I really enjoy having other men over to help them with shop projects.    My wife calls them "play dates" with my friends.   I call them "Men doing Manly things with other Men".   

David, my friend, has agreed to help his adult daughter with a used furniture modification.

She had found an chest and wanted it 5 inches taller.   David and I talked during the week at work and decided on a plan.  We started about 11am and finished at 4:30pm.    

One piece of trim needs to be added and the whole thing will be spay painted to get everything to blend together.   

He was VERY happy with the results. 

Here are a few pictures of the work.

I always enjoy these meetings.  I have learned not to really question the value of the topics since they always turn out to be very interesting.  

This month was no different.   We always have two presentations.  The pre-meeting from about 6:30pm til 7:15, then a break and the main meeting and presentation starts at 7:30.  This always runs over so we get finished about 9pm++.

The month Eric Garner, a younger ( less than 50 with NO gray hair ) woodworker, presented a short demonstartion of the Mortise Pal jig.   This looked to be a very well constructed jig to create loose tenon joints.

Eric did an excellent job of demonstrating the jig using a 45degree joint and a butt, off set joint as examples.   

Our Second speaker was John Ming.   A past president and very active guild member.   His business  http://www.heirloomwoodcrafting.com/ is just him.  He does amazing work with his Shop Bot CNC tool as his only assistant. 

John is shown  here with an enhancement to a large mantle.   

He explained that while a shop CNC machine is a very large investment,  it pays off with a number of jobs that he simply would not being able to do by hand and be able to sell to the customer.   

John is an excellent speaker and always has too  much material.   

He owns a Shop Bot that is approximately 4 x 8'  It is an older model which he purchased used.   He highly recommends this approach.  His primary reason for selecting Shop Bot was the extremely large user based forum support.   It is one of those special communities of people who are really in competition with each other, but end up providing friendly support for all kinds of questions.  I think is very common amoung craftsman.

With all of the excitement over a work benches in the WW community, here is an album of the benches at WIA 2010.

WIA Workbenches

This last weekend was no exception.  Christopher Schwarz, Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine was in town.  Steve had a reception and informal lecture on Thursday night for free ( with food ) and then two days of classes presented by Chris.

I attended the Thursday evening lecture.  Chris presented a nice slide lecture on the history of workbenches from his vast knowledge and collection of old plates and pictures.

Chris is very entertaining to say to least.  His question and answer session on planes, saws, and every thing wood, including the magazine changes was really fun.  Let's just say he does not hold back on any opinions.  And if you were thinking about buying the new Stanley planes, just don't.

Chris also talked about his books.  Lost Art Press, his publishing company is going very interesting work with the history of woodworking.  I did purchase the Joiner and Cabinet Maker and Hand Plane Essentials.   I have started reading the Joniner and the Cabinet Maker.  This starts to give a new perspective to the craftsmanship of woodworking.   I can already recommend that if you love hand tools and wood, this is a must read.

 As has been posted in the Popular Woodworking blogs, the magazine is taking on a new look.  Chris had the very 1st printing of the magazine.  I think it is a great new direction.   Much more about woodworking projects and techniques that we  all need to learn and practice.  With project to support that process.

Chris also talked about the up-coming Woodworking In America.  It sounds very interesting.  So much so I am looking at the date and hoping to go.  A new and very different format will allow much more access to the master's that will be giving lectures and hanging out to show techniques.

 In summary, a great evening.  Any time you get to hear great woodworkers, you will always learn something.  

Last October my local woodcraft had a good sale and I decided on the new Delta 17" drill press.

more...

I have been working at the new site for several months and finally decided it is time to get it finished.

My objective with this site is to communicate with other woodworkers and share my work and experience with all that care to look and read.

The site and postings will feature many pictures, as much information as I can convey and at times some personal insight and sharing of life.