In the lull between the frenzy of December/January holidays and the activities of the anticipated winter, the shop is relatively quiet. The backlog of architectural copy/multiple orders have all been completed and shipped; I have almost caught up with the several Christmas gift certificate lessons of 2022; and my grandson helped me give the shop its annual deep cleaning (not that that will last very long).  As a result and benefitting from the unusually mild winter thus far, I have some rare discretionary time to work on projects of my own while I build inventory for the upcoming summer s ..read more

In a recent Turning the Corner column, writer and woodturner Temple Blackwood detailed the turning process for creating a mouthpiece for a Hardy Tinfoil Phonograph. The process Temple used for turning the replicas was interesting enough to stand alone as its own article, but we had even more questions when we were done about the machinery the mouthpiece was used on. See below for more information about the Hardy Tinfoil Phonograph, sent in by Temple’s client, Lee from Virginia. Thank you Lee for the follow up! “The Tinfoil Phonograph that I have is a “Hardy”. I have included below a page from ..read more

Our contributor and prolific woodturner Temple Blackwood is being featured in a very cool online gallery, courtesy of the Witherle Memorial Library in his hometown of Castine, Maine. Take a look and prepare to be inspired! Signatures | An Online Gallery The post Turning the Corner: Temple Blackwood Online Exhibit! appeared first on Woodworking Blog ..read more

As seems often to happen, I received an email from a stranger asking if I might be able to replicate a small a chess piece for a miniature set to replace a missing queen for his girl friend’s birthday.  Apparently the unusually small chess set was a favorite of hers that had been missing the dark queen for quite some time but fortunately still had the light queen, from which I could make a copy in black walnut. Once I acquired the sample queen, I cut a slightly oversized walnut blank for turning. After mounting the piece between centers, I turned a tenon, which I then used to mount ..read more

One of my most admired local friends retired last fall from her 50 year career working for and running an amazing museum of global artifacts and colonial living history program.  Soon after retiring, she realized that there were parts of her life she did not want to leave behind.  As a result, she started up her own early morning (7:30AM) “Free Fresh Donut Tuesday” program and now finds herself and her own kitchen crowded with eager, hungry admirers each week.  Her community of followers smoothly followed her into her “retirement,” and she happily focuses on letting no visitor l ..read more

It’s getting hot in here! This is the first summer I have spent significant time woodworking. I work in a garage without any kind of environmental controls beyond raising and lowering the garage door or cracking a window. What I have learned quickly is that it gets really hot, really fast! I thought surely there must be some tips for managing the temperature in an unmanaged room, but it turns out a lot of people manage it by just not woodworking at all, especially in sunbelt states like mine. While I have by no means solved making sawing away on a balmy summer afternoon pleasant, I have disco ..read more

For the February 2022 issue of Wood News Online, Temple Blackwood shared his process for turning a replacement porch post column. One of my regular contractor customers came by some time ago with an interesting problem that he decided I would be the perfect person to help him with. An elderly customer of his had a rotted porch post column base in the front corner of her garage where it was constantly in her sight as she drove away from or back to her home. While she had no real interest in replacing the other five column bases that are in equal deterioration further back, she wants this one ..read more

Two roads diverged in a wood and I — Took both; and a third, fourth, fifth, sixth… Briefly, I started woodworking with 3D design, followed by rough carpentry, finish carpentry, 2D design, handheld CNC, gantry CNC, fine woodworking, finishing, hand woodworking, carving, etc… Today I spend hours each night hand cutting pin and tail boards in pursuit of near perfect dovetails. Along each of these roads, I have learned something that has helped me move further down the other roads. While touching a little bit of everything has been fun and expensive, upon reflection taking so many roads has left m ..read more

For the March 2022 issue of Wood News Online, Temple wrote about a project where he had to turn twenty-four replacement spindles for a horse carriage seat: One of my new customers wrote to me and explained that he is in the process of rebuilding an antique horse carriage and needs to replace twenty-four white ash spindles that decorate and support the back of the seat. Read the rest of the article The post Turning the Corner: Carriage Seat Spindles appeared first on Woodworking Blog ..read more

For the March 2022 issue of Wood News Online, Norm Reid reviewed The Stick Chair Book by Christopher Schwarz: Chris Schwarz’s latest rendering, The Stick Chair Book is a revelation and an inspiration. Even if you’ve never had the desire to build your own chair out of wood, this book might change your mind. Read the rest of the review Purchase your own copy of The Stick Chair Book Click this link for more great woodworking books to read The post Book Review: The Stick Chair Book By Christopher Schwarz appeared first on Woodworking Blog ..read more