Highland Staff

Jan 132022
 

In this short video, Michael Morton takes us on a tour of the Festool Domino DF 500 Q. The Festool Domino Joiner is a revolution never seen before in mortising. Making a mortise and tenon joint, though one of the strongest and most reliable ways to join wood, can also be challenging and tedious. Festool has created a never seen before dimension to mortising – a hand held power mortiser – that makes mortising fast, simple and accurate.

Jan 112022
 

For the January 2022 issue of Wood News Online, Norm Reid reviewed Foundations of Woodworking by Michael Pekovich:

While there are many good books that introduce woodworking to newcomers…none are perfect. Except, perhaps, Pekovich’s new book, Foundations of Woodworking.

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Purchase your own copy of Foundations of Woodworking

Click this link for more great woodworking books to read

Jan 062022
 

For the January 2022 issue of Wood News Online, Bob Rummer shares some reflections on the King of Pines – western white pine:

As a woodworker, I think about trees and forests and wood a lot. Show me some wavy grain and I will be drawn into deep thoughts about the meaning of life. There is a large coffee table in front of my recliner made from a section of western white pine about three feet in diameter. In 1978 my Forest Service research crew was working along the Lochsa River near Lolo Pass on the border of Idaho and Montana. We came across this section that someone had cut off and left in the woods. It took all of us to drag it back to the truck. Eventually, after lots of trimming and sanding, I turned it into a coffee table. I carved a dwarf to hold up one side that didn’t have enough wood for a leg. Now it sits in front of me, whispering something about telling its story.

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Dec 232021
 

Way back in the December 2018 issue of Wood News Online, Steve Erling showed us how he built a beautiful double bass at his son’s request:

My 30 year old son wanted to buy a double bass, but the cost for a good one was in the tens of thousands. He asked me if I could build him one. Here is how I did it.

Read the rest of the article and see how it turned out!

Dec 212021
 

For the December 2021 issue of Wood News Online, Temple Blackwood shared a recent project he did – multiple replicas of his friend’s 1914 heirloom nut bowl (complete with hammer and anvil):

One of my friends approached me last August with his heirloom maple nut bowl (once dropped, broken, and repaired) asking if I could replicate it for his five children in time for Christmas using native wood from Maine. His nut bowl has been special to him for many years, and the steel anvil has some initials stamped on it as well as the year 1914. I have an image of him sharing this original over the years and more recently in his office, enjoying all sorts of nuts that need to be cracked open with friends and relatives, a true tradition of sharing activities that so often define memories and relationships.

Read the rest of the article to see how he did it

Dec 162021
 

For the December 2021 issue of Wood News Online, Bob Rummer shares a few key woodworking task factors to keep in mind to minimize your risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome:

Our hands are an incredible part of the body. Biomechanically there are 27 degrees of freedom (different ways the hand can move) in the hand/wrist. Think what that means in woodworking – you grasp tools, pick up boards, manipulate parts, open jars, point and poke and touch. A large part of your woodworking skill comes from careful, precise, coordination of hand/wrist motions.

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Dec 092021
 

In this short video, Justin Moon takes a closer look at the Fisch Wave Cutter Forstner Bits. He explains their purpose and what sets them apart from other forstner bits, demonstrates the various ways they can help you on a project and offers some tips for using them in your own shop.