Woodshopdemos.com

In February of 2010, the online woodworking community lost one of its pioneers. John Lucas, who had run Woodshopdemos.com since 1999 passed away, leaving us – fortunately – with an impressive eleven years worth of online woodworking knowledge. The question many of us had, though, was what was going to happen to that treasure trove of information?

Enter Craig Bentzley.  He has worked with the Lucas family and has taken over the Woodshopdemos.com site. While no one can fill John’s shoes, Craig promises that he will work to keep John’s spirit alive through his posts. Check out Craig’s new posts, and be sure to visit John’s old site, which has been restored to the way it looked when John wrote his last post.

Vintage Saw’s beginner’s saw filing primer

Old hand saws are great tools. They were built to work hard and give years of outstanding service.  Only, of course, when they are properly sharpened.  And, somewhere along the line, woodworkers went from sharpening their own saws to relying on shipping their prized tools out to be sharpened.

To help get sawyers back to sharpening their own saws, the folks at Vintage Saws have prepared this very detailed page about the process. From understanding saw tooth geometry to process of straightening, jointing and filing the teeth, users can go step-by-step from dull and lifeless tools to ‘sticky sharp’ teeth that cut like a dream.

Even if you don’t want to sharpen your own saws, this page will at least give you a good introduction to saws and how they work.

Wood Magazine’s free shop organization plans

Woodworking is an awesome hobby. Until you realize what kind of disorganized mess you can create.  There are chisels and saws to keep from banging together, dulling their cutting edges.  Hardware to keep sorted by purpose and size. Specialty sawblades for your band, table, circular and other saws. Racks to store the lumber you are storing for that special project. Stands to hold the tools you aren’t using. Sandpaper storage. And, what’s up with all of those clamps? It’s enough to drive you crazy… if you don’t have a plan.

That’s exactly what Wood Magazine is offering at their shop organization plans page. Get a whole passel of free storage plans featured over the years in the magazine that can take your shop from a hot mess to a cool place to hang out and get work done. Not only can you safely store all your things, but you can find them easily, maximizing your shop time.

About.com’s Dovetail Joint landing page

Full blind. Half blind. Through. Router cut. Hand cut. There are many different flavors of dovetail joints out there – but how is a woodworker supposed to know which is which?

One good place to start is at the About.com’s dovetail landing page. From this link, you can find a host of information about the different kinds of dovetail joints out there and the best way to cut them.  The site’s moderator has even put in links to show how box joints work – just in case you want to try those instead.

Wood Barter

Where I live, I can find all kinds of wood I couldn’t find (easily) when I grew up in New Jersey. And, I’m sure that woodworkers in Washington state, Arizona, Australia or the United Kingdom can find woods that I’m going to struggle to get my hands on.

Wouldn’t it be a cool idea to have a forum where people could connect to swap their local woods to get someone else’s local woods in return?

That’s exactly why the Wood Barter forum was created. In this community, you can find people who want to trade, sell or barter for wood. There are also tips on felling and milling trees as well as drying your lumber – for the extreme do-it-yourselfer.

The site is free to join, and it provides an interesting look at some really sweet boards.

Senate Chamber Desks

Very few people like what’s going on at Capitol Hill these days. Gridlock and partisan bickering seem to be the rule, not the exception. But, you can’t deny something very important… the Capitol is a very historic building, and the furnishings found inside are pretty impressive, too.

Of course, things were different back on August 24, 1814. That’s because the British Army was setting fire to the Capitol, the White House and a bunch of other historic structures while sacking the young nation’s capitol.  Once the British left, buildings had to be rebuilt and furniture replaced. That’s where we pick up with the story of the current desks in the Senate Chambers. New York cabinetmaker Thomas Constantine was commissioned to build 48 new Senate desks for the chambers, and he delivered them in time for the re-opening of the chambers in 1819.

The cost? $34 each…

Today, those original desks, plus 52 similar ones for states which entered the union after the war, occupy the current chambers.  This site offers the history of these impressive desks, and even shows a 3D rendering of how these desks were modified through the years. An interesting read.

Andy Brownell’s Glue Creep Study

There are many things in woodworking that are taken as dogma. You can never use another  finish over shellac with any wax in it.  Dovetails are the only joint allowed on fine furniture casework. And, if you want to get a solid bond on joints under stress, you can never use yellow PVA ‘carpenter’ glues. After all, they all ‘creep’ under pressure, right?

While these are good general rules of thumb, isn’t it great that there are people out there testing to see if they are 100% incontrovertible fact, or just general ‘known facts’ that can be broken.  Andy Brownell is a man on a mission to see if yellow glues truly make unacceptable joints.

To get to the bottom of this, he has set up quite the experiment. Using glues of different formulations from different manufacturers, he’s gluing up a variety of wood species to see how each performs.

This will be an ongoing experiment, so be sure to stop by to check out how things are progressing!