Craig Walls, Curt Thomas and Tom Guertin.

I’d keep an eye on General International in the next few years. Things should change, and change for the better.

What did General show at AWFS this year?
• A new 17" drill press with a redesigned casting to accommodate a full 6" stroke, and a variable speed 1-horsepower motor, all priced at $877.50 (model # 75-260 M1)

• An 8" parallelogram jointer (80-225HC M1) for $3,780 that features a "Magnum Helical Cutter Head" (check out the collapsing handles)

• A mini-lathe duplicator (25-024) that fits most lathes with throws from 6" to 14". The duplicator hits the market in September at $315 and handles lengths up to 19-7/8" and diameters to 7", and can work from an original turning or off a template.

Availability dates for the jointer and drill press are to be determined.

— Glen Huey

Thursday, July 16, 2009 12:45:11 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1] 

I'm in Las Vegas right now at the AWFS show (Association of Woodworking and Furnishing Suppliers). As a furniture guy, I gravitate toward the Fresh Wood competition held every other year at AWFS. Students of woodworking from colleges, universities and high schools transport pieces to the show for display and judging. As always, I'm impressed with the talent.

The piece that really caught my eye was built by Timothy Keating, from Cedar Ridge High School. Keating’s entry is called “Wandering Roses.” The table is made up of more than 700 pieces of inlay and has six roses intertwined with vines, all set in a tiger maple edge banding on a round table top. (The table has its leaf installed while on display at the show.) Each rose is made up of 75 sand-shaded pieces and the base of the table simulates roots (you can just see the table base in the photo).

Another piece that I found myself staring at was built by Jonathan Cox, a student at Brigham Young University. His low table design is titles “Split Personality”; the piece has a granadillo top with a carved natural edge. The tabletop is cantilevered and attached to the pedestal with a pinned double bridle joint.

I’m especially impressed with high schools that maintain woodworking programs – thank you for allowing America’s youth to continue a craft that we all want to see flourish. This year’s competition had, if I counted correctly, 20 high school entries and 30 entries from colleges and universities. The majority of the entries would be considered contemporary, but there were a couple antique reproductions.

— Glen D. Huey

Thursday, July 16, 2009 12:33:26 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

For as long as I can remember, I’ve stood on my soapbox to urge woodworkers to use a toothbrush to spread glue when edge joining two pieces of lumber. A toothbrush is plenty wide enough to completely cover the edge of the board and the glue, once spread, is an even film that’s perfect for job. If you want more information about glues, check out “All About Glue: Part Two” by Marc Adams in our October 2009 issue. (Part One ran in issue #177, August 2009. Click here to get a copy of the magazine for $5.99)

I gave up finger painting in the third grade and I shy away from acid brushes – except when I add glue inside a mortise – because the brushes are narrow and I feel as though I am reproducing a Monet with all the strokes needed. So when I noticed Chuck Bender pulling out the glue and a couple acid brushes during my week-long teaching gig at Acanthus Workshops, I was chomping at the bit to challenge his technique.

Chuck isn’t one to take a challenge lightly, so he offered up a race. I thought I had this one in the bag, but I noticed that his setup – glue poured into a disposable cup with a loaded acid brush – looked peculiar. The handle of the brush was larger than those I had worked with.

He grabbed up a dollop of glue and proceeded to wipe along the edge of his board. One swipe covered the edge completely; he didn’t even waste time squeezing the glue from the bottle.

I guess he saw the amazement in my eyes because he kind of laughed. Then he showed me a box of brushes and pointed out that his brushes are 1/2" wide, not the petite 1/4"-wide size I was used to buying at my local hardware store.

Once again, I learned something new. In fact, I learned a couple things. First, don’t challenge Chuck about his woodworking techniques – he’s had many years to perfect them. And second, it’s OK to use acid brushes for spreading glue, just make sure the brushes are large. I found a good deal at Harbor Freight, click here.

— Glen D. Huey

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 8:15:48 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [6] 

Senior Editor Glen D. Huey was out of the office last week, purportedly teaching a class on building a tea table at Acanthus Workshops. But on Friday, I got a photo via e-mail from Chuck Bender (the founder of Acanthus Workshops), and it doesn’t look to me as if Glen was working very hard. So, just to embarrass Glen (one of my favorite pastimes), I’m holding a “Caption the Photo” contest. Whomever supplies the funniest caption (if you make me expel Diet Coke from my nose, you win) in the comment section by 2 p.m. Friday, July 17, will get a free copy of our newest CD: “The Arts & Mysteries of Hand Tools,” which you can read more about in the post below, or here.

(And yes, I realize the intrinsic irony of offering a hand-tool-related prize for any contest featuring Glen.)

— Megan Fitzpatrick

Monday, July 13, 2009 5:05:56 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [156]