It has been my pleasure over the past six years to welcome many new blogs to the woodworking blogosphere. I have seen many of them come along – some making a big splash, while others have flown under the radar. I have seen some with very short runs, while others keep going on a steady pace.

About one month after I started my blog, a very talented woodworker came onto the scene – and she had longevity on the internet.  Talk about expertise. This blogger forged her own plane irons, built her own planes, demonstrated in clear language how to carve and threw herself into the online woodworking community with reckless abandon, much to our benefit.  During the six years of her blog, she has thrown open the doors of her shop to invite us in to see how she does her work. To show us examples of outstanding pieces she saw at different museums and other places she had visited. She showed us where she was going to teach and how she instructed her students. She showed us the definition of determination when learning new techniques. And, she showed us the meaning of patience as morons like me asked countless questions about what she was doing and how I could do the same things in my shop.

By now, you must know I am referring to Kari Hultman of the Village Carpenter. Earlier this week, she announced on her blog that she was making her last post.  It’s totally understandable why she did this. A recent health scare in her family caused her to refocus on the important things in life, and I applaud her for her decision. This also allows her to woodwork on her own schedule without having to worry about ‘feeding the beast’ on a regular basis.

In many ways, Kari is kind of like the Beatles of woodworking. She is leaving the online woodworking world at the top of her game on her own terms and on her own timetable. Each of her recent posts is still a masterpiece of clear communication and awesome woodworking knowledge, and I’m sure she could continue to produce online woodworking content until the cows come home. But, for now, the Village Carpenter door has closed, and I will be waiting to see when a new one opens.

Does this mean that Kari is giving up woodworking?  Heck no. She’s going to continue working in her cozy Pennsylvania shop, producing more museum-quality pieces. She will still be out there at woodworking conferences, rubbing shoulders with other appreciative woodworkers. And, I’m sure, that one day in the future, she will be contributing again to the online woodworking community.  I can feel it in my bones.

Thus, the title of today’s post.  In German, the farewell of auf Wiedersehn does not mean goodbye, it means ‘until I see you again.’ Kari, here’s to you, until we see each other again in the online woodworking community. Thanks for everything.

This past week was kind of crazy for me. I got sick with bronchitis. My son Dominic had his Confirmation (’tis the season, right?). And, to top it all off, I had to ‘waylay’ Iggy to make my presentation across Tampa Bay to speak with the folks at the Tampa Woodworkers Guild.  The monkey didn’t go down easily, but you’d be surprised how effective a roll of tape can be…

After I took care of the monkey, Jay Marino, the St. Petersburg Woodcrafters Guild’s event coordinator, and I headed across the long bridge to Tampa. The meeting was well attended, and I have to admit I was a little nervous.  I mean, this was a meeting of woodworkers who are pretty darned talented. What was I going to be able to teach them?

It was then that I remembered the reason why I was there in the first place. The reason I was asked to speak there was to show some corner joinery options for club members while building burial urns for indigent veterans. When veterans pass, the Veterans Administration handles the cremation and interment, but this is done in a cardboard box. The woodworking guilds in the area are putting together urns to provide a more dignified resting place. If we are going to batch out the boxes to meet the needs, we are going to need all joinery options on the table.

So, I presented my heart out. I covered all manner of joints from the basic brad joints to cut nails, dowels and biscuits. I covered plugged screw joints and pocket screw joints with plugs. Splined joints like I had used on Katie’s Confirmation box. Dovetails and box joints.

As the presentation wore on, I became a lot more confident. The jokes (that would have made Iggy cringe) started flowing more freely. The laughs started coming from the audience. Soon, I started answering questions from the room. How long have I been blogging? What are my favorite projects to build?

Could I serve as that guild’s vice president as well?

Alright, maybe I can’t spread myself any thinner, but I feel like we had really done a great job bridging the bay between the two groups. And, since it was such a great project, it’s a pleasure to be working together.

Now, how do I get adhesive out of monkey fur?

My niece Katie – she also happens to be my Goddaughter – is having her Confirmation into the Catholic Church this upcoming weekend.  This is a big event in her life, and I know that if Rhonda and I were going to give her a gift to commemorate this event, it was going to have to be special.

Hmmm… how about my first carved project?  Yeah, that sounds about right.  After all, it will take a true leap of faith to believe I can do this.. in time to have it ready to go for this weekend.

So, I took out a poplar board (figuring that hey, poplar is pretty good for practice) and laid out a kind of cross design in pencil. I used a ruler and a quarter to draw straight lines and curves so there wouldn’t be any right angles… I wanted this design to swoop. Once I marked everything out, I used a carving knife to score the outline to ensure there wouldn’t be any splintering when I got to the edges.

Once I got everything laid and cut out, I secured it in my vise to get ready for the excavation. I used the built-in dog on the vise and a bench dog from the folks at Time Warp Tools to pinch the board where it had to stay. My initial plans were to do everything by hand, but, you know what?  I have this brand new DeWalt trim router that hasn’t yet seen any true shop time. It was time for that baby to come out and play.

I was using a down spiral 1/8″ carbide bit, and I took my time to carefully excavate the areas on the design.  It took a very steady hand, but the tool was very well behaved, and in about half an hour I had hollowed out the four quadrants of this cross design. Boy, was I happy to see that I hadn’t messed things up too much.  The next step?  Break out some classic carving tools to put some embellishments on the project.

The knife came out again in cooperation with my bench chisel to clean up any issues with the edges. With a VERY sharp edge, these things cut like nobody’s business, and before you knew it, I was ready to have a little fun.  I had gotten a set of Flexcut carving tools for Father’s Day two years ago, but other than playing with them, I have never really used them for a project.  That was about to change.

I really love the v-tool that comes with the interchangeable handle. I was able to play a little bit with the layout lines and try to accentuate things.  I dunno, for a first crack , I think it came out looking OK. Now, it’s time to finish the box the lid is going to fit into, and cut the real lid out of some flame birch I have lying around.  I think I can have this done so it won’t stick to the inside of the wrapping.

What makes woodworkers tick?  How did they get into woodworking in the first place?  What are their favorite tools?

At the last Woodworking in America, Dyami Plotke and I took around a voice recorder on the floor of the convention, and we asked some of the biggest names in woodworking these basic questions.  The answers.. well, they were enlightening….

Keep in mind that this was recorded on the show floor so the sound is not the greatest at times but the content is well worth listening to.

Interviews include:

• Andy Brownell
• Burce Wang
• Charles Brock
• Chris Schwarz
• Glen Huey
• Greggory Paolini
• Mark Harell
• Megan Fitzpatrick
• Roy Underhill
• Scott Meek
• Scott Philips
• Thomas McDonald

This past weekend, the Woodworking Show came to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa.  As if you had to ask… yes, I was there all day Saturday. I was on the floor before the show began, Tweeting like a madman. While I was there, I didn’t buy anything, but I did get a look at some great products and educational programs. Here’s just a little peek at some scenes from the floor…

Hand tools are great.  Seriously.

No, you won’t be able to blast through stacks of lumber in minutes. And, I have no intention of selling my power tools – so don’t get your hopes up.

However, in my two car garage – I mean workshop – I use a fair amount of hand tools. Sure, if you see me perform at the Hand Tool Olympics, you might laugh at this claim, but stick with me here.

I don’t own a powered jointer because, well, I don’t have enough space to use it. So, to shoot my edges, I can use a table saw with an edge guide if things are really wonky, but if they are only a little out of kilter, I’ll reach for my bevel up jointing plane. When I take my time – and am not dealing with a bunch of hecklers – I can get nice square edges.  And, while I do use a thickness planer, I will use hand planes to get the majority of the leveling done on one side before I feed it through the planer.

It hasn’t always been this way.  I mean, my first planing attempts were pretty bad. That’s an understatement for sure. I would struggle, push, curse.. the whole nine yards.  The results always left much to be desired.

That was until I got some advice from a few more experienced plane users. The best of what I heard was to take the time to dial things in one at a time until you get the results you want.

When you are working with any tool, you have to begin with the basics… the tool needs to be sharp.  You’d think that would be a given, but you’d be surprised just how many people skip this first step. They will sometimes open the box on a new tool and start trying to take perfect curls off a board. That’s just not going to work. Sure, the iron has a nice edge ground on it, but you need to give even the best irons a honing. And, when you use these tools, you also dull the edges, which makes sharpening a skill you have to master.

There are lots of ways to sharpen a tool. For me, it’s a quick trip to the Tormek to refresh the bevel and edge, refine the scratch pattern and then hone the iron to a mirror polish.  Water stones, oil stones, sandpaper, diamond stones.. .whatever your taste, get used to them by breaking them out frequently. And, don’t be afraid to touch up the edge on a fine stone or strop during use.  It’s easier to keep them sharp than do everything from scratch.

Next, set the iron in the plane carefully. There are many different adjusting mechanisms on planes. Some are a simple as a wedge that holds the iron in place while others can be very complicated.  Just be sure to rest your plane on your benchtop and slide the iron in place. This will set the depth equal to the sole of the plane. That’s a great place to start assembling your plane’s mechanism to get everything set up perfectly.

Then comes the tough part – getting those final fidgety settings down cold. I find that I sometimes have to tilt the iron to one side or the other to get it centered and ensure I’m not planing a slight bevel onto the edge of a board.

Sure, it takes time… but, when it’s done well… boy, will you be one happy woodworker!