Ice Cream Flavors for Woodworkers

Plane Vanilla
Chocolate WoodChip
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dado
Chocolate Chip Breaker
English Dovetail Toffee
Sawberry Cheese Rake
Banana Split Nut
NeaFrenchPolishtan
Curly Cherry Swirl
Moxonmallow Fluff
Marshmallet Créme
Chocolate Measure Mint
Orange Fleamscicle
Fudge Rip-ple
Grainola Crunch
Fruit Coffin Smoothie
TeNon Pareil
Rabbet Tracks...with raisins
Rasp-berry Sher-Bit
Pistachiogee

Woodworking Schools

I'm a big fan of woodworking schools. Watching a master woodworker show his or her techniques in person where you can ask questions and where they can look over your shoulder and tweak your actions has proven to be invaluable in improving my skills.

And just as soon as I hit the lottery, I plan to become a full-time ww student.

So far, I've taken classes at Olde Mill Cabinet Shoppe, Cedar Lakes Conference Center, The Woodworks Shows, and Woodcraft. Each one has been well worth the cost and time. And two things in particular I've found to be true: 1) even if you think you know the subject well, you will always learn something new, and 2) even if you take a woodworking class you think you might not like*—whatever you learn will prove to be useful somewhere along your woodworking journey.

A friend took a class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking and says it was one of the best experiences of his life. Another friend has taken classes at Country Workshops and highly recommends it. Someone else just told me about the John C. Campbell Folk School which looks like lots of fun.

The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship is on my list of places where I plan to take classes someday. And I hear that Roy Underhill is soon to open his own school. (I am so there.)

If you've had good experiences at woodworking schools, I'd like to hear your thoughts and recommendations.

Note added 2.24.09: Links to all of your recommendations can be found on the links page in the side bar.

*I wasn't so sure I'd like chip carving, but was proven wrong. Plus, I learned another way to sharpen.

The photo above is a cherry plate I turned in class yesterday (without finish) and a poplar lidded box I turned in class last week.

Box O'Moulding

With the useasonably warm weather we've been having, my thoughts are turning to spring.

And every spring, I take an inventory of and vow to complete the mountainous list of unfinished projects in the house.

One project, a tall bookcase built and installed a year and a half ago, has yet to receive its crown moulding.

It's functional and loaded with books, but it was never meant to have a pine accent piece along the top edge.

A few years ago, any time I had to cut moulding, I started dropping offcuts into a box. Now when a project calls for crown moulding, rather than sketch something or refer to books, I stack a few pieces together until the right look is achieved.

It helps if you have pieces with the moulding profile cut along one edge and one end. That way, you can see how it will look on the corner of your project. 

You can also view the stacked profile by using a board of contrasting color as an upright stop.

Since the box o' moulding is now sitting on my workbench and staring at me, I have no excuse not to finish that bookcase . . . unless, of course, winter decides it's not through with us yet.

Hammer Time

A friend sent this video to me.  It's called "The Hammer Guy."

I prefer to call it: 

"Something a woman would never do, 

not even for a million bazillion dollars 

or a lifetime supply of Ben & Jerry's ice cream."

Some thoughts came to mind after watching the video:

I wonder if he pounded a few before coming up with this trick.

I wonder how long it took him to build this house.

I wonder what his technique is for sawing 2 x 4s.

Hammer Guy, you're amazing. I tip my hard hat to you.

Turn Like a Mountain Biker

Years ago when my partner and I were young and fit, we used to go mountain biking. This being Pennsylvania, we have some impressive trails—hilly and circuitous.

And although I played sports my entire life—racquetball, volleyball, and fastpitch softball—and my partner did not, she could blow me away on a mountain bike.

Why?

Because she didn't try to control the bike's every move; she melded with it. And she would fly. My view on the trail was either the dust in her wake or the blue, puffy-clouded sky . . . because I was laying on my back, having gone over the handle bars.

Last week in my woodturning class as I was using my arch nemesis—the parting tool—the instructor peered over my shoulder and tapped lightly on the knuckles on my right hand. They were dead white. "You can't turn with a grip like that," she said.

It was my mountain bike grip.

Aha. Therein lies the problem. I've been trying to control my tools so rigidly, they've been fighting back.

So I asked my partner to explain to me her mountain biking technique. She said, "You have to relax and become one with the bike. You have to keep everything loose, unlock your joints, keep calm and let the 'chi' flow through your body."

"What's chi?" I giggled adolescently.

"'Chi' is energy, one's life force."

So I thanked Yoda and resolved to change my approach to woodturning.

I thought of the sea turtles in Finding Nemo—the rad surfer-dudes who rode the East Australian Current. Mellow and laid back, they would literally go with the flow.

"Be a turtle." I thought to myself in class this morning. "Become one with your tools."

It worked. No gouged wood, no fisticuffs with the parting tool, and only mild sweating. There's a life lesson in there somewhere.

And while I'm still at the bottom of the learning curve, there is one thing I'm good at . . . and that's turning eggs. My first egg was so real looking, I put it in the refrigerator in a bowl of hard-boiled eggs. Despite the teeth marks from my dogs, who decided the egg was a much coveted chew toy, my partner packed it with 2 other real eggs and took it with her to work for lunch.

Maybe she knows all about chi and melding and being calm and all that weirdo woo-woo stuff.

But I know all about being an immature practical joker.

It's Off To Read We Go

I don't know about you, but when I can't find adequate time to play in my shop, I turn into this guy.

Since I haven't been able to work on a project for any significant length of time so far this year, I have grown a scowl, snow white beard, and furrowed brow.

However! I have had some time to start reading a new book:
A Splintered History of Wood: Belt Sander Races, Blind Woodworkers & Baseball Bats, by Spike Carlsen.

Every night, I read illuminating and entertaining passages about: wood collectors (the largest collection by an individual includes 7,000 species—only 73,000 short of all the wood species on the planet), Mira Nakashima, Jimmy Carter, chainsaw woodworkers, and the world's tallest living tree—the Stratosphere Giant—measuring a whopping 372 feet tall.

What a fun read! It's written in short, self-contained chapters—each one covering some aspect of wood and woodworking: wood in music, sports, shelter, day-to-day life, war, transportation, and unusual places; and tools, unconventional woodworkers, and how trees survive and thrive.

I've only read 100 pages out of 358, but here are a few fun facts from the book: 95% of those who subscribe to woodworking magazines are men; the workers in George Nakashima's shop turn spindles on a lathe and then facet each one with a handplane; and Jimmy Carter explains his view on the craft: "[Woodworking is] a kind of therapy, but it's also a stabilizing 

force in my life—a total rest for my mind."

Currently, I'm perusing the chapter on whatzit tools and am learning about wedding saws and two handled sledgehammers.  

There's no doubt that I'm getting amusement, enlightenment, and knowledge from reading Spike's book. But maybe I'm getting something even more important: a happier disposition.

PFW Open House

Mario Rodriguez and Alan Turner (left to right) of The Philadelphia Furniture Workshop, hosted a 2-day open house this weekend that featured vendors, demonstrations, and hands-on tool use.

Fox Chapel Publishing had a booth filled with woodworking books and dvds. And the discounted prices were enough to make my grumpy friend, Scott, smile.

Several [gorgeous] pieces of furniture that had been class projects were displayed within the work areas. Jigs, miter jacks, handsaws, power tools and wall hung tool cabinets that were filled with handtools & planes, provided some nice eye candy for event-goers.

Joel Moskowitz of Gramercy Tools had his wares on display and also gave presentations on grinding chisels. He recommends creating a very slight camber on the wheel, so the corners of chisels don't overheat. This way, you can concentrate on sharpening the middle, thicker section of the blade while the corners are not in contact with the wheel. He uses a 46 grit friable wheel which he dresses with a multi-tip diamond dresser.

Bill Grumbine, who teaches woodturning classes from his shop in Kutztown, PA, and has produced two dvds, showed us some smooth moves on the lathe as he turned natural edges bowls.

Nancy Anderson, owner of Londonderry Brasses, Ltd., opened for business 11 years ago and offers period reproduction hardware, cast from originals, and imported mainly from England. Perusing her products, it's immediately obvious that they are exquisitely crafted.

Harrelson Stanley and Jim Blauvelt, of Japanese Tools.com, exhibited an array of Japanese planes, saws, chisels, measuring devices and sharpening stones. Jim worked at his bench while we woodworkers stood mesmerized.

Mario gave a demonstration on making shaded fan inlay. A metal pan which was filled with sand and heated by a hotplate was used to burn the edges, thereby creating the shading for the pie shaped pieces. He made a template with compass and pencil and then cut the piece to fit. They were glued together with veneer tape, then trimmed to shell shape. He then scalloped and removed the ends of each piece and cut contrasting wood to fit the spaces. These were also glued with veneer tape, then trimmed with a large, shallow gouge to final shape.

If you weren't able to make it to the show, tour the shop, and talk with other woodworkers, you might consider signing up for a class at PFW. They offer beginner and advanced workshops in a roomy, well-equipped space.

19th c. Grease Box

Dennis Kunkle, Director of Facilities at the York County Heritage Trust , was last night's speaker at our woodworking club meeting. Dennis made a replica of the 19th c. grease box on display at the Historical Society of York County and brought step-by-step examples of the building process. Grease boxes, he surmises, may have been used by mechanics to lubricate machinery. His contains beeswax instead of grease, which he uses to lubricate screws. Needless to say, my love of boxes was roused and I plan to build my own someday.

Procedure:
1. Layout the rough shape on a block of wood. Dennis suggested using a nice piece of figured walnut.
2. Rough cut the shape with your tool of choice.
3. Saw the lid off.
4. Clean it up with a shoulder plane so it's seated perfectly when closed. Remove saw marks made within the kerf by laying a sheet of sandpaper on a flat surface and scrubbing the workpiece clean.
5. Lay the lid in place and realign the grain. Because of the kerf, the lid will sit lower that the top surface of the box, so you may need to reposition the lid slightly in order for the grain to match.
6. Drill, countersink, and screw the lid to the box.
7. Plane the top of the box flush with the lid.





8. Inlay a decorative diamond or other shape on the lid. Dennis cut the inlay piece first (curly maple) and cleaned up the edges on sandpaper that was laid on a flat surface. Rub the piece's edges on the sandpaper at a very slight angle to create a bevel. Trace the outline of the inlay piece onto the lid and use a chisel to remove the waste. Glue the inlay piece in the recess. Plane flush.
9. Use a large forstner bit to drill the cavity for the inside of the box. (You may also choose to chisel this out instead so you can match the outside shape of the box.)
10. Trace the box outline onto the workpiece.
11. Cut the shape with your tool of choice. Dennis used a bandsaw.
12. Clean up the rough edges with your method of choice.

Dennis sprayed Deft as a finish and did not finish the inside. He melted beeswax and poured it into the cavity. He also brought to the presentation a set of matryoshka grease boxes, the smallest of which was approximately 3/4" long, complete with inlaid diamond.

It's a neat little project—one that can be made in a few hours and still has a useful place in the shop. I was not able to find any historical information about grease boxes, so if you have any info, please feel free to share.

Final dimensions of the grease box are approx. 4.25" long x 2.25" high.