I love going to get my hair cut. With my short ‘do, I need to do it quite a bit.

Why is it so enjoyable? Well, I get to wake up early and head to the barber by myself (most times) on a Saturday morning. I get to crack some funny jokes with the barbers while they snip customers’ hair. I get to stop at the local bagel place and pick up breakfast for everyone  – before they wake up!

And, I get to swing by the local pharmacy to buy a pack of my favorite mints while getting some cash out for the cut. Yes, I loves me some peppermint Mentos!

I don’t know why I am so addicted to these soft and chewy peppermints. Maybe its the nostalgia angle… I used to buy these when I grew up in Jersey. Maybe it’s the fact that you can make them do incredible things when you drop them into Diet Coke.

Quite possibly, it’s  the infectious jingle that went with every ad. Mentos – fresh and full of life. Even if I jabbed a carving fork through my eye, I could never get that out of my head.

Why bring that up now? Well, since my post about online woodworking being dead, it would seem that quite the opposite is happening.In fact, you could say that online woodworking is fresh and full of new life!

Mark your calendars for tonight (Wednesday, Nov. 2) at 9 p.m. Eastern (that’s 8 p.m. in the Central time zone and 6 p.m. in the Pacific). That’s when you will see the triumphant return of #Woodchat!  What the heck is #woodchat?  It’s a Twitter-based discussion on all things woodworking. Yes, you may have seen this in the past, and it was good, but it’s back – and we’re back with a team approach. Folks like Dyami Plotke, Matt Gradwhol, Vic Hubbard, Chris Adkins and Dale Osowski are all on board, helping to spread the moderating duties in order to keep Woodchat a vibrant event.

While you can play along on your twitter page, it might be easier if you use a Twitter chat website such as Tweetchat. Just click on that link, and you will be able to see the conversation as it develops (while avoiding all the nonsense tweets about the Kim Kardashian wedding fallout).

And, I know this is kind of early, but now is also the time to mark your calendars for the week of February 5, 2012. For years, people have bemoaned the loss of shop classes and have questioned the future of woodworking.  Well, this once-considered-dead online woodworking community is doing something about that as well. That week, I am lining up support among the online blogging and woodworking forum communities to bring you a week based around getting to the shop.  We’re tentatively calling it Let’s Woodwork Week.

The purpose of this event is simple – encourage potential woodworkers to dip their collective toes into the water to see what it’s really like to build. Some writers will focus on the basic tools needed to get started in woodworking. Others may focus on basic projects that someone with beginners skills can tackle. Others may showcase some one-on-one training they are doing with some budding woodworkers.  It doesn’t matter… The whole idea is to focus our energies to get people out and  get them working!

I dunno, but if I was a betting man, I’d say the reports of online woodworking’s demise were greatly exaggerated. There’s a lot of spunk out there.. and I think we can tap into it!

I’m scared to go into my shop. I think there may be SOMETHING in there!

It all started when I was cutting parts for my rocking horse project. Everything was going to plan, and it looked as if the project was going to be done with absolutely no issues.  I had to cut the last piece of the project, and I went to the band saw to make that ceremonial last cut. I turned on the saw… it made a funny shudder…

And I let out a blood-curdling scream!

The upper wheel spit out the blood-red remnants of its stock urethane tire right onto the table!  This was worse than that scene in that horror movie where that guy with the knife attacks those young co-eds who take too many showers for their own good…

Those red clots of belt on my saw were terrifying to look at. Fortunately, rather than grab my wife and go kissing out in the woods far away from the other campers, I had a better idea.

I scooted up the highway to the local woodworking shop and bought a new Carter urethane band saw tire. Of course, I checked to make sure the coast was clear when I got to the shop, and I broke out a bowl of hot water with a little dish soap in it (per the instructions). After just a few minutes, the new tire was slack enough to stretch over the wheel’s rim and slip on.

After just a little adjusting, I got the tire centered on the wheel. I let the tire cool down for a good hour before resetting the blade. Now, well, it looks awesome and works just like before the slasher went psycho on the original tire.

Now, I just need to sleep with one eye open lest that horrible slasher comes calling again. Fortunately, I think the threats from ghouls and goblins will be over after tonight’s Trick or Treating.

I’m not sure why this claim was made, but a rumor was going around at Woodworking in America that online woodworking is dead. Deceased. No more.

What a strange thing to say, because the folks I met who blogged about woodworking and marketed their tools online seemed to have a very lively and robust exchange, and they relished the thrill of posting what they were doing for all the world to see.

In fact, I think two more blogs were born in the short time between the end of the conference and this posting, with a few more folks looking to get in off the sidelines.

And, I don’t think it would take much more to convince others about the power of online woodworking. In fact, there are a few opportunities coming up that just might help get more folks involved in the craft and enthused about building.

The first opportunity was created by my friend Chris Adkins at High Rock Woodworking. He and several Atlanta Area friends have been meeting at some local woodworking haunts. This inspired the idea of creating the Modern Woodworkers Association.

It works when woodworkers get together with other woodworkers in the area to build, source lumber, shop or just shoot the breeze. The only thing you would really need to do to be listed would be to take some shots of the event and … well.. we’re still working on a way to get those babies uploaded. But, imagine if we had ‘chapters’ of the Modern Woodworking Association around the country – and the world. Wouldn’t that be a total blast to see what Chicago, London or Sydney woodworkers were doing?

The other opportunity comes with the Woodworking Shows. Yes, it’s that time of the year again, when the Woodworking Shows makes its rounds around the United States. It kicks off this weekend in Dallas, Texas.  Demonstrations, classes and cutting edge products always draw woodworkers from miles around. My friend Jim Heavey of Wood Magazine is also out yukking it up with the crowd while teaching some valuable shop tips. I know that last year, Andy Chidwick and his wife Shari were working with the show managers to get the online woodworking community out in force. I spent my time at this year’s Tampa show working the crowd at a booth of my own, and had a great time talking to central Florida woodworkers.

There are 19 stops on the show’s route this year, stopping in major cities from coast to coast. Again, wouldn’t it be awesome to get a bunch of woodworking folks together at each of the stops for a little camaraderie, fun and telling some big fish shop tales? If you know that you are going to be coming out, why not e-mail the organizers and let them know you’ll be out there in force?  After all, if they know you’ll be there, maybe they’ll help roll out that red carpet for you! The e-mail address is info@thewoodworkingshows.com.

I don’t know about you, but if we’re going to demonstrate that the people  who write online woodworking content and watch it to gain valuable insight into the craft are alive and well, they just may believe the hype that online woodworking is overrun by woodworking zombies.

That would be kind of frightening…

I have to pay all due respect to Nick Brown of the Digital Woodworker. He’s the guy who took lots of photos of the happenings this past weekend at Woodworking in America, he came up with the title of this post and he is one hell of a great guy.

So, we were there at the Hand Tool Olympics – a great place and opportunity to strut your stuff and show everyone how well you can handle yourself under pressure. Yes, there are plenty of hecklers out at the event trying to throw you off your game. (OK, not for everyone who participated in the events – Mike Siemsen and the volunteers who were helping at the events were very eager to offer help to newer woodworkers who had never done these tasks before.  Everyone at that booth was exceptionally helpful when someone asked for help.)

I had done OK on the boring with the bit and brace. Fairly well on the ripping and crosscutting. Not so bad on the edge planing and tenon cutting. But, the one I really wanted to succeed on was the dovetailing. Oh, how I wanted to do well on the dovetailing. Desperately. Recently in my shop I had been having a lot of success cutting straighter and more easily with my hand saws. Both with my Japanese and western saws. I finally got so that I wasn’t squeezing the handles with a death grip, letting the saw do the work.

As I set up at the workbench, I had some seriously impressive tools to work with. A Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw. Something that looked like a Blue Spruce chisel. A nice Marples marking gauge. A sweet titanium Knew Concepts fret saw. Just about everything that anyone with half a bit of talent might want to use to be able to crank out gorgeous dovetails all day long. Saw in hand, tail board in clamp, I counted down and started getting to work.

I’m going to let you guys in on a little secret now. I like to talk. A lot. So, as I moved to the next step in the challenge, I would look up from the bench with my best carnival barker voice and start yapping up the event. I got so boisterous, I was told to ‘put a sock in it’ by one of the nearby vendors. Eh, who cares? I was having a blast.

The tail board went very well. I was able to get things cut nicely with the saw… my arm relaxed. Heck, I MIGHT even put on a good showing. Unlike the previous three years…

Well, that’s where things went south in a hurry. Let’s just say marking pins is not my strong suit. Wait… that’s too generous. Let’s say – instead – that I completely stink at marking pins. It’s a tragedy of epic proportions.

So, when it came time to cut the pins, then remove the waste, then pare to the lines… well… things were bad. VERY bad…

I mean… I mean… I MEAN… calling it a train wreck would be an affront to train wrecks across the world. These things were just so bad, well, I had to smile. After all, if I established the worst case scenario… how could anyone do worse?

I was proud of my lousy attempt. I showed those crappy dovetails to Ron Hock. His wife Linda laughed so hard, she took pictures to share with the recipients of the Hock newsletter. Tomas Lie-Niesen got a peek. As did Kari Hultman. And, all of the heckling bloggers got their turn to beat the crap out of me as well.

Heck, I went to David Keller of Keller Dovetail Jigs and showed him. “Thank you for inventing the through dovetail jig,” I said. He took these abominations of dovetails in his hands… examined them… handed them back to me and said, “You are welcome, Tom.”

What did I learn from my crappy dovetail experience? Plenty.

We all mess up… and the only way to fix things is to set time aside to practice.

The joy of woodworking is the thrill of getting better at tasks so we can use these elements to build great projects.

And, when things go horribly wrong, well, a quick walk down the street to the local Hoffbrauhaus for a few libations with woodworking friends is priceless. Oh, and be sure to dance on the benches. That means a lot, too!

I was just out in the shop applying another coat of poly on the stairstepped bookcases when it hit me.

Woodworking, for the most part, is a solitary hobby. Sure, if you work in a commercial woodworking shop, there are folks there, and if you go to a woodworking school, there are folks there as well. And, if you are blessed to have family members who share your interest in the craft… well… good for you!

But, more often than not, we are at our benches plying our craft. Planing boards. Cutting joints. Messing up, then hiding the evidence.

It’s not like golf, where you get at least a foursome together to hit the links. Plus, there are lots of tournaments to go to.

Fishing? It’s always best to drink a few beers with friends while you drown a few worms.

Running? I think there may be a 5K race every single temperate weekend within a 50 mile radius of your home.

But, woodworking can be a lonely pastime, even for those of us who are very active in the Internet woodworking community. No matter how many tweets, Facebook status updates or Google+ postings, we’re still out there in our shops plugging away all by ourselves.

That’s why I relish the opportunity to get together with other woodworkers. Every spring, the Woodworking Show comes to the Tampa Fairgrounds, and I always get a kick out of attending that. But, the Woodworking Show travels around the country, so I don’t see too many folks from outside the state of Florida when the show gets there. Florida woodworkers are awesome, but we share so many of the same challenges. For instance, there are only so many gosh-my-shop-is-sweltering-in-July stories you can swap before everyone nods their head in agreement.

That’s why I look forward to the Woodworking in America conference each year. This year’s event is taking place in Covington, Kentucky, and it draws woodworkers from around the country.   As with the Woodworking Shows, there will be a vast array of woodworking tool manufacturers and dealers. Some slated to be in attendance include Lee Valley, Lie Nielsen, Benchcrafted… the works!

And, these aren’t just booths staffed by a disinterested temp employee – no sir. You have a question about a replacement iron for your classic hand plane? Just ask Ron Hock what you need to look for. He’ll be there. Joel Moscowitz from Tools for Working Wood can talk your ear off about hand saw sharpening.  Maybe Konrad Sauer can talk you into giving one of his hand planes a spin.

The thing I enjoy the most – of course – is the camaraderie with the other woodworkers and their experiences from around the country. Just think – Matt Gradwhol is coming all the way from Seattle to attend, and I’m coming up from the Tampa Bay area. You would be hard pressed to find two areas much farther apart in the continental United States, but we’ll be rubbing shoulders (and nibbling on Nuncake, I hope) there. The woodworkers come from big cities and small hamlets across the country. They come with expertise in power and hand tools. They come with all levels of experience and areas of specialty.

Oh,  yes, they come.

And we get to kick back and talk sawdust, eat good food and enjoy each others’ company. .

I plan on being in the marketplace on Friday and Saturday, helping Mike Siemsen with the Hand Tool Olympics and participating as well. I’ll be interviewing many of the folks there for future articles. I’ll be dropping my card off at a few booths – hopefully landing a few more sponsors for the old blog.

And, when I get back to my shop, I’ll be re energized and ready to build some more!

So, with my recent illness, I spent a goodly portion of my holiday weekend lying on the couch watching TV. And, the only thing drifting through my mind most of that time was Bruce Springsteen’s  song from 1992′s Human Touch album entitled 57 Channels (and nothin’ on). (Yes, mom, I finally got a Bruce reference in for ya!)

Fortunately, I had a few other diversions to occupy my time. I read a book about the Apollo program, brushed up on a few tool manuals I had neglected to read and I surfed for online movies.  Yup, I was putting my Netflix subscription to the test!

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Netflix is one of the largest players in the online DVD rental and streaming video world. And, as I glanced through the offerings, there was plenty of material to choose from. Action movies. Sci Fi. Comedies. Classics. While I was searching for movies, I came across one called Julie and Julia I had seen last summer. This 2009 movie told the story of Julia Child as she struggled to interpret archaic French recipes, and the story of Julie Powell, a blogger who set out to cook every recipe in Child’s classic work Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Why did this movie stick out for me?  Well, as far as I can tell, it’s the only movie that is based around the struggles, trials and successes of a blogger.  The other part was the towering achievement Julia was able to make reality. The movie showed in great detail how this one time OSS operative (Yes, she was a spy!) during World War II had to struggle to merely be accepted as a student at the prestigious La Cordon Bleu culinary academy.   Her work in bringing these arcane cooking techniques to American kitchens was a seminal moment for home chefs and foodies. Yes, people who list cooking as a hobby owe much to Julia’s determination.

Why bring this up?  As you can imagine, there are many lessons that a woodworker can learn from Julia Child. For instance:

• Method is essential. If you are going to make Hollandaise sauce (one of the five French mother sauces), should you melt the butter and pour it in to your egg yolk and lemon juice mixture? What if you put the butter in cold and stir off the heat?  How about using more lemon juice?  These may seem like trifling details, but they can mean the difference between a rich sauce that will make your Eggs Benedict the stuff of legends and bringing an oil slick to the dinner table. The same thing goes for woodworking – should you cut your dovetails before or after the final sanding of each component? What order  should you glue up that complicated project so you don’t get yourself into a sticky situation?  When you think your process through, you can save yourself a lot of headaches later.
• Make the most of everything.  “Save the liver!” Oh, how I laughed when Dan Aykroyd lampooned Julia on Saturday Night Live. While it was a funny sketch, the lesson was profound. Chicken livers could be saved and made into pate. Bones from cuts of meat could later be boiled down to a rich stock – or, even better – a demi glace that can transform a ho-hum meal into a dish you would be proud to serve your guests. This one’s easy to take to the shop. If you leave a larger offcut, be sure to stash that sucker somewhere you can get to it later so you can build something smaller. Look at your tools as multi-taskers… how much more can you get out of your table saw or plunge router? if someone is throwing out an old piece of furniture that has seen much better days, maybe saving the classic pulls, knobs and hinges would help make your next project something special.
• Nothing is insurmountable. Just imagine sitting down to learn all of the intricacies of French cooking.  Now, go beyond that and attempt to take these centuries old techniques and methods and translate them for the average American kitchen. When no one who is instructing you believes that 1) you can do it and 2) that it should even be done in the first place. So, when you balk at cutting your first mortise and tenon joint, making those dovetails or building your own doors for a project, why let something as simple as ‘I’ve never done it’ get in the way?  Just remember, someone had to go down to the water’s edge, grab a craggy looking stone-like animal with sharp edges from a reef, break it open, look at the glistening sliminess, scarf it down and say, “Hey, I think oysters taste delicious! Who’s going to invent Champagne?”
• Enjoy the final product. During the production of The French Chef (one of the first cooking shows on television), Julia would whip up some exotic recipes from her masterpiece.  She did the show live to videotape (the woman had some serious guts to have attempted that), flubs and all – to show how to prepare those sumptuous dishes.  And, just before the credits would roll, she would turn to the camera, her face beaming with her trademark smile, and bid her viewers farewell with a cheerful “Bon Appetit!”.  I often find myself at the end of a project eager to get it out of the shop and off to the client. But, that’s just so anticlimactic.  One thing I’m going to start doing more is to take the time to appreciate that final piece. Take pictures of it.  Run my hands over the smooth surface one more time. Just notice what I have built and appreciate how happy it’s going to make the client.  That’s why I got into woodworking…

As for me? Well, I’m more of an Italian food guy myself.. but, I’m giving serious thought to changing the approach I take to my work. Ya know, that French chef really knew her stuff.

Is labored breathing.

What a total bummer on a holiday weekend here in the States. I mean, three days off from work, and the head cold I had last week came back with a vengeance as an upper respiratory infection.  Complete with antibiotics… Grrrr….

Before I was totally laid up, I did manage to get a little shop time in on Saturday morning. That bookshelf project that’s taking me forever to get done with it finally moving into the final phases. I took the opportunity to finish rabbeting the shelves and fit them into the notches I cut in the sides.  Here’s a look at the piece clamped up …

Now, I just have to cut some back pieces to be mounted across the back of the shelves that will prevent items from being pushed back too far and to provide some resistance to racking.  I hoped to have both units assembled this weekend, but hey, that’s the way life is.

I also discover that sharp tools start to lose their edge  while you are in mid project.  Rather than hook everything up to do a total resharpening, I ran those dulling blades over the strop wheel of the Tormek.  They were back slicing cleanly after just a minute or so of work.

The cherry that the guys over at Bell Forest Products sent is  something else! I’m really digging the way it works, and this project is going to look some kind of sweet when it’s done!

Now, if I can shake this bug, maybe I can squeeze in a little shop time this week!