Kelley Bagby

I grew up around woodworking tools (see picture, age 4-5ish) but only recently started doing some of my own woodworking.

Your Woodworking ‘Bucket’ List: What’s on it?

Jun 222011
 

We’ve all got our list of things we want to do while we are still on this earth, even if the list is just in our heads. But woodworkers have a special list we keep separate: things we want to build before we go off to that great workshop in the sky.

One woodworking bucket list item I’ve often heard repeated is to build a windsor chair. This iconic piece of American furniture certainly speaks to many woodworkers, and represents several lifetimes of woodworking knowledge and skill.

And what better way to cross this item off your woodworking bucket list than to approach it with the help of an expert teacher? Peter Galbert is once again visiting Highland Woodworking this fall to teach a 7-day hands-on workshop in building a Continuous Arm Windsor Chair, and at the end of the week, you will leave with a beautiful piece of craftsmanship after learning ‘a whole new way of woodworking’. I mean, just look at it in the picture over there – isn’t it mesmerizing?

Find out more about our Windsor Chair guru Peter Galbert, his chair-building experience and his teaching philosophy at his website, petergalbertchairmaker.com, or at his blog, Chair Notes Blog.

And in the meantime, tell us in the comments below – what is on YOUR woodworking bucket list?

 

A short primer on Rust Control

Jun 212011
 

Now that summer has officially arrived, the heat and humidity that inevitably come with it are also here, and we’ve reached the time of year when protecting our tools from rust should top our to-do lists.

Of course, the best way to eliminate rust from your shop is to keep it from ever even starting. A preventative strategy is most effective, and this quick guide will explain how to do exactly that. And if you’ve already noticed some rust creeping up on your machines and other tools, the guide also provides some great tips for removing it and making sure it doesn’t come back!

Read on to learn how to stop rust from taking over your workshop!

Summer Projects: Downloadable Woodworking Plans for Kids

Jun 202011
 

Looking for a fun activity to do with your kids this summer? Well, starting this month, Highland Woodworking is offering downloadable project plans for children’s playthings designed by Kevin McGuire, author of the popular book “The All-New Woodworking For Kids“.

 

Every month we will make a new project plan available, so check back for new ones each month! These projects are a great way to get your kids or grandkids involved in woodworking.

 

This month we are offering plans for a planter box and garden tools, a little red wagon and a fun rope walker toy. Take a look and get started!

 

Festool Power Tools really are THAT TOUGH

Jun 172011
 

For your Friday entertainment, here’s a video from an anonymous Festool user that provides a pretty thorough demo of some extreme situations you can put your Festool drill through and have it still work. In the video, he coats the drill in drywall dust, sand, sawdust, and just-mixed drywall mud, and even immerses it in a bucket of water several times. And yet, after all of this abuse, the drill still works! Pretty effectively too – he manages to drive an auger bit through a 6×6 after the drywall mud dunking and doesn’t seem to have any problem with it.

Festool does indicate that this behavior is not recommended and could potentially void one’s warranty, but it is reassuring to know that a drill that is left out in the rain or has accumulated a lifetime of sawdust in its vents can still function.

Learn more about the NEW Festool CXS!

Check out the Festool drills and drilling accessories we offer.

Take a look at our entire selection of Festools.

The Highland Woodturner: Sphere-Based Turning

Jun 162011
 

The following article appeared in the 3rd issue of our new woodturning newsletter, The Highland Woodturner. If you are interested in receiving The Highland Woodturner every month, you can sign up here!

An Introduction to Sphere-based Turning

by Joe Skehan
Salt Lake City, UT

Most wood turning is performed on material mounted in a single plane; the wood is placed between centers or held in a chuck. It is then worked perpendicular or parallel to the grain. However, as early as the 16th century, turners discovered that if the material being worked was in the shape of a sphere, then it could be worked from any point, rotated and then worked from any other point, producing concentric designs.

What is the secret to all sphere-based creations, and how can you turn one yourself? Click here to find out!

June 2011 Highland Woodturner is available!

Jun 152011
 

Hi Woodworkers and Woodturners and Woodworker-turners!

We just sent out the June issue of the Highland Woodturner and it is packed full of fascinating and useful woodturning tidbits. We included a great article on turning multi-layer chinese balls – those intricate and impossible looking pieces you sometimes see and assume are completely beyond your turning capability. Turns out that with a little practice and a lot of persistence, you can make your own!

Also included in this month’s issue is another post and video from our woodturning blogger extraordinaire, Terry Chapman, where he explains how using Easy Wood Tools doesn’t always make woodturning simple. And just like any other type of woodworking, even the safest tools require practice using them.

We’ve also got a great Vermont-based woodturning shop, a new woodturning tip from Phil Colson and a couple great product deals for you, so check it out!

A Few Friends in the Shop: Wooden Planes

Jun 102011
 

While many woodworkers crave the quiet and isolation of time alone in the workshop, I personally find it a little lonely sometimes. Sure, it is a nice release from the busyness of the day, and I appreciate the time to be alone with my thoughts. I also really like the self-reliance I develop when there isn’t anyone around to ask how to do something, and I just have to figure it out for myself.

Still, a friendly face and a bit of personality can make your time in the shop more enjoyable, and while catching up on my woodworking blogs, I ran across an older blog post by Kari Hultman, The Village Carpenter, where it appears she has found a happy medium between a quiet wood shop with, as she puts it, “a quirky crew” of wooden planes to keep her on her toes.

Included in her wonderfully entertaining description of each of her plane’s bizarrely human characteristics is the romantic notion of having a wooden hand plane you’ve owned and used for many years develop a thumb indentation on its side. I love this idea, and it makes me wonder if I’ll ever do enough woodworking to achieve this?

For any of you who are inspired to make your own hand plane, here are a few good starting places:

The Ron Hock Wooden Plane Kit, a Krenov-style Jarrah plane kit that includes all the pieces ready for assembly. There’s even a video at that link showing Ron Hock himself assembling one of these planes.

Making Traditional Wooden Planes, a fascinating book that offers plans for 20 different wooden planes, as well as some great history lessons and helpful information about maintaining your wooden plane once you’ve made one.

Lee Laird’s two-part blog post about making his own wooden plane. In this series, Lee Laird goes through all the steps he took to make a wooden plane, and proclaims it to be a great solution when you can’t find the exact plane that you need.