Saturday, Feb. 4 is the final day of Highland’s Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at our store in midtown Atlanta. Here are some photos taken on Friday of the exquisite hand tools being demonstrated that you can try out for yourself today. Come on in. ADMISSION IS FREE!
Exquisite Brese hand planes
Brese bench planes
Lie-NIelsen bench planes
Lie-Nielsen shoulder planes
Lie-Nielsen specialty planes
Lie-Nielsen block planes
Lie-Nielsen dovetail and tenon saws
Lie-Nielsen card scrapers
Here are some scenes from our highly educational Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event taken during the day on Friday, Feb. 3. This free event is open till 6 PM Friday and continues on Saturday, Feb. 4 from 10 AM to 5 PM.
Ted Dishner from Lie-Nielsen (far right) talking tools
Lots of exquisite hand planes
and lots more awesome Lie-Nielsen tools
Tim Lovett from Lie-Nielsen Tools making shavings
Chris Black demonstrating new tools
Ron Brese of Brese Tools showing one of his exquisite planes
Bob Zajicek demonstating some of his Czeck Edge Tools
Several of our Wood News contributors sent us their New Year’s Resolutions. As inspiration (or entertainment) for the rest of us, here are 4 of the ones submitted.
(Feel free to contribute your own Woodworking New Year’s Resolutions under “Comments” below.)
STEVEN D. JOHNSON — RACINE, WISCONSIN
1. Get better at sharpening… Merely slicing paper or shaving hair from my arm is not good enough. I want to sharpen an edge that will split molecules. A plane blade that will go through a drop of water and produce hydrogen and oxygen is my goal.
2. No inventor, I hope to at least be a modifier and create the perfect woodworking apron. I should probably also resolve to fulfill my resolutions, since this was one of my goals last year, too.
3. Either find a convenient and easy way to get glue out of my pants and shirts or be less messy when doing glue-ups. Removing the dried glue is probably a more realistic goal.
4. Re-read all of Alan Noel’s columns… I have to get better at finishing.
5. New Years resolutions should be oriented toward “self improvement.” However I want new tools. I’ll figure out how to reconcile this soon.
LEE LAIRD — AUSTIN, TEXAS
1. I have been working slowly on building a replica of a Gibson Les Paul guitar for quite a bit longer than is truly needed. I resolve to have it in playing shape by the end of March 2012, at the latest. (EEEK!!)
2. My workshop is a double-car garage, but it’s still large enough to complete decent sized projects. The problem is it was originally more a storage garage. Recently I’ve installed a shed and added some flooring in my attic, to aid in increasing floor space in my shop. I will completely re-organize my shop space, and tools, so I can more easily do my woodworking. (I might even find space for a full-sized workbench.)
3. I have four projects I drew up on paper in the first quarter of 2011. An entertainment center, a cool lamp, a router table and some book cases. I made a small bit of progress on one of the four, but really should have finished all four of the projects. I will have all finished before our 2012 Lie-Nielsen Event season begins in August. (Since our 2011 season ends in May, I’ll at least have a couple of months, even if I’m sluggish starting in the early part of 2012.)
4. Lastly, and of course not least, I will continue to work on both my written and spoken words to hopefully better share woodworking thoughts in my articles and at our Lie-Nielsen events. I suppose this resolution will only be measurable by those who either read my articles or attend our events, so I’ll be looking to all of you for input at the end of next year.
GEORGE T. (TERRY) CHAPMAN — FAIRBURN, GEORGIA
1. I will find some good classes to go to. Highland offers a wonderful range of woodworking classes with the added advantage (for me) of no air travel, and no hotel bills since I can come back to my own house every night. In addition, I plan to look into the John Campbell Folk School https://www.folkschool.org/ just over the Georgia line in North Carolina. They offer a wonderful range of classes from a weekend to a full week on a wide variety of subjects from kaleidoscopes to quilting to calligraphy. I kinda like the fly rod stuff. Room and board are included in their fees and you stay in a dorm on site and eat family style in the dining room. To be fair, for lunch Highland points you to the saloon next door where you can eat family style with your class and quite often the instructor too.
2. I will clean the filters in my dust collectors. I looked up at the ambient air cleaner in the ceiling of the shop the other day and it must have a pound of dust in it. The filter is two inches thick and it costs upwards of thirty bucks when you buy a new one. Sure would hate to ruin it.
3. I am moving out all the plywood and pegboard that I have in the shop. I do not like plywood and I do not like things made with plywood. I had some plywood imported from Russia one time and it smelled like a wet dog whenever you cut it. Pegboard is a project killer for me. I am going to stick with real wood and concentrate on “fine” woodworking (whatever that is).
4. I will finish my sculptured rocker, the one on display at Highland. I want to rock in that bad boy and I want the right side to match the left side when I finish it.
5. I want to turn a hollow vessel. It is one of the many gaps in my turning skill set and I just think it is something I need to do well before I can rightfully call myself a woodturner.
6. Add the skew to that. Still working on that boy.
7. I plan on cleaning the shop very well at least one time this year. I will get down on my hands and knees with the shop vac and clean every square foot of the floor. I also think it may be time to throw away all those cut-offs I have been saving for heaven knows what. They tend to build up over the years, especially since I really hate to throw wood away.
8. Clamps are all over the floor. I have no good place to store them and it would be a real joy to have them in one place easily and quickly accessible to a project. I may do a cart or I may try to clean off a wall somewhere and build a wall rack.
9. My son laughs at me all the time for the roll top desk which has been about 85% finished for the last 15 years. Perhaps this is the year. Course he claims it is such a tradition seeing it there unfinished, he would really miss it if it got finished and moved up to the house. Oh yeah, there is a tilt back rolling desk chair which is only partially refinished. And the new mahogany writing table. Oh, and the oak barrister’s bookcase. The second cherry Shaker candle stand. The walnut school house clock. Plus about twenty bowls. Better be a long year.
10. I’m going to fix the work table behind the table saw. Right now, it is about four inches higher than the table saw, so if I want to use it as support when I push a board through the saw, it is too tall. (Really helpful if I ever have another piece of plywood in the shop.) Plus right now it has all those bowls and the clock on top of it in the way. I plan to clean it off, level it up and then mark the legs for cutting to the saw height. Same way you level a chair.
11. And last, I want to learn to make my own custom moldings. I find the subject fascinating, both for the detail involved, the lack of noise and dust, and the universality of the methods used. It appears that virtually any molding can be made entirely by hand and with a few of the right tools, it is achievable by most of we amateurs. Go look at “Big Pink” (don’t ask) on the blog http://musingsfrombigpink.blogspot.com/2011/11/result.html. Course he sells the tools also.
12. Oh yes, I want to learn the bass guitar. I find myself picking out the bass line in any song and in another life if I could choose, I would like to be able to sing bass in a Southern Gospel Quartet. Here’s what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhAqojyHhc8&feature=related Whenever I find myself playing a little air guitar, it is always the bass line. I’ll never be able to sing it, maybe I can learn to play it.
CURTIS TURNER — ROUND ROCK, TEXAS
1. Make a shop stool. I find that I am always moving my shop stool from one end of my shop to the other. This a minor inconvenience, however, it tends to break the rhythm of my work to stop and retrieve the stool.
2. Attend the annual AAW turning symposium in San Jose, CA and South West Association of Woodturners symposium in Waco, TX. I have found that national and regional symposia tend to be very inspirational. They offer a fantastic opportunity to learn from experienced turners. It is also a great way to meet and talk with turners from all over the world.
3. Successfully complete the management of the Central Texas Woodturners Association’s gallery exhibit at the Austin Bergstrom International Airport. The Austin airport is well known for its support of local business, restaurants, musicians and artists. I am very excited about this opportunity to display some of the works from central Texas wood turners. The exhibit is scheduled for the Spring of 2012.
4. Take a blacksmith class in hopes of better understanding how metals are worked into tools.
WHAT ARE YOUR WOODWORKING NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR 2012?
This blog is not about sales or in support of any marketing attempt for monetary profit. This is an attempt to give back with your help. We have a world renowned author, teacher, furnituremaker and woodworker, David Charlesworth, that has done much for the woodworking industry, who now requires our help. If I had to state on word that drives or represents woodworkers and their accomplishments, that word would be “inspiration.” David has been, and still is the epitome of inspiration for many through his woodworking talents. He now requires our inspiration and giving back to him.
David was teaching woodworking classes in Germany, when he was rushed to the hospital with respiratory problems, and other health complications that affect his ability to survive. We all know what it means when we cannot do our craft, as David is currently in condition, unable to continue doing what he does best. Without that ability, he acquires no income. His wife Pat, a retired school teacher with limited funds, is trying to handle it all.
That’s where we all come in as a family of woodworkers. I have found that woodworkers do more than just woodwork. Most, if not all woodworkers that I have encountered in my travels, have given back in some way to children, medical causes, the indigent, universities, home school woodworking programs, other woodworkers, communities; all with personal money, time and attention.
David needs our help right now, and time is of the essence. If you can donate a contribution, it will all add up to help David. Your heart-felt gift will not only help with his medical bills, but relieve part of the heavy burden a situation like this puts on a person and a family. When mental and physical well being need to come together to support the healing process, help from the outside can be instrumental in accomplishing a healthy recover.
Rob Cosman shared with us his support of David, stating, “While recovery is the most important, the reality is David, like most of us, needs to work. He derives a part of his income form his royalty on books and DVDs. If you have been considering a purchase, NOW would be a good time, and a great way to show your support.”
If you can help in any way, please send your contributions to:
The PayPal account for David, setup through David’s assistant John at: jklweb@Lineone.net (through Paypal)
You can also order his DVD’s and books through David’s site: www.davidcharlesworth.com.
You may also send your contributions by mail to:
David Charlesworth
Harton Manor
Hartland
Bideford
Devon
EX39 6BL
Please feel free to spread this word on David’s behalf, and please keep David in your prayers.
Thanks in advance from all of us.
As we get ready to celebrate our freedom and independence here in America on the 4th of July, here’s a salute from Highland Woodworking to the brave men and women in our Armed Forces who are serving our country while deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
A recent letter from Army soldier Roscoe (Randy) Harris included a few photos of the woodworking shop that he and fellow soldiers have built on their base in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
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Dear Highland Woodworking,
It’s not beautiful, fancy, or by any means a work of art, but this little old woodshop means so much to a great bunch of soldiers who come here to take their minds off the fact that we’re in Afghanistan. This is our home away from home.
The shop is located on Kandahar Airfield in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan. Downtime is what makes it so hard being here, and what better way to take your mind off being away from your family than doing something you really enjoy doing.
I am very grateful being a part of this wonderful place and helping set it up and keeping it up. We have spent countless hours here building extra shelves, bunk beds, and many other items to make life easier here for soldiers.
An Army soldier and woodworker,
Roscoe (Randy) Harris
READERS: You can log to the comments section below to pass along your 4th of July wishes and thanks to the guys at the Kandahar Airfield woodshop.
NOTE: We plan to feature a longer article about the Kandahar woodshop in an upcoming issue of Wood News
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Congratulations to Chris Craft, whose name was picked in our drawing to visit the Ask This Old House video shoot last week. Chris and his wife Carol spent an hour watching This Old House contractor Tom Silva demonstrating installation of hinges on a custom door at house in Decatur, Georgia, not far from Highland Woodworking. Afterwards they got to join the TV crew for their catered lunch, and had a chance to leisurely chat with Tom and the other crew members.
Incidentally, there’s still time to enter our Stanley Sweetheart Sweepstakes to win a set of 11 Stanley Sweetheart tools.
Ask This Old House is coming to Atlanta to shoot segments for their upcoming Tenth Anniversary Season. As a proud sponsor of the series on Georgia Public Broadcasting, Highland Woodworking is excited to offer our loyal customers the chance to win a visit to a local shoot here in the Atlanta area.
On Wednesday, June 22, 2011 from around noon to 1:30 PM, the winner and a guest will have a chance to watch some of the taping, meet series general contractor Tom Silva, and have lunch with the crew!
Deadline to enter is noon on Monday, June 20. The winner will be notified by email on Monday afternoon. Maximum number of entries allowed is limited to 3 entries per email address.
Watch Ask This Old House on GPB Saturdays at 11:00am and 5:00pm
