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Spotlight

Important People: Nicole Spagnuolo

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There have been a bunch of folks who have had a major influence on Tom’s Workbench over the past five years. I wanted to take the time to recognize a few of the folks with which the blog would have never happened.

Today, I send a shout-out to Nicole Spagnuolo. What? Did you think one Spagnuolo would be enough?

I first met Nicole when I was up at a woodworking school in Indiana. Marc was instructing the Contemplation Bench class I was attending, and Nicole came along for the trip. During the day, Marc spent a lot of time with me, trying to prevent me from cutting a few fingers off or creating a pile of designer firewood, Nicole popped in to say ‘hey’ and help document the build.

It was one night after a hard day in the shop where I really got to know both her and Marc. Nicole was preparing a delicious chicken dinner, and she asked for help snapping some fresh green beans. While we sat preparing the dinner, I realized that these two kids where alright – the kind of folks I wish lived on my street so we could invite over for barbecues and to shoot the breeze.

When Marc suggested that perhaps I might want to start a blog, it was Nicole who did a lot of the legwork getting the tomsworkbench.com domain name and helped me get the infrastructure working on the site.

Early on with the blog, there was a point where I felt as if I couldn’t go on anymore. I wasn’t drawing thousands of readers each day, and I thought it wasn’t worth keeping things up and running. As if on cue, Nicole sent a quick e-mail letting me know just how good she thought the blog was, and that she couldn’t wait to see more content.

So, you have Nicole to blame!

Today, Nicole is a proud mom, a video gamer and one of the funniest people I know on Twitter. And, yes, I have to admit, as an unofficial honorary uncle, I look forward to the pictures of Mateo she shares with the online community.

I don’t think I have said it enough, but thank you, Nicole for all of your help.

Experiences

Important People: Marc Spagnuolo

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There have been a bunch of folks who have had a major influence on Tom’s Workbench over the past five years. I wanted to take the time to recognize a few of the folks with which the blog would have never happened. Today, I send a shout-out to Marc Spagnuolo. This one should probably be a no-brainer, because he’s the guy who got me into this fine mess in the first place.

What is there to say?  If you want someone to blame for Tom’s Workbench, visit the Wood Whisperer’s site.

Marc was just a wee lad back in the day when we first met… online at the Woodworkers Website Association. Although you wouldn’t have ‘ recognized him.  At the time, he was writing his entries under the name MarcSpag, and he was pimping his website Marc’s Wood Creations. I think he got better at naming his website!

When we first met in person up at a woodworking school in Indiana, Marc already had the cool, collected delivery of an experienced instructor. He was funny, easy to approach and knew more about woodworking that I could have ever figured out. It wasn’t until I later discovered that he had studied with David Marks – and that influence showed.

From there, everything with Marc was incremental. “Hey, Tom, could you write a few posts for me?” became “Hey, Tom, can you write a regular post for a site I’m creating called Wood Talk Online?” which became “Hey, Tom, how about your own blog?” which became “Hey, Tom, how about doing a recorded audio tip for my webcast?”

My guess is that when Marc opens the Wood Whisperer franchise on Mars, I might be one of the few folks in line to run it.

But, hey, that’s what a couple of Italian boys from Jersey will do for each other!

 

Link of the week

Link of the week

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John’s Woodworking

Sure, this is a day early, but today we are going south of the border to visit Juan Garcia, a woodworker who plies his trade in sunny  Torreon, Mexico.

Juan learned woodworking up in Canada, and returned to his homeland where he builds custom furniture… from the 3D computer design to the finished project.  And, what projects he builds! From furniture to doors, ceilings to other oddball things, nothing is too challenging for this fearless cabinetmaker.

His site is written in Spanish, but, don’t worry, Google and other online translation services are available to help you enjoy his site.

While his site is just getting off the ground, he does have a great collection of photos of his work for you to check out. Not a bad operation.

 

 

Experiences

Important People: Gail O’Rourke

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There have been a bunch of folks who have had a major influence on Tom’s Workbench over the past five years. I wanted to take the time to recognize a few of the folks with which the blog would have never happened.

Today, I send a shout-out to Gail O’Rourke.

In many ways, Tom’s Workbench wouldn’t have even been a thought if it wasn’t for Gail. Many years ago, I was posting regularly to the Woodworker’s Website Association. Great group of folks there, and we would banter back and forth about woodworking, life, the works…

Gail had attended the American Sycamore Woodworkers Retreat in Indiana. A nice woodworking school that had quite a great group of students attending it. Each year, many of the more ‘entertaining’ students were invited back for a charity build-a-thon to build some projects, have a few laughs and see just how late we could stay up each night and still function in the shop.  It was a challenge.

As plans were being made for the 2005 gathering, one of the people who was invited to the big build-along was noted woodworking author Danny Proulx.  Tragically, Danny passed away in November of 2004, a few months before the event.

The owners of the school gave Gail the opportunity to invite someone else to take his place for the late-spring build, and she suggested that I be invited. At first, I was sure I was going to answer, “no.”  I mean, it was a flight and lodging costs, and I was asked to raise $100 as a donation to the American Cancer Society for the build. But, after a long discussion with Rhonda, I decided that the situation was right, and off I went.

Needless to say, the weekend build-a-thon was a blast, and I had the chance to meet many talented woodworkers who helped me get started along the way. In fact, it was shortly after this event that I was invited to come up for a week-long class with this young guy named Marc Spagnuolo…

Later, when I told Gail I was interested in breaking into the woodworking writing field, Gail was instrumental in opening the door to get an article in the  the now-defunct Women in Woodworking magazine – an article on Gail herself.

Through the years, Gail has checked in with me to see how the blog is doing, to compare parenting notes (she has three, I have two) and to run crazy ideas by.

All of this because we randomly met on a woodworking board, and she thought she’d take a chance to invite me up to a woodworking event.

 

Experiences

Important People: Danny Proulx

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There have been a bunch of folks who have had a major influence on Tom’s Workbench over the past five years. I wanted to take the time to recognize a few of the folks with which the blog would have never happened.

Today, I send a shout-out to he late Danny Proulx.

Danny, the author of several woodworking books, was a regular poster over at the Woodworkers Website Association.  This was my first real brush with a woodworking celebrity. At first, I was an addle-brained starstruck beginning woodworker.  I mean, heck, I was posting messages that a real live woodworking expert was responding to.

It was about that time that I experienced a sea-change in my attitude. You see, Danny was the most down-to-earth guy you could have ever wanted to meet.  Of course, he was well versed in woodworking wisdom, but there was so much more at work than that. He would ask me how the kids were doing. He would ask me what was going on in my shop. He would comment on my posts.

For me, that was a major boost of confidence that I really needed.  It also showed me that most people in the woodworking arena are open, honest folks who want nothing more than to see the success of others in the craft.

It was about that moment that I realized hey, I belonged.

And, I hope I haven’t yet worn out my welcome.

Danny passed in November of 2004, suffering a heart attack as he  headed in to a woodworking show where he was slated to do some woodworking demonstrations for attendees. It seems only fitting that the last act he did on this earth was prepare to teach others about the craft.

I still miss him.

 

Shop Talk

Safe and sound

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One project many woodworkers love to build is a jewelery box. You know, a little box or chest for that special someone to store those special rings, necklaces, earrings and other bits of bling. These boxes help keep them safe, organized and easily accessible. That’s important, given the cost of some of these shiny baubles.

So, then, why do many woodworkers just chuck their expensive router bits and saw blades carelessly into a drawer or store them in difficult to find locations? I mean, they are shiny, they cost a bunch, and you need to know what’s in your collection when you start out on a project. Why not treat them with the same amount of respect?

“Carbide is tough, but very brittle stuff,” said David Venditto of Infinity Cutting Tools. “If you are going to pop for a well-made router bit or saw blade, you are going to want to get as much life as possible out of it. Why would you want to shorten their lives by not storing them carefully?” A good storage system will help you by keeping your valuable cutting tools safe from banging together. It will also help you catalog what you have in your collection so you don’t forget you have it or – even worse – have to lay out extra money to buy another copy of what you already have.

There are dozens of plans out there for blade and bit storage systems, it never seems as if there is enough time or material to build them. Besides, we go to the shop to build furniture, right? Another option is to go with a purchased box or rack system to help with storage. Again, most woodworkers would rather spend money on blades, bits and wood rather than storage. But a small investment in time and/or money can really help save the day.

If you have the space, time, material and inclination, building a large display shelf to house your collection is the way to go. Many are built with plexiglass paneled doors so you can see the entire collection at a glance. After all, you never know when looking at a particular bit will inspire a design idea on your next project – which is something you will lose if you can’t see what’s available. Router bit holders can be fashioned from a simple board with appropriately-sized holes drilled into it, or with a commercially available bit rack. These will help keep your bits upright and their carbide edges safe.

Another good option for the space-challenged is to build a bit or blade storage drawer into a piece of shop equipment. Drawer construction is actually easier than you might imagine, and, with the proper drawer runner hardware, one can be added just about anywhere. In a router table. Under your workbench. Or, you could co-opt an existing drawer in a piece of shop storage you already have. Either way, you will want to still create a bit organizer. Again, this could simply be a piece of plywood or MDF with appropriately sized holes drilled into it, but you have to make sure that you have enough space between the bits while in storage. Another great option is to buy a commercial bit organizer that will help keep your bits neat and orderly.

If you bring your bits or blades with you to different job sites, portability is going to be key. In that case, you may be looking at some type of box or case to carry your precious cargo with you. Again, you can certainly build your own, or you can look to purchase a bit or blade storage box. “We’re kinda proud of our bit and blade storage boxes. They are finger-jointed southern yellow pine with secure locking latches. They are a great value. Plus, hey, you get our contact information on the lid!”

 

Quick Polls

Quick Poll

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There are few tools as basic, ancient and effective as chisels.  A stout metal body with one end ground to a seriously sharp edge, connected to a wooden or plastic handle.  No fuss, no muss.

While chisels may seem so basic and elementary, they are frequently used on just about every project.  Trimming tenons to fit.  Mortising out for hinges.  Squaring rabbets to accept a crisply cut back panel.

The only problem with chisels is that they seem to reproduce when you aren’t looking.  Soon, you can end up with a huge collection of bench chisels, butt chisels, paring chisels, mortisting chisels, Japanese chisels and other models in a wide variety of sizes.

This week, I want to know how you store the chisels you use most frequently. In the wooden box you bought them in?  Loose in a drawer in a rolling tool chest?  Organized by size in a custom built chisel rack?

Now, I know you may have a set of special chisels you have tucked away somewhere, but I want to know about your most frequently used set.