Highland Staff

The Leather Shop Apron for Real Men

Dec 022009
 

 

bandsaw.jpgYou know by now that I do a lot of woodturning, and one thing I do dislike is chips falling down the front of my shirt. A few years ago I made up a turning shirt by taking two old work uniform shirts and cutting the shoulder yolk and collar off one and attaching it to the front of the other. It looked like one of those old western movie shirts with the buttons down both sides and a clerical collar at the top. Worked like a champ, too.

As I got more skilled at turning though, I felt like my attire was holding me back. Perhaps I could be a better artist if I were wearing a better turning outfit. So I bought the red turning smock from Highland and whether or not my work is better, I sure do look better when I’m working.

Now I do have one bad habit when sanding finished bowls. I tend to hold the bowl against my body while sanding with the electric drill so that the dust goes down the dust collector hose. Unfortunately, I sanded a hole in my beautiful red turning smock. You’ve heard of chiseled abs; I have sanded abs.

apronsWell the answer to that sanding problem is one of the new leather aprons as found on the front cover of the new Highland Woodworking catalog. These leather aprons are beautiful! I went by the store today to look at them and I suppose I am just partial to leather, but when you walk in the front door of the store, there are at least 40 aprons on display all over the place. (You really need to come see the store at Christmas.) They are made of four basic pieces of leather stitched together with four pockets added to the front. The two larger lower pockets have riveted flaps over them to keep chips out and the other two are made for pencils, calculators and this time of the year, candy canes. The back of the apron is the naturally rough leather and the front is smooth and finished. I looked at a bunch of them before picking the one I wanted and the naturally occurring marks on the leather really add to the appeal.

apron-on-man.jpg

Some aprons are slightly thicker than others and have more marks, and some are lighter or darker in overall color and appearance. I was also very surprised when I picked one up and found how lightweight they actually are. This thing will not weigh you down. I bet if you call the store and ask them to pick out some particular feature for you, they will do it. With the light and strong flat straps across the back, and a quick snap connection, the whole thing is supported by your shoulders and still easy to get on and off. Beautiful!

If by some very small chance you don’t want this one, you could get one of the others that Highland carries, such as the ballistic cloth turner’s apron, the leather turner’s apron, the belt apron, or a regular cloth apron. But the really good leather ones are what I think is best, and come on people, this is Christmas. Get the good one!

Just the Spax, Ma’am

Nov 022009
 

I love Spax screws. I bet I have ten different sizes and lengths of screws in my shop and I use them all the time for all sorts of things. My primary use is attaching the faceplate to a new chunk of wood to put it on my lathe. With my little impact driver I can put in six screws in about ten seconds and I am ready to turn

I went to the Spax website and checked out their history and would you believe 1823? The company started in Germany and has been in business all this time and is still very successful today. While you are there, take a look at the neat little games on their web site. There is a car racing game, a retail counter service game to see if you can sell enough screws fast enough to keep the customers happy (that’s a new one on me), and a football game that is really a soccer game — they are German, remember?

spax.jpg

The secret to the screws is in the shape of the barrel of the screw and in the shape of the threads. The bottom threads are wavy with serrations which act like a miniature drill to cut right through most materials. The net result is effortless work without having to drill pilot holes first unless you are running them into masonry. That’s right, the same screws work for mounting things to a masonry wall. And oh yes, the same screws work on sheet metal up to 24 gauge without pre-drilling. Are you getting the idea here? THESE THINGS JUST WORK.

Of course Highland has all the Spax screws you could want. Go try out an assortment to begin and then find the ones you really need on a regular basis.

A James Krenov Plane

Oct 252009
 

James Krenov has died. I don’t know how I missed the notification, but I just heard about it this week and I found it deeply saddening. James Krenov Krenov was able to write down his ideas about woodworking as evidenced in his work and his thoughts have endured for many years. So many people in the hobby have been influenced by his work and his writings. All of us aspire to his standard of excellence and wish we had his design sense.

For an idea about what this is really all about, consider this image of a lovely little 12″ x 18″ storage box that appeared in an out-of-print book. The King of Sweden collected little ceramic pieces and needed a box to store them. This one works just fine, thank you very much.
James KrenovThe scale of his pieces is what is amazing. Should you buy the books still in print, look carefully at the size of the pieces and you will realize that bigger is not necessarily better.

Last year I was surfing the net and happened on Krenov’s web site. At the time he had stopped making his iconic pieces because of failing eyesight, but continued to offer planes for sale. I bought one. I think I paid $300 for it after several e-mails back and forth with his wife. After they shipped it to me, I looked at it briefly but needed to set it aside because of some illness in my family.
After hearing of his death, I looked for and found the plane I had bought from him last year. Look at his initials on the front of it. I thought he had put the blue masking tape around the throat and blade simply to keep the pieces in place for shipping, and I debated whether to take the tape off. Finally I did take it off and lo and behold, the throat was full of the most beautifully delicate shavings. Shavings put there by the master. I left them there and I don’t know if I will ever take them out…
James Krenov

My Woodworking Book Collection

Oct 092009
 

Kari Hultman over at “The Village Carpenter“, my other favorite blogger, (besides me of course, who’d you think?) posted pictures of her woodworking library the other day. She has quite a collection of books, more than I do, I’m afraid, but with her kind permission, I stole her idea. Here are my books:

I buy books for three reasons. First is to find out how to do something, the most basic reason. When there are few people to ask about some arcane little bit of work, then books are the way to go. Sometimes I buy the book after a class because it keeps me from having to take notes in the class, and it is good for reviewing something I may have missed.

The second reason is vicarious enjoyment of the hobby. There are times when I think I want to start a new phase in my woodworking career by trying something totally new. My standard practice is to buy a book on the subject and after I read the book I can decide if I really want to go buy the tools and devote the time it takes to learn something new. Most of the time, I let the book make up my mind and decide that the vicarious lift from the book will serve my purposes. You may even be able to save a lot of money on tools that way. Best examples so far are the books on violin making and boat building, though I must say the boat dream endures.

The third reason is a peculiar one for me. I buy books, movies and videos because I want to encourage creative people to keep doing stuff I enjoy and I think they should be rewarded for what they do. I have been known to see a movie in the theatre and then buy it on video simply to encourage the creators. Maybe if we all did the same thing we could end up with better stuff all around.

My favorite book in all this: Well, how can you beat Krenov? The details in his work are amazing and then all of a sudden you grasp the scale of those beautiful pieces and it kind of makes you wonder if you should just give up the hobby because you think you will never get there.

The other best one has got to be Tage Frid’s series on woodworking. Volume one is the book lying open on my workbench whenever I am trying something new. And not to put myself in the same class as those guys, how can I pass up my own book on nail pulling?

You will enjoy all of these books. Click over to the High and look at their collection of over a thousand books for sale.

I realized after I took the pictures that I had left out one of my favorite woodworking books. I have a copy of the original non-Disney “Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi. How can you beat that for high skill wood working?

Feel free to post a comment on this blog entry and let me know some of your favorites.

New Catalog from Highland

Sep 222009
 

cat.jpgDid you get your new catalog from Highland yet? Mine came last week and I love browsing this thing. I can spend hours and hours looking for just the right tool or thinking up a new phase for my woodworking efforts. Somebody at the store has spent years getting the descriptions written for all the tools and books and doo-dads included in this little woodworking classic. Shoot, half the time when someone asks me a question about woodworking tools or methods, I reply with answers from this book. And speaking of little, I really like the new size of the catalog reduced to 5 ½ by 10 ½ inches from the previous sizing, thereby leaving more trees for all of us to use in making new stuff.
My wife and I used to ask each other what gifts we wanted for special occasions since we finally figured out that surprise gifts more likely than not were a waste of money. For several years, my stock answer was “One of everything in the Highland Woodworking catalog.” Though I was never able to swing that deal for real, the fantasy endures.

It’s a long slow rainy afternoon in Atlanta, so I sat down and added up the price of one of everything in the catalog. I did add in a couple of hundred dollars of Spax screws because I love those things and use them all the time. I also managed to exclude duplicates of many things and if there was a boxed set, I passed on buying the individual pieces and included just the set. I also left out spare parts for repairing tools.

Before placing my order I intend to get by the store and pick one each of every woodworking book as long as we’re talking fantasy here. (They didn’t list their books in this edition of the catalog, but they list more than a thousand woodworking books on their website.)

My order came to $53,737.94, plus the books, tax and shipping. Of course, I will have to expand my shop to hold all this stuff and I estimate about forty grand would do that. Wonder if American Express means it when they say no preset credit limit? Maybe I can get a discount on the shipping.

Request a catalog online if you want a copy and they’ll add you to the mailing list.

New Book?

Sep 102009
 


Shoji Book.jpgARRGHHHH!!! (Did I spell that correctly? It’s not in my spell check.) That’s it; I’m finally going to do it!! I’m writing a book. I’m starting today and it should be published by next spring. People write books all the time on hide glue and planes and fireplace mantels and woodturning and Japanese screens and I am jealous of their success and I am determined to put my own ideas out there.

Why, you may ask, does this issue move to the top of the ever-present pile of things that must be done? I just spent a week with 249 other fine citizens building eight (count ’em, eight) houses in four and a half days. Whirlpool Corporation with Habitat sponsored a big build down in my town this year and I was able to participate. Volunteers came from all over the country and brought willing hearts and hands, but a range of skills from zero up to very skilled.

One thing I discovered (which is the genesis for my new book) is that many people do not know how to PULL A NAIL!! Now I grew up in the rural South and whatever other faults you may ascribe to that society, my father taught me early how to pull a nail out of a piece of wood. In fact, I debate whether he had to teach me – I don’t remember but I think I was born knowing how to pull a nail. I figured since I knew how from early childhood and it was such a part of my upbringing, the rest of the world must know how to pull nails as well as I do. I mean, a plumb cut on a rafter tail is something you may not know from birth, but pull a nail, come on, people.

Last week I actually had someone in my crew who, when instructed to “pull that nail and start another one”, did realize that the claw on the hammer was the correct instrument, thank goodness for that part. But for the next move–after hooking the nail with the claw this person (no gender assumptions here, please) began to pull on the handle straight back like you might pull on the rope in a tug of war. This, mind you while standing unsteadily fifteen feet up a ladder. As several of us on the ground moved to prevent a huge splat from a pending backwards dive, I knew instantly that additional instruction was needed, my birthright was not universal, and where have these people’s parents been all their lives? That was when I decided I’m going to write a book called Nail Pulling 101. Maybe Highland can publish it for me. 😉

Fireplace Mantels.jpg Gracious goodness, after this, someone’s going to tell me that people don’t know about possum hunting and barbeque and milking a cow. Wonder if Highland would publish those books?

The Gorilla Gripper makes it easy to lift and move heavy panels

Aug 232009
 

If there is one thing I really dislike on a construction site it is Oriented Strand Board or OSB. It is full of splinters even when fresh off the stack. It puts out a most irritating sawdust when cut and it is heavier than it ought to be. I try to avoid it whenever I can, but in my part of the country, it is used as sheathing on the side of the house and under the roofing. Handling this stuff is just an unpleasant part of the deal when you are building a house.

Highland has a new tool that I am looking at. It is called the Gorilla Gripper and is specifically designed to work on stuff like OSB. Have you ever seen the highway construction guys moving those concrete barricades used for traffic control when the highway is being built? They put a big gripper on it which clamps the top of the block and when raised by a big enough tractor, grips tighter and tighter as the weight increases.

Gripper.jpgSame thing with the Gorilla Gripper. You just grab the middle edge of the sheet with it and the harder you pull, the tighter it grips. The trick to picking up a heavy sheet with a Gorilla Gripper is to get your hand under the Gorilla handle and fold your arm under the load while you bend your knees, and then straighten your legs to lift the material. Your hand ends up at your shoulder and the heavy sheet hangs comfortably by your side so you can walk with it.
If you are less than four feet to the shoulder, you might have a little trouble with the sheet dragging on the ground. (Someone a little taller than you could always put another Gorilla Gripper on your head and pick up you and the sheet, and if you are still able to talk, you can tell the secondary lifter where you need the sheet. If you can’t talk, you still have one hand free and you can point with it to get the sheet where you want it to go.)

If your shoulder is over eight feet from the ground, then you can work from the end of the sheet rather than the side. You really big guys can even put one in each hand.

The other thing that had not occurred to me is dragging a heavy 4×8 sheet up a ladder. I watched their video and the demonstrator carried a sheet to the bottom of the ladder and then turned his hand over and holding the Gorilla Gripper at his hip simply walked up the ladder dragging the sheet behind his feet as he walked onto the roof. Works like a champ!!

All you cabinetmakers out there will love this thing too. Banging those precious sheets of 3/4 inch hardwood veneer plywood around the shop gets to be a real pain, plus they cost a lot of money and you sure don’t want to mess one up. If using a Gorilla Gripper saves you just one sheet of walnut or cherry ply, this little machine will have already paid for itself.

Click over to the Highland Woodworking website and see the Gorilla Gripper video and then place your order.