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I remember when I received my first catalog several years ago from Bridge City Tool Works. At first I thought, “These are awesome tools.” Their craftsmanship is unbelievable. But they were out of reach of my meager tool budget. (Thanks honey!)

But Bridge City Tool Works and founder John Economaki have built a strong following made up of both users and collectors. You don’t stay in business for over 25 years without a loyal customer base. And as John says, “We make a world-class product …but, there’s more to our tools than just making sawdust. I believe the combination of form and function is inspiring and adds immensely to the physical process of woodworking.”

So when I was asked last week to take a look at the new HP-7 Shoulder Plane, I was eager to get my hands on it. Read the rest of this article »

Growing up in a Baptist church that was built in the 1800′s, I’ve always had a fascination with the beautiful architecture and woodwork in these old churches.  There’s one old Baptist church in a town where I grew up (Delaware, Ohio) that is nothing but solid woodwork and intricate carvings as you stand in the back of the church and look up toward the altar.  Your eye is drawn to the majestic organ pipes that cover the wall of the church behind the pulpit.  And the organ itself must have taken months — if not years — to build.  It’s a remarkable testament to the craftsmen that so painstakingly cut, carved, and joined every piece.  I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have that level of patience and craftsmanship.  I’m going to keep working on both of those virtues. Read the rest of this article »

Yesterday, Joel posted his Top 10 Woodworking Tips to WoodworkingSeminars.com. His first tip had to do with fire hazards, so I told him a story from the “good old days” of Woodsmith magazine, and he thought it would be good to share it on WoodworkingOnline. (Okay, as you will see, they weren’t always that “good!”) Anyway, this story took place in the late 1980s. The magazine wasn’t printed in color yet, each issue only had about 32 pages, and there were just a few of us working on it. We did everything from designing and building the projects, working on the drawings, researching and writing the articles, laying all of the artwork and text blocks on a page manually (long before the beginning of computerized page layout programs), and even occasionally boxing up and mailing back issues.

Since everyone did everything, a lot of us worked in the shop and we probably weren’t as careful as we might have been. One morning, Archie, our maintenance and mail guy, was the first person to arrive at work, about 6:30AM. He smelled something in the building that didn’t seem right. His nose followed the smell into the bottom floor, back end of the building: the shop. He was surprised to find that our full-sized plastic garbage can was now a melted puddle on the floor! Read the rest of this article »

Doug Hicks, executive editor of Woodsmith magazine has been teaching woodworking in one form or another for the last 30 years. In this seminar, Doug spends the entire hour trying to correct all the myths and misinformation we might have learned in high school shop class.

Preaching patience, Doug encourages all woodworkers to take your time, go that extra step to a perfect project, and most importantly, enjoy yourself. To get the most from our woodworking hobby, he feels we shouldn’t focus simply on finishing a project as much as learning to enjoy the process.

Note: If you had problems with the download from iTunes, please delete it and re-download. An incorrect seminar was posted. It was corrected today (Thursday, Dec. 7th) at 3:30pm CST. I’m sorry for any problems you may have encountered. -Joel Hess

 

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For those of you interested in metalworking and woodworking, this post may be of interest:

A Visit to Paul Hamler’s Shop

Looking for a circular saw? Acccording to some WoodNetters, the Makita Hypoid circ saw is hard to beat:

Makita Hypoid Saw

I’m not sure which is funnier – the Craig’s List item for sale – or the forum thread itself:

Craigs List – Chuckle

Even considering repeat posters, over 1000 people took advantage of this “Day After Thanksgiving” Sale:

Official HDT Black Friday List

I’m getting in on the ground floor.

Pre-Owned Woodworking is a brand new woodworking auction site. How new is it? Well, my classified ad is the first. Plus, there’s a single auction that’s been up for about a week. That’s it.

I’m not holding out much hope!

Now, I’ve used all the old auction sites in the past. eBay, Craig’s List and WoodNet Tools Swap n’ Sell are a few that I use the most. I don’t have any idea how many eyes will see my new ad at Pre-Owned Woodworking, but I’ve always rooted for the little guy.

And darn it, Cary Waddell (president of Pre-Owned Woodworking) has moxey. And I like guy’s with moxey. He contacted us a couple of week’s ago, wanting to sponsor our podcasts. After seeing his website start up, our first response here was to wait and see.

But, it’s like my grandpa always used to say, “You’ve got to start somewhere.” So let’s see what happens.

Do you need an old ShopSmith?

The Wharton Esherick Museum is located near Paoli, Pennsylvania which is just outside Philadelphia. It’s open for tours by appointment only. Esherick’s studio is located in the musuem which was also his home for 50 years before his death in 1970.

Esherick’s daughter Ruth Bascom, and her husband Bob currently own the museum and have been the caretakers of the estate for the last 35 years. The Bascoms want to retire and hand over the museum to the nonprofit organization that currently runs the museum.

Described during his life as the “Dean of American Craftsman,” Wharton Esherick’s imaginative, sculptural-style workpieces had a huge influence on American modern art and have been displayed at the Smithonian Institution. His spiral staircase (photo at left) is probably his most famous piece.

Photos by George Widman for GPTMC