All posts by Tom

I'm the guy who writes the blog...
Tom

Giving Thanks

5 Comments

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the United States – the day of huge gut-busting meals and finalizing strategies for the big Black Friday shopping events…

But, it’s so much more than that.  It’s a time to pause and think about what we are thankful for. And, if there has ever been a year I’ve been thankful for things, it’s 2011. It’s been a year of challenges, but it has also been a year of great success. Without further ado, here the 2011 version of what I’m thankful for…

I am thankful for my health.  Seems like a small and odd thing to start off with, but I’m beginning to appreciate just how important that truly is.

I am thankful for my wife – the silent partner at Tom’s Workbench who helps make all of this possible through her encouragement, advice and patience.

I am thankful for my two sons, who are growing so fast, impressing me with their academic prowess and are starting to take an interest in what dad is doing in the shop.

I am thankful that I was able to change the grooming habits of so many people in the woodworking community.

I am thankful for my supporters, Bell Forest Products, Tormek tools and Infinity Cutting Tools. Your  guys’ faith in me helps keep the doors open and the lights on here at Tom’s Workbench.

I am thankful to be part of a lively and vibrant online woodworking community helping to keep the craft alive. Check out the links in my blogroll to the right of this article and see for yourself.

I am thankful that Marc and Nicole Spagnuolo’s son Mateo was born this year and is doing well- despite some of the challenges he has faced. I’m also thankful Aaron Marshall and his wife were able to adopt a baby girl this year. Heck, I’m just thankful for healthy little ones and the new parents out there.

I am thankful that there are people like David Wert who are selflessly serving our country overseas. I know they would give anything to be home with their families and back in their shops.  I will be praying for their safety and for a quick return and reunion with their loved ones.

I am thankful that I am still creative enough to find new ways to foul things up in my shop, and even more thankful I can find ways to fix those mess ups.

I am thankful that I met so many fellow woodworkers at the Woodworking Show in Tampa this past March and at the Woodworking in America conference in October. Even though I say this every year, I am STILL amazed by how funny, creative and talented each of you is.

I am thankful that Wood Magazine continues to believe in the Shop Monkey and wants my hairy counterpart to continue writing articles for their magazine. Sometimes, I really do have to pinch myself…

I am thankful that I was able to repair my grandfather’s desk chair and put it to use in my office. It helps me  remember my relatives and their guidance while I was growing up.  I only hope that I am able to positively influence my sons and their offspring in the same way.

I am thankful that woodworker Kyle Barton shared the difficult story of the loss of his shop to help teach an important lesson about how to prepare for disasters and how to recover from them.

And, I’m thankful that my shop wasn’t destroyed – or my family hurt – by the tornadoes that ripped through my neighborhood on March 31. Looking at the destruction in places like Tuscaloosa and Joplin, I am counting my blessings.

I am thankful that my band saw can forgive me for the years of bad treatment I have given it.

Most importantly, I am thankful for each of you who come to my site to read my sometimes nonsensical ramblings. Without your comments, your support, your encouragement AND your humor, I don’t think I would be able to keep up the pace of my postings.

Tomorrow, when I raise a glass of wine to toast what I am thankful for, understand that I will be toasting each of you. My friends, I wish you nothing but peace and happiness this holiday season.

 

Experiences

The Shop Monkey returns for more!

2 Comments

Oh, yes, it was SO good in 2010, you know I just had to come back for more!  I just can’t get enough of the Great American Teach In… even  though some of the questions were a little more pointed… 🙂

My day began last Thursday by driving my youngest son in to his school, where they had some great coffee. Jet fuel for the soul. There, I delivered three talks to two fifth grade and one fourth grade classes. Unlike last year, where I just spoke about tools, this year I cut several samples of joints, showed how they worked together and even showed off my blog.

After the third session at my youngest son’s school, I packed up my materials and headed down the road a ways to my oldest son’s middle school. I was surprised when I got there that I had a lot of time available before my first class… and I was going to be fed lunch.  The food was delicious, but it was a little intimidating being in a room with about a dozen SWAT officers from the Pinellas Park Police Department.

After I ate, a student helped guide me down the hallway to where I set up for my next classes – the science lab. It was a great room with plenty of space for me to spread my stuff out and really get into things. I also set up my little video camera and had my son Dominic operate it. Yes, you can hear him piping up from time to time during the talk.

After a full day of seven classes, working with more than 300 kids, I was totally whipped. Next year, I need to wear my athletic shoes and bring some Advil.

Now, after talking about tools and joinery, I’m going to have to find another topic to talk about next year….  But, at least I have a full year to think about it.

 

Uncategorized

Quick Poll

1 Comment

Let’s face it, getting out into the shop is fun.  As woodworkers, we take the money other folks would spend on golf clubs, fishing tackle or bowling balls and blow it on miter saws, hand planes and cabinet scrapers.  We could spend hours standing in the same place in our shop using a belt sander to flatten a poorly glued end-grain cutting board  and actually enjoy it.

But, as is often the case, we never get all the time we want doing what we love.  All of those little obligations that we agreed to – or were agreed to tackle by others – tend to soak up the time we would otherwise spend creating masterpieces in the shop.

So, this week, I’m trying to see what the greatest obstacle is to you getting more shop time.  Is it family?  Work?  Something else….

Experiences

The most interesting question of the day

7 Comments

So, yesterday, I spent the day going around to my two son’s schools to talk about woodworking at the Great American Teach In. And, for the most part, I had a great time. Talking to seven classes and more than 300 kids about joinery was a blast.

For the most part.

There was this one student. After I had spent the better part of an hour explaining how joinery, glue, nails, screws and dovetails worked, she piped up and asked me, “Why do I need to learn this ‘stuff?'” Only, the word she used was a little stronger.

While this was obviously done for effect, it did leave me wondering what I was bringing to the kids.

I mean, most of them were never going to get involved in woodworking. The only contact that many of them would have with wood would probably be a few chairs, a table or some other pieces of furniture. What the hell was I trying to communicate?

I stammered. I struggled. Then, six hours later, it struck me like a bolt out of the blue.

What does a twelve year old kid know about life?

When I was twelve, my life revolved around the New York Giants, the books I had read and the TV show M*A*S*H*.  I had a few close friends, didn’t particularly care for girls and had yet to decide what I wanted to do when I grew up.   Maybe an astronaut. Maybe a race car driver. Maybe a cop.

Since that time, I have seen so much more. High School. College. Girlfriends. Trips to different cities. Building a resume. Reading books. Watching the Internet grow. Getting married. Playing golf for the first time. My children. And, discovering woodworking, a hobby that I enjoy tremendously.

When I was twelve, I’m sure I knew everything there was to know in the world. I had it all together. If, at that time, I was never exposed to new things, how poor the quality of my life would be. How narrow my focus.

She asked the question not because she was being sassy, but because she had yet to see the world beyond her small sphere of influence. My job yesterday wasn’t to get the kids jacked up about starting to woodwork on their own (although, I am sure that some will be for sure), but it was to show them something else worth seeing in life. To expand their perspectives.

Yeah, it was a challenging question.  But, for sure, my job wasn’t to provide answers. Those will come for those kids later in life.

Projects

Making the cut

3 Comments

Check your calendars. We are now halfway through November. With the holiday season quickly gaining on us, now is a pretty good time to start thinking about what you are going to build for those special folks on your gift list.

What are you considering? Sure, big impressive projects make a splash when they are opened, but they take a lot of time and planning to pull off. What you need is an easy to build piece that only looks like you spent a long time on it.

“Everyone loves to spend time in the kitchen. It’s a room that gets used just about every day. Something for there could be a big winner,” said Eric Poirier of Bell Forest Products. “What family chef wouldn’t love a hand crafted cutting board?”

I’m gonna come right out and say that I have built end grain cutting boards before. While they are very pretty, they do take some time to build and can present problems when working the end grain. Not insurmountable, but not something you want to try to figure out with shipping deadlines looming.

There is another option… Bell Forest Products also offers an easier to build face grain model. And, with a kit like this and a few nights in the shop, you will be the holiday hero.

The kit includes two pieces of maple and a contrasting strip of either walnut our purpleheart. “We chose some very hard species which can stand up to years of slicing and chopping.”  The pieces I got were milled to the same thickness. The center strip of walnut in the kit had very smooth, straight edges on both sides, and the two birdseye maple pieces had one jointed edge.  Some glue on the edges, a night in the clamps and bingo…the blank was ready to roll.

After gluing these pieces up with a waterproof glue, it’s a simple matter of cutting the board to shape with a jigsaw, band saw or scroll saw, sanding and finishing. The kit includes a template for a classic design, “or, you can go free form and make a one of a kind piece. Heck, we even include a blank rectangle of MDF for you to free form your own template.”

While mineral oil is the tried and true finish for such a piece, finishes such as salad bowl finish or walnut oil can do a good job as well. Just be sure to allow plenty of time for the finish to cure before someone starts cutting on it.   And, when it gets knife scarred after years of use, a quick sanding and refinish is all it takes to restore the piece back to its original luster.

With the clock ticking toward the holiday season, one of these cutting board kits can give you the gift of more relaxed, enjoyable shop time.

 

Quick Polls

Quick Poll

2 Comments

Some are tiny. Itty bitty places where you have to step outside to change your mind. Other places are cavernous. Enormous, roomy places with areas subdivided to accommodate different shop operations.

But, whatever the size, they are OUR shops, and we are productive in them.

This week, let’s take a look at the size of your shop. Just how big is where you do your woodworking?

Link of the week

Link of the week

2 Comments

O’Keeffe’s Working Hands Skin Creams

Autumn is here, and winter’s not too far behind. That’s great news if you live south of the Equator, but it’s gonna be cold, dry and blustery in the northern hemisphere. And, when it gets cold, it also gets dry, especially in heated areas.  That can lead to dry, cracked hands.  And, it seems like those skin cracks never heal.  They just keep getting irritated and hurt like heck. That’s just no fun.

That’s why I’m happy that the folks at O’Keeffe’s Hand Creams sent me a sample of their Working Hands cream.  This stuff comes in a container that looks like car wax comes in, and, as they used to say, a little dab’ll do ya. The stuff had no smell, and isn’t greasy.

Sure, at first it may seem like it’s unnecessary, but when you can work more comfortably in your shop… hey, that’s a good thing.