Woodworking Blog

We’re giving away some tools! Since we love the craft of fine woodworking, we want to share the love with our customers. To do this, Highland Woodworking is giving away 3 of our most popular Lie-Nielsen tools, plus the highly-rated Tormek T-7 Wet Grinder Sharpening System to one lucky customer.

Lie Nielsen – Tormek Giveaway includes:

# 60-1/2 Low Angle Adjustable Mouth Block Plane 
# 62 Low Angle Jack Plane
Ductile Iron Bench Holdfast 
Tormek T-7 Wet Grinder Sharpening System 

TOTAL VALUE of the Lie-Nielsen – Tormek Giveaway is $1099.

To enter CLICK HERE

To find out the rules and more information about the contest CLICK HERE

Contest Ends Noon Eastern Time on Tuesday, July 15th, 2014

Our newest issue of Wood News is now online!

Our April 2014 issue (#104) is filled with some great shop tours, project ideas, and tools. Special features this month include:

An “off-the-grid” woodworking shop in Hawaii amongst a whole bunch of avocado trees and other crops. John App shares how he maintains his woodworking shop with absolutely no connection to any electrical company, whatsoever.

Mike Smith continues his last workshop series with his 10th installment, Final Details, where he answers a few questions from his last installment regarding his dust collection system. He also goes through the set-up process of his table saw and work table.

Blog contributor, Lee Laird, discusses the Japanese Ryoba Saw and how you can resharpen the rip teeth on the saw once they get dull, and the best type of feather files to use in order to do so.

This month our ‘Show Us’ columns include:

Charlie Bridges’ converted garage workshop in Hartsville, TN. The garage is 24×24, and he uses half to work on his cars, and the other half as his workshop.

Joseph Sanzano shares his shaker-style woodworking projects in this months Show Us Your Woodworking column.

Serge Jacob “Jacko” from Belgium is a mechanic for both the Belgian Air Force and the aerobatic team, The Belgian Red Devils, and he shares some of his aerobatic team inspired carvings in this months Show Us Your Carving column.

We’ve also got a variety of tips from our regular contributors including:

The Down to Earth Woodworker: Steve shares his review of the JDS 2100-CKV Dust Collector, a good use for a hockey puck, the new Down to Earth Woodworker section of the Highland Woodworking Library, and a project idea for making Pet Steps.

In our monthly Tips From Sticks in the Mud, Jim gives a tip on removing moisture from compressed air tanks, and the usefulness of quick disconnects.

Alan Noel gives us 6 tips on painting over finishes.

Chris Bagby, the owner of Highland Woodworking, answers a question on ‘the making of span trees.’

And lastly, we’ve got reviews on Christopher Schwarz’s book Handsaw Essentials, as well as a tool review on the Earlex HV5500 Spray Station.

All of this and more in our April 2014 issue of Wood News Online!

Today we are featuring 4 woodworkers in our Follow Friday blog. These 4 gentleman all had features in our March Issues of both Wood News and The Highland Woodturner.

#1: Don Henderson-This month we featured Don’s workshop in Orleans, Ontario in our Show Us Your Shop column. Don’s shop is more recent, having been designed and built in the basement of his new house when he recently moved. His shop consists of the main shop area, and then several annexes that act as storage as well as home to several bigger pieces of equipment including his tablesaw, jointer/planer, and a second bandsaw that is dedicated to just curve cutting. 

A lot of Don’s woodworking focused on the restoration of old wooden boats, which you can see HERE.

#2: Peter Fabricius– In each issue of The Highland Woodturner, we feature a woodturner’s woodturning projects and/or their shop. This month we featured the woodturning and story of Peter Fabricius, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who retired in 2006 and was able to solely focus on woodturning upon retirement! When Peter creates a piece, he focuses on 3 factors: interest, beauty, and functionality. In addition to the cigar holders featured below, several more of Peter’s woodturning projects can be seen HERE.

#3: Pat Ring– Pat has gained his woodworking knowledge and expertise from a variety of woodworking schools, instructors, and organizations including the McLaughlin Woods Woodworking School, Garrett Hack, The New Hampshire Furniture Masters Association, Joy Valley Woodworks, and the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. You can see a variety of Pat’s projects HERE, as well as the custom-made lapsteel guitar case below.

#4: David Tidwell– David is an army veteran who got into painting while stationed in Fort Benning, GA. He didn’t get into carving until he one day decided to whittle a random pine knot he found in his yard. He turned the pine knot into the face of an old man and thus started a carving career. David carves a variety of objects including animals, fish, birds, and faces (as well as an entire trumpet, seen below). You can see more of David’s carvings HERE.

Fridays on the Highland Woodworking Blog are dedicated to #FollowFriday, where we use this space to further highlight a woodworker or turner who we have featured in our monthly e-publications Wood News and The Highland Woodturner. Would you like for your shop or woodworking to appear in our publications? We invite you to SEND US PHOTOS of your shop or work along with captions and a brief history and description of your woodworking (Email photos at 800×600 resolution.) Receive a $50 store credit redeemable towards merchandise if we show your shop in a future issue.