WoodworkingONLINE.com

It’s time I finally addressed this topic. The seminar podcasts are NOT being discontinued.

As you know, August Home Publishing has branched out into television. The Woodsmith Shop just started its second season, which means our video production crew has been extremely busy taping and editing the shows that you’re now watching. Unfortunately, this means that podcast video production has been put on the back-burner.

We have been taping the seminars at the Woodsmith Store though and as soon as we get caught up, the podcasts will begin again. Thanks for your interest in the podcasts and I apologize for not keeping everyone up-to-date on our progress. Look for a new Woodsmith Seminar Podcast within the next few weeks.

Jan 17…Building Drawers Using Drawer Joint Bits w/ Phil Huber

Jan 24 …Three Hand Planes Every Shop Should Have w/ Randy Maxey

Jan 31 …A Simple Shop-Made Jig for Cutting Tenons w/ Carol Beronich

Feb 7 …Table aw Set Up & Maintenance w/ Vince Ancona

Feb 14 …3 New Innovations in Joinery w/ Joel Hess

Feb 21 …12 Must-Have Finishing Supplies w/ Dennis Perkins

Feb 28 …5 Surprising Woodworking Techniques You Didn’t Know About w/ Doug Hicks

Mar 6 …Sharpening Basics: Man vs. Machine w/ Randy Maxey

Mar 13 …3 Fast Joints — All in One Hour w/ Ted Kralicek

Mar 20 …Scroll Saw Tips & Techniques w/ Linda Anderson

Mar 27 …Two Methods for Perfect Box Joints w/ Bryan Nelson

Apr 3 …Case Construction: Routing Rabbets, Dadoes & Grooves w/ Chris Fitch

Apr 10 …Mortise & Tenon — Two Variations for Making Doors w/ Dennis Perkins

Apr 17 …Hand Rubbing a Perfect Finish w/ Doug Hicks

Apr 24 …Building a Bookshelf: From Start to Finish, Part 1 w/ Phil Huber

May 1 …Building a Bookshelf: From Start to Finish, Part 2 w/ Phil Huber

Get the full schedule of upcoming seminars and descriptions at WoodworkingSeminars.com

The seminars start on January 17th and run through May 1st. Cost per seminar is $8, but the price includes a $5 $awbuck$ coupon good for any item in the Woodsmith Store (excluding seminar tickets and season tickets).

We talk a lot around here about the Woodsmith Store. For a little over fifteen years, it was a small, out-of-the-way haven for woodworkers tucked into the Beaverdale neighborhood of Des Moines. Then in 2003 everything changed.

That was when the old Payless Cashways building in Clive was remodeled and Des Moines became home to one of the largest independently-owned woodworking stores in the country. It is truly a regional destination store for woodworkers from all over the Midwest. The store, now over 20,000 square feet in size, is filled with woodworking supplies, tools, machinery and hardwoods. Think Cabella’s, Bass Pro Shops, or L.L. Bean.

This coming weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (September 21st, 22nd and 23rd), the Woodsmith Store will celebrate its 20th Anniversary with a Fall Fair event. There will be a lot going on, not only in the woodworking departments, but in the painting and gardening departments as well. I just thought it deserved a shameless plug here. Hope you can stop by.

A few weeks ago, I put out an appeal to the readers of WoodworkingONLINE to send me project images that I could post to our gallery. Since then, I’ve received a response from just one woodworker — a gentleman named Garry Smith. Garry has a super shop that he likes to show off (and for good reason!). His beautiful headboard and footboard is made from cherry and curly yellow birch. To complement the headboard and footboard, Garry also incorporated this matching bench designed to set at the end of the bed.

Now, it’s possible that the quality of Garry’s work has kept people from sending in photos of their work, but I doubt it. I’ve seen some really nice stuff being built out there and I’d like to show if off here.

Yesterday, I received another email from Bill Hendrick of Ankeny, Iowa. Bill attends the weekly seminars at the Woodsmith Store, where we are constantly promoting our two woodworking blogs: WoodworkingONLINE.com and WoodworkingSeminars.com. He wanted to show off one of his projects — a screen door that he built for their summer home in Estes Park, Colorado. Bills says, “…it is a copy of a door my wife and I saw in Maine while we were on a tandem bicycle trip across the USA!”

Most of the projects that Bill has worked on so far are for outdoor use. This cupola is based on one Norm Abram did for the PBS television series, New Yankee Workshop. He fabricated the copper roof, but bought the “trout” wind vane from a local artist.

Bill also sent me some shots of the new dust collection system that he just finished installing. He’s new to woodworking and says he would like to get a look at other people’s shops. The images he sent me don’t fit into the furniture gallery that I have set up, but I’m looking into adding a “Shops” Gallery in the near future, so I’ll post them there when its complete.

If you’d like to show off your work (either projects or of your shop), please email them as attachments to Joel Hess (jhess(at)augusthome(dot)com) and I’ll get them added. Also, tell me a little about yourself and what you’re doing in the shop.

It’s time we got this gallery up and going!

Photo courtesy Lee Valley Tools

Last spring, I bought one of two brand new hand planes, both from Lee Valley. One was the Veritas® medium shoulder plane. The other was their low-angle smooth plane. Most of my planes are restored derelicts purchased on Ebay or from yard sales. So the decision to get this plane didn’t come without a lot of thought. And the only new plane I’ve purchased up until then was a cheap little trimming plane from the BORG.

Now, you can read all sorts of lengthy reviews of this plane all over the web. But I want to talk about why I decided on this plane.

Read the rest of this article »

Back in the shop on Friday evening to finish up the Joiner’s Mallet. By the way, one of the reasons I can’t get into the shop on Thursday’s is because I’m helping with the woodworking seminars at the Woodsmith Store. If you’re interested in what we’re doing at the store every Thursday from September through May, but you don’t live in the Des Moines area, you can now watch podcasts online (or download them to your iPod). We’ll be adding a few more podcasts in the next week or so, then when we catch up, you’ll be able to get a new one every Monday afternoon. There’s a comment box and I’d love to hear what you think — good or bad. Read the rest of this article »

Next Thursday at The Woodsmith Store, I’ll be giving a seminar titled:

Why You Need Hand Planes in Your Shop

Even if you have a shop full of power tools, I’ll show you how hand planes can add a level of craftsmanship to your projects you never thought possible.  We’ll look at how to level an uneven joint, get perfectly flush edge-banding on plywood, smooth a glued-up panel, and much more.

Join us for an information-packed and fun evening!

Sponsored in part by:

Every Thursday night this fall you can learn from the experts at the Woodsmith Store and Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and Workbench magazines. We’ll walk you through the basics of woodworking, tool techniques, safety, terminology, and everything you need to know to build great projects in your home shop. Reference handouts are provided. All questions are welcome.

Click here for more details including a calendar, seminar topics, and how to sign up!     

It’s no secret by now that I enjoy hand planes. I enjoy finding old ones and bringing them back to life. And I finally scraped enough pennies together to buy a new Veritas® Low Angle Smoother and Veritas® Medium Shoulder Plane (more on those another day).

Now I enjoy working with my hand tools but I’m not shy about using a power tool when I need to. But I’ve found that there are a lot of power tool users that have never experienced or don’t understand how hand tools can make their woodworking better. Hand tools (especially planes) can add a level of craftsmanship you often can’t get from power tools alone.

So, I started a couple of threads on WoodNet. One is for the power tool user. The other is for mostly hand tool users.  I want to know your thoughts for a seminar I’m giving in October. The title is, “Why You Need Hand Planes in Your Workshop.”  Click here for details on the seminar titles and calendar.

Please chime in with your thoughts. If you’re mostly a power tool user, chime in here on the Power Tools forum.

Hand tool user?  Chime in with your opinions here on the Hand Tools forum.

I would appreciate your thoughts so that I can make the seminar fun and educational.

Got tools you want to get rid of?  Got tools you’d like to buy at bargain prices?  Then you need to come to the Woodworkers’ Swap Meet on Saturday, September 9 from 8:00am to 1:00pm sponsored by the Des Moines Woodworkers’ Association.

If you’ve got tools to sell, you need to fill out this form.  You can also see a sampling of tools that will be for sale on page 2 of this form.

Click here for directions to the Woodsmith Store.