This past weekend, as the Last Minute Elf wrapped up, I left Iggy in charge of the shop because I had a very important woodworking event coming up. Jim Heavey of Wood Magazine was coming to town to teach a class over at the wood lab at Infinity Cutting Tools in Oldsmar.

I have got to tell you that Jim is one heck of a nice guy. On Friday, Jim flew in, I picked him up a the airport, and after a great lunch with Kurt Raschke, David Venditto and Jim at a local restaurant, we talked about the next’s day’s events. Next, Jim came to my house where we had some jambalaya, caught up and enjoyed the unseasonably warm Florida weather.

The next day dawned bright and early, and we gathered at the shop for the presentation. Jim led off with some really great insight into finishing. I discovered that his favorite finish is lacquer, followed closely by shellac. He loves the way that he can spray lacquer, turn his sprayer off without cleaning the gun, then start spraying again months later. After a few seconds, the solvent dissolves the hardened lacquer and he’s spraying again. (You can’t do this trick with catalyzed lacquer or any kind of varnish, or you will turn your gun into an expensive paperweight).

Jim also said something very profound about the finishing process. “Did you notice how woodworkers will spend big money on tools and wood, then ruin the project buy trying to save a few dollars using old finish?” Jim advised to buy small containers of finish and, if you haven’t used them up in about a year, discard them properly and buy new finish.

Jim was able to take a break later in the morning as Kurt took over, sharing the secrets of how he uses his vacuum bag to do bending. It’s a really slick system, where thin sheets of bending plywood are stacked over a form with a beautiful veneer, and then the vacuum created by a pump is used to clamp everything in place. With an epoxy, and given enough time, that stacked lamination is very strong and holds its curve with ease.

All of the students and instructors convoyed over to a local restaurant for some lunch, and after we came back, we jumped right into the afternoon session, where Andy Gibson showed his techniques for building ukeleles and guitars. He showed how easily he could bend wood using a hot pipe – a traditional luthier tool. Andy went into much more detail about  how he sands a curve into the sides of the instrument he’s building by using a hollowed out form and sandpaper (driving the bus) and how he ensures the frets are the proper distance from the nut, ensuring that the instrument can be played.

Jim came back to the front to finish the day. Now, Jim had a bunch of images he wanted to share, but someone (I’m going to blame Iggy) forgot to bring a projector. Oh, well, Jim was able to make do passing around his iPad mini…

Jim’s afternoon presentation was on embellishment. And, one of the neatest tips he had was how to use epoxy as stringing. By coloring the expoxy, and using it to fill a saw kerf, he in effect created the equivalent of an ebony inlay. Not bad stuff…

Once the big day was over, we gathered everyone who wanted to join us at a local pub for a few brews, and then it was off to a Mongolian place for some dinner.

As I drove Jim to the airport yesterday (before he whacked his head on the the trunk lid of my car – OUCH!), he told me how much fun he had over the weekend, and he reminded me that he’ll be back in March when the Woodworking Show comes back to Tampa.

See you then, pal. The Jambalay will be hot, and the beer will be cold!

At this past weekend’s Woodworking in America conference, there were some totally great classes to take. Mary May showed her elegant carving techniques. Chris Schwarz showed how to make workbenches and tool chests from simple home center materials. Don Williams taught us how to determine the age of a piece of furniture based on evidence of how the wood was cut and milled.

And then, there was this one class that had nothing to do with woodworking technique. Not a mention about wood selection. No discussion of joinery, finishing or design.

No, it dealt with online woodworking.  Namely, it was a round table discussion about the online woodworking community, how people could use it and what goes into putting out content. The panel was an esteemed one… featuring some of the biggest names in online woodworking – and somehow, they managed to include me in the mix.

From left to right, there was Megan Fitzpatrick ,me, Dyami Plotke, Chris Adkins, Steve Schuler, Marc Spagnuolo, Wilbur Pan, Shannon Rogers, and Matt Vanderlist.

The discussion began with each of us giving our five-minute introduction (which, with the representation up there, took some time), and then the conversation was opened to the audience.

While there were a lot of questions (How much time does it take to do online video? Where do your ideas come from? How can I participate without having  my own blog? ), there were just as many positive comments about how the Internet has opened many doorways to participation.

Think about it.  Before online woodworking, there were a few ways to get your woodworking information.  You could go to the library. Meet with your local guild. Check out the woodworking magazines. Watch some shows. Maybe, if you could locate one, you could attend a woodworking school. Other than that, it was a pretty isolated experience, with the average woodworker expected to overcome challenges in his or her shop with little or no help.

Today, the choices are endless. In addition to all of the traditional outlets, there are many more ways to reach out into the web to get content. The woodworking shows have websites, as to the magazines, woodworking schools and tool manufacturers. Getting answers to questions takes  a matter of minutes, not days of research.

And, plenty of woodworkers are out there online, sharing their experiences and knowledge. Turning. Marquetry. Carving. Cabinetry, Chair making. Whatever your interest, there are blog posts, videos and podcasts out there, available to you on your schedule.

One of the more interesting questions came from an audience member who asked Popular Woodworking magazine’s editor Megan Fitzpatrick and the panel if the online woodworking community is ‘competition’ for her.  This brought about some interesting discussion, but the best point was made by Wilbur Pan. The ‘piece of the pie’ analogy is great, but we are seeing it from the wrong perspective.

When you consider the ‘piece of the pie’ analogy from the point of view of a family sitting around a dinner table, yes, if dad gets the biggest piece of pie, there is indeed less for everyone to eat. And, unless you are into some bizarre penguin-like method of feeding your family, once someone eats their piece of the pie, no one else can get a chance to take a bite.

The other – more appropriate – perspective is from the point of view of the baker. “You guys like the pie?  Great!  I’ll have the crew start making more to satisfy your demands.”  As content creators, we would be kidding ourselves to believe that the consumer would only be reading content from one of us. I’m positive that in addition to reading Tom’s Workbench, you are also reading a few other blogs, some or all of the woodworking magazines and taking in some of the woodworking TV shows. As long as you are doing this, there is a great incentive for us to keep cranking out the content to help keep interest in woodworking at a high level.

There were a bunch of other great moments from the class, and I have been told that perhaps – just perhaps – I need to reduce the volume of my voice. Other than that, I hope that sessions such as the one we participated in – plus others to help guide people through the online woodworking community – will become an important part of other upcoming events.

Of course today’s post is late. I got back from the big Woodworking in America weekend about 1:30 a.m. my time due to travel, baggage claim, getting the car out of the parking garage and a big time pre-law-enforcement-issue OJ Simpson Hertz-style gate change at my layover in Atlanta…

But, enough of that. Once I got to Covington, we had our traditional meet-up at the Keystone Grill, and everyone was geared up to close down a few bars. But me, no, I had other important plans. I was going to run audio/visual for Roy Underhill’s first class on Friday morning. At least that was what I was told I would be doing…

As it turns out, when you work for Roy Underhill as an A/V guy, well, let’s just say you need to be ready for just about anything. So, after a late night – made later by a totally unexpected 1:30 a.m. fire alarm in the hotel which forced everyone to evacuate – I showed up to the room bright and early to get a start on the festivities of the day.

Fortunately, so did Roy. Ever the showman, he decided that he needed to get the attention of the event goers to get them to come to his class. Since it was a presentation on how a rough log is converted to a usable beam, Roy knew that wheeling the log down the convention center hallway – felling axe lodged in the front – would be a great way to get folks to come. And, it sure did.

With folks assembled, he took a few minutes to describe the importance of the process of preparing the lumber for processing, and led an interesting discussion about why German and Scandinavian immigrants built log cabins when they came to the colonies, but British immigrants squared up the timbers. It was a great history lesson.

Enough of that… it was time then to get busy. And, did things ever get busy! Roy (with his able bodied assistants) managed to get the log up on top of the supports on top of the sawhorses on top of the riser.  Trusty axe in hand –  balanced precariously atop the entire stack much like an Apollo Command Module atop a Saturn V rocket – Roy swung mightily to begin the work.

Throughout the entire time, he had this uncanny ability to keep his sense of humor rolling while he did the tough work of chopping notches as deep as a marked line, and then splitting these large slabs off the sides to get the beam to rough dimension.  The chips flew everywhere… as deep as four or five rows into the audience.

Continuing along, he moved to the broad axe to refine the surface, and then the adze to make the piece true enough to be used as a beam for a home, or to be hauled over to the saw pit to be turned into boards.

First side done, Roy (and his able-bodied assistants) were able to get the log down to the floor of the ballroom to begin working on the next two sides, giving audience members with the bravery and inclination a few whacks with the axes and adze. While I’m pretty sure I will never need to use this skill, it was fascinating to watch it happen in front of me, and everyone who attended the first class couldn’t stop talking about just how awesome the presentation was.

And, as for that beam, well that became sort of a touchstone for the entire weekend. Parked in the hallway, groups of attendees were able to pose next to this piece of work.

The only other challenge? Being part of the A/V Navy, I offered my assistance in helping to clean up from the effort. You have no idea just how many chips can be found in a log that size, and just how tough it can be to clean those out of a ballroom carpet…

That was just one example of why an event like this, bringing in experts, vendors and participants throughout the country is such a worthwhile endeavor, and why I’ll be looking to come back to this one and seeking out other opportunities.

One week from today, I’ll have my bags packed, and I’ll be watching the time crawl by at work. One week from now, I’ll be trying to remember if I have to head to the red or blue airside at Tampa International Airport. One week from now, I’ll have to make sure I have clean socks and underwear… because, one week from now, I’m going to the summit.

No, not THAT kind of summit… A summit meeting. Kinda like those big meetings that used to take place between the United States and the old Soviet Union.

That’s more like it, only it’s a summit meeting of woodworkers. That’s right, one week from today, I’ll be getting ready for the big trip up to Covington, Kentucky (just south of the Ohio River from Cincinnati) for the 2013 edition of Woodworking in America.

This annual event is a great opportunity to get together with the woodworkers I know virtually through the online woodworking community. In many cases, I feel as if many of these folks are neighbors living just a few houses down the street from me. In reality, they come from around the country – and from beyond its borders – to get together, take a few classes, drink a few beers and swap some tall woodworking tales.

There are so many highlights of the weekend. The Hand Tool Olympics – the brain child of Mike Siemsen – test participants for two straight days of challenging woodworking tasks. There’s a lot of bluster (Cutting that tenon will be a piece of cake!), a lot of excuses (I am only used to my saw. This test is unfair!) and a lot of laughs, especially when I show my dovetails…

Who could ever forget that train wreck…

This year will also be a big time for meet ups.  When folks get into town on Thursday night (Oct. 17), me and my fellow members of the Modern Woodworkers Association would be honored if you would join us for a few beers and some great food at the Keystone Bar and Grill in Covington.  This will also be the first time I have met fellow podcaster Chris Adkins… and, I will be able to see Dyami Plotke again, the first time since I deployed to NYC after Hurricane Sandy.  This should be fun.

We’ll also be back at the Keystone on Saturday night at 6:30 as Marc Spagnuolo, Matt Vanderlist and Shannon Rogers will be recording an episode of Wood Talk Online Radio for broadcast.  Be sure to come by and say ‘hey’ (or heckle, your choice) while the three amigos make audio magic.

There are so many other things I am looking forward to, but I don’t have the space to list them all. If you are going to be in the area.. please stop by!

One of the best parts of my job as the county’s emergency preparedness spokesperson is that I get to speak at a lot of disaster preparation events. Since the Tampa Bay area is most vulnerable to hurricanes and other tropical weather events, I frequently share top billing with the local TV meteorologists. They are a fun group of folks who love to talk weather and can take a general ribbing when their forecasts don’t always pan out.

One TV Mets I have presented with is Leigh Spann, the morning forecaster for WFLA-TV, Channel 8 here in the Tampa Bay area.  She was out this past weekend banging the drum about hurricane awareness, when the folks at NOVA Tools  – just a few booths over – invited her in for a spin. Here’s Leigh’s account of the experience. (And, yes, I warned Leigh about the dangers of woodworking without safety glasses. She needs to watch Norm’s weekly admonishment.)

On most days in the shop, getting stuff done isn’t a big deal. Honestly. I normally cruise out into the shop, get to work for several hours, then come back inside, celebrating my productivity.

That day wasn’t yesterday.

Oh, sure, I had big plans. Making progress on Kevin’s project. Planing. Gluing. Possibly cutting some joinery.

Instead, I was introduced to the force called the Big Moe.

No, not that Moe, famed in the Three Stooges shorts. The big mo I am referring to is momentum, which is the force that gets you out into the shop and keeps you there until you experience a totally productive day.

Things that can break your momentum, as you might imagine, can slow your work down to a crawl. That’s not necessarily a bad thing…

So, I woke up, bright and early on a Sunday morning. Once breakfast, catching up on sports scores and the other various and sundry things I had to accomplish, I decided to go out into the shop. Oh, yeah, there was that little laundry thing I had to do. So, I shuffled around the wash, remade the bed and got ready to head out into the shop.

Oh, yeah, I remember that several friends of mine were in town for a conference over on Clearwater Beach. So, I quick got changed into presentable clothes and headed on down for a very enjoyable lunch, catching up with folks I haven’t seen in more than a year. And, that was VERY cool…

So, once I got home, it was time to get back into my shop duds and get some work done. But, there was another problem – the place was a mess. OK, I was willing to overlook that, and got to work on resawing another board for the project. The band saw cut well, and as I started planing the boards down, the wood chips started flying out of the machine instead of going down the hose to the collector….

Drats. Time to empty the collector. So, I popped the lid to the can, then walked next door to my neighbor’s house to ask if he wanted the sawdust for his garden. Sure he did. And, we caught up for while. And, then I went back home, hooked everything up, then noticed that there was still a load of laundry that had to be dried again because it got wrinkled in the dryer…

Well, you get the idea. Every time I started, there was something that distracted me from the task at hand. Add to the fact that the shop is very hot (even with the a/c and fans running), and, well, before I messed something up too much to recover from, or I hurt myself, I decided that the time was at hand for me to clean everything up and call it a night.  After all, my momentum couldn’t even get started…

I got some help from my youngest son Steven, who really knows how to handle a broom. I also took the time to put some of the tools away I wasn’t going to need again for a little while, making the space a little less cluttered and ready for the next shop session. And, I went inside to have a beer, kick my feet up and relax.

At least it beats a double eye poke…

My shop is in my garage… You know this.

And, when the weather is pleasant enough to get some low-humidity breezes, its a real pleasure to open the front garage door and flood the shop with light.  But, sometimes that also floods the shop with mosquitoes and other flying insects. So, maybe it’s not the best idea to open the big garage door.

I could open the side door, but I have to remember to use a wedge to keep it from flying shut if a breeze comes along – and I’m back to the mosquito issue I mentioned before.

That’s why many years ago, I replaced the rotting, solid wooden door with a steel model that had a working window in it. This way, I could open the window to allow the breezes to blow through the screen, and shut everything up when I was done with it. I also discovered that when I put my portable air conditioner unit’s heat exhaust hose out the screen, I could cool the shop pretty well, making summer woodwork a more pleasant happening.

Unfortunately, the old door was about as cheap as possible, and the plastic window frame for the tiny window broke out – to the point where I was relying on good old fashioned duct tape to hold the glass in. That wasn’t acceptable anymore.

So, I went off to the local home improvement emporium and got a new door. This one is far more secure than the old model, and a whole lot more decorative.

The window is much larger, and meets hurricane codes for wind load. That’s a good thing, given where I live.  The setup is beefier than the old door’s window, providing a 20 year warranty on the sucker. Not bad.  Plus, it’s tracks work very well, making it easy to open as much as I need to, and will prevent the air conditioner hose and fitting from sliding out of the window, making a nicer seal with the door.  All I need to do is trim it out, and we are done, ready for years of service.

Sure, it wasn’t a woodworking improvement. But, as far as climate control and security are concerned, this is a real keeper!