Innovative Way to Carry Lumber in a Car

A friend of mine sent this amusing link that was posted on the Fine Woodworking website.

Trust me, before I owned a cargo van and a truck, I had to resort to some innovative methods for transporting material!

Waterfall glazes

A few people have written asking if I'm making any tile these days. I used to blog about my tile escapades fairly frequently, but it's been a while since I posted anything about that. But the truth is - lately, I've been working on more tile work than woodwork!

The Waterfall Brown glaze featured in the book Mastering Cone Six Glazes has been an obsession of mine for a few years. But lately, the different blue variations of this glaze that I developed have been cranky with me. They've become somewhat difficult to work with - producing pinholes and blisters. And a major headache for me.

Since I developed so many different colors of this glaze, I went back to square one and decided to work with the glazes that produce consistent, gorgeous results. Here's a current favorite - Waterfall Teal. Since cobalt can often result in some glaze problems, I decided to go back to a glaze that doesn't contain any cobalt.

Here are some leaves that were fired a couple of days ago, using that teal glaze.



By slow cooling the kiln, you can get some wonderful crystal formations, like the ones shown below.

And when the glaze is applied a little thicker, the color is more vivid and interesting.



It doesn't matter whether you're talking about wood or clay, if you have consistency in your work, you can start getting good results.

I've learned this - the secret to working productively is to take good notes and learn from the good things you produce. You're better off chasing good things, than spending a lot of energy chasing the bad ones.

How to Adjust Your Miter Gauge

In the last post, I showed how the Wixey digital cube has revolutionized setting up a tablesaw. Getting your blade perfectly plumb with the table is often a problem in the woodshop, but that device lets you see the exact angle of the blade.

But here's another device that might be even more helpful - a digital protractor. These come in different lengths, the one shown here is a 12" model. This particular model is sold in 4", 8' and 12" lengths, but I felt that the longest one would be most accurate for the type of work I do. If you make smaller things, the 4" might work fine for you.


Start by placing it down on the table, next to the blade. You want it right up against the blade, with no gaps.


Then turn it on, and zero it out, so it reads 0.0.


Now swing the other leg of the protractor down, against your miter gauge fence. You've attached a wooden fence to your miter gauge, right?


If your miter gauge is adjusted correctly, it should read 90.0. You can see that mine is off just a little. But that "little" will mean that nothing I cut will be perfectly square.


Loosen the knob on the miter gauge, and re-adjust it until it reads a perfect 90˚. Once you get it adjusted, re-tighten the knob.


That's all there is to it! It couldn't be simpler, and it is VERY accurate. Now there is no excuse for bad miter joints.


I bought my two digital devices here, but they're available at most woodworking supply retailers. Shop around, there are some deals out there.

Now if don't want to buy a device like this, you can certainly use a large framing square to adjust your miter gauge. I did it that way for years. But the truth is - even with a good square, it's easy to be off just a little bit. This digital protractor was only about $45 - it might be the best money I've spent on tools in a very long time.

Wixey Digital Angle Gauge

A gentleman who recently took my Basic Woodworking class told me about the Wixey digital angle gauge, which he had just purchased. I wasn't familiar with it, so he brought it in to show me how it worked. It didn't take me long to understand the importance of this device, so I bought one immediately.

This thing is amazing!

I put it down on my tablesaw, and zeroed it out, so it read absolute 0.


There are three magnets on the bottom of it, so I cranked my blade up all the way and attached the Wixey to it. Here you can see, it's reading 90 degrees,


which means my blade is perfectly adjusted. Since the cube is accurate to a tenth of a degree, you can micro adjust your blade to whatever angle you desire. I don't care how careful you are with a square, you'll never get the sort of accuracy like you get with this jewel.

Next stop - my jointer. Here, I placed the Wixey on the table, and zeroed it out again.


The I flipped it over to the fence, and checked the squareness of it, in relationship to the table. Ninety degrees, baby... that's what I'm talking about.


There are a lot of places that sell the Wixey, but I bought my Wixey here, and got a great deal.

On top of that, I bought a digital protractor, which works much the same way. It's perfect for adjusting my miter gauge. I'll try to get some photos of that, too. Stay tuned!.

Mega-snowman

You've heard of Mega-millions, or MegaDeath, or Mega Man, but have you ever seen a Mega snowman? My mom sent me this photo, taken from her neighborhood in Ohio. It's a little tough to tell how big this snowman is, but it's larger than a car.


Whoever built this even wrapped some lights around the carrot nose, so it would be illuminated at night. Imagine how cold it must have been when they were building this!


Well, maybe I don't want to imagine how cold it was.... to all my friends and family back east, please stay safe and warm.

I'll be back to blogging about woodworking shortly, but classes are starting up this week and I've been busy preparing for them. I'm working on a video tour of the woodworking school, so stay tuned!

Set design (gone bad)

If you poke around through some of the books in my office bookcase, you'll see more than a few on theater set design.

I've always had an interest in building sets - I love the way they compress life into a flat canvas, and everything is fake, yet seems real. In fact, I was just reading another woodworking blog and the blogger mentioned that when she watches TV, she finds herself paying more attention to the furniture and the set, than the actors and the plot.

I get it. I do that too.

Which leads me to this video...

Cleaning up the shop

Classes don't start until next week, but I've been doing a good deal of maintenance and cleaning of the school during this break. I've even rearranged some tools, for a better work flow. Every woodworker I know does that fairly often, until they get that "perfect" set-up.

So today was "clean out the tablesaw cabinet" day, which I always dislike. There's something about being on your hands and knees, with your head in a box full of sawdust, that just bugs me. The bad news is - as soon as I cleaned it out, I remembered that I had to rip a buttload of wood down. So I should have waited.

I also tweaked the dust collector system, checking each joint for air leaks, and tightened all the clamps. How do those work themselves loose? I know I have a woodshop ghost, but surely that can't be something she's interested in.... right?

Next up - filling all the glue bottles. Those five gallon buckets of Titebond are a PITA to pour from - they're heavy and hard to handle, and every now and then, they "burp" out a huge glug of glue. Usually it end up all over my hands and the bottles I'm filling.

The easiest way to pour glue from one of those buckets is to lay it on it's side, with the spigot on top, and verrrrry slowly rotate the bucket, so that the glue can pour in a controlled manner. Well, that's the plan, at least.

I use two kinds of glue - dark wood glue, when joining darker woods, like Walnut or Cherry.


And regular yellow glue when working with... you guessed it, lighter woods.


That way, if you don't have a nice, straight edge on your boards, at least you won't see a visible glue line.

I got a little tired of holding the big bucket, so I gambled and let it drain on it's own.


Luckily, I remembered to go back and check on this, just as that bottle on the floor was filling up to the top.

Here's a tip for anyone who buys glue in gallons, and needs some smaller glue bottles to hold the glue. Go to a restaurant supply store, where they sell plastic bottles in a variety of sizes - cups, pints, quarts - you name it. They're extremely inexpensive at these stores. I just bought some nice quart bottles for 55¢ a piece. Can't beat that!

Mechanical Movements in wood

A woman who recently took a class with me told me about a group of artists who make contemporary automata. They call themselves the Cabaret Mechanical Theater, and if you've never seen what they do, you're in for a treat.














Seeing all these mechanical devices reminded me of a couple of bottle stoppers I'd gotten from my grandmother's home when she passed away. A little research shows these came from Italy, made by a company founded by Anton Riffeser. In 1926, he started a company called the House of ANRI, which were the first two initials of his first and last name.

Here's the first stopper, which features a couple puckered up and ready to kiss. (Is it just me, or does this look like two men?)




There's a small lever on the back, which controls their heads.



Push the lever down and their heads swivel around, where they meet in a kiss.


The other stopper I have is the drinking man. When he's resting, he's got a bottle of booze in one hand, and a glass in the other.


Rotate the knob and he leans over to pour himself another round.


Rotate it in the other direction, and he drains the glass.


Both of the corks have long since broken off of these stoppers. Still, they're a highly sought after collectible. Here is a little more info on them.

There is even a cool book about the ANRI woodcarvings.

A quickie cabinet

Many of the students who take classes at the woodworking school come straight from their day jobs, so the first thing they do is head to the bathroom to change their clothes. I was feeling a little guilty about the bathroom not being the most convenient place to change - there isn't even a hook on the back of the door to hang up a backpack or purse. So I just put together a simple cabinet out of some leftover Cherry door panels I had sitting on a shelf.


These door panels measure roughly 14 x 41, so I used those dimensions as a starting point for the cabinet. Since this cabinet is also going to hold some bathroom supplies on it's shelves, I decided to make the two adjustable shelves out of melamine covered MDF, with a solid cherry edge to match the rest of the cabinet. Melamine isn't exactly glamorous material for a piece of furniture, but if that bottle of glass cleaner or cleanser leaks, clean-up is much easier.


Of course, I had to rout a graceful curve on the top. The cabinet might not be in a place of prominence, but there's no sense in making it boring.

The top looks like it needs another coat of Watco.


My local Festool guru loaned me a Domino to play with, and this cabinet was a perfect opportunity to try it out. I have to admit - this piece went together in minutes, as opposed to hours. And as much as I want to complain about the price of the Domino, I am quickly seeing the merits of owning one.

Guess I'll be re-working my tool budget for 2010 and trying to fit this tool into my arsenal.

Mele Kalikimaka!

What's on your nightstand?

It feels like most nights, I climb into bed and fall asleep so quickly, there is never time to read a chapter or two of a good book. But lately, I've been fighting a sore back, in which laying horizontal is just about the only way I find relief.

So much of the last week or so, I've found myself horizontal much earlier than normal. I'm fine with that, it lets me catch up on some books piling up on my nightstand. I thought I'd share with you what books I'm reading.


If the cover of this Michael Pollan book looks pretty beaten up, it's because it's been following me around for almost two years. I took it to Hawaii with me a few years ago, but just couldn't seem to find the right frame of mind with which to read it. I'm glad I finally made the effort, and reading it may have forced me into some deep thinking about becoming a vegetarian. I know one thing - I learned more about corn, and the whole food movement in our country, than I'd ever thought possible. If that sounds boring - trust me, it wasn't.


I threw this on my nightstand yesterday, when it came in the mail. Sometimes I just want to read something short and simple, so my mind isn't cluttered up right before falling asleep. It looks like there is an interesting tribute to James Krenov in this issue, as well as a gallery of some of his past student's work.

Also, since I teach boxmaking at my school, I was quite interested to see an article about boxmaking that included some alternative methods for making lids. The article has some innovative ideas, but one of the things I like about the way I teach boxmaking is that the grain of the wood matches around the perimeter of the box. Only one of the methods in the article allowed for this, but I felt like it was the more difficult (and easier to screw up) approach. Still... if you're a boxmaker looking for an alternative to installing hinges, this article might be of interest to you.


I think I found this book quite by accident, but I'm fascinated with the thought of hearing from our loved ones who have passed away. This book explores a connection with that other world, and although I'm only up to the first chapter, I can already tell it's going to be a fascinating read.

And finally... a blast from the past.


I have no idea if this author is still alive, but this book by George Grotz is classic. Published in 1962, it covers all sorts of topics related to woodworking - repairs, finishes, restoration, faux finishing, bleaching, wood info, and much more. He's hilarious, and his humor comes out in every chapter. For example, the chapter about bleaching has a subtitle of "blonds I've known".


Yes, much of the information is dated; there was no Gorilla glue then, nor some of the tools and finishes that are so common today. But he includes some very simple repair information that most homeowners might find helpful. Check out the illustration below for removing the warp from a bowed tabletop.

Speaking of that, yesterday I received a question on All-Experts, a site on which I volunteer. about a warped tabletop. Someone wrote to ask about a bowed table top, and as he described the problem, my head wanted to explode. Here's a link to the question and the answer.

The back cover of George's book offers a peek at some of the topics he covers inside.


I bought this book used on Amazon for next to nothing. You can find some really obscure, out of print books there. And even with shipping, the cost is very reasonable. At a recent Sin City Woodworkers meeting, Dennis Patchett gave an amazing demo on carving linenfold panel doors. He brought along an old carving book that he says taught him the basics of how to make these panels. I just picked up a copy of it on Amazon for $9, including shipping. Not a bad deal, considering the amount of information that this book contains.



Here's the one last item you'll always find on my nightstand.

Anyone else want to share what's in your reading cue right now?

Bookcases

Here's a very cool article on bookcases. My favorite is the first one, the "cave" by Sakura Adachi.

Which one is yours?

Repairing cracks in wood

One of my students sent this link to a really simple method for repairing cracks in wood. Thanks Christine!

Woodworkers Journal : Gluing Techniques : Easy (And Instant) Crack Repair

Winter gardening

Here's a little glimpse of my Friday morning. I've been spending way too much time in the woodshop lately, so I thought I'd work in the garden today.

Last night, we finally had some cold weather. Cold enough to freeze the last fruit and vegetables that are still on the ground. So when I went outside this morning, the first thing I saw was a wilted, lifeless eggplant vine.

Of course, I had a "crew" to help me cut the plant down.

There's nothing better than sliced eggplant, drizzled with olive oil and grilled. Toss it with some feta or layer it on pizza, it's fabulous.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me on the grill.

About a third of the eggplant were a sick, golden color. If anyone knows what causes that, could you let me know? After cutting down most of the plant, I raked up the layer of dead leaves.

Ruthie ended up with a beard full of leaves.

After the eggplant, I turned my attention to to the citrus trees. The oranges were perfect.

So were the limes.

One of the limes rolled across the brick pavers, which of course, made Stella think we were playing catch with them. Here she is, looking remorseful, after sinking her teeth into one of them.

The grapefruit were looking gorgeous, too.

We're ready to play, mama.

The last plants left are the artichokes. Who said you can't grow artichokes in the desert? I have absolutely no idea what I'm supposed to do with them for the winter. Leave them as they are, or cut them back? I've searched a few gardening
sites, but can't find any information.

Any ideas?

Back to the sawdust in the morning!

A few more pictures...