One of our favorite new tools this year is the compact dust extractor, the CT-SYS, from Festool. The portable unit makes workshop cleanup so easy (not to mention other cleanups around the house, in the car and anywhere else you can think of!)
Find out more about the Festool CT-SYS Dust Extractor in our 8 minute video.
In this new monthly column the Madcap Woodwright, John McBride, invites both seasoned pro and novice woodworkers alike to stop and reevaluate their perspective on woodworking.
Each month, the Madcap Woodwright column will explore issues that encourage you to examine time worn attitudes and approaches to woodworking.
In his first column, John starts by telling the story of how he fell deeply in love with woodworking, starting from shop class in his sophomore year of high school.
John is also in the process of building a Roubo Workbench “with a Twist“, and documenting the build in stories and pictures in his column. Part 2 of that build is also included in this month’s column, along with a link to part 1.
Make sure you subscribe to Wood News and get the Madcap Woodwright and much more delivered to your inbox each month!
In this month’s issue of Wood News, Amy Herschleb writes about her own journey learning how to cut a dovetail by hand. Amy is a staff writer for Highland and a relative beginner to woodworking, but her current surroundings working at the Highland Woodworking retail store make for a perfect environment to immerse herself in all things woodworking and learn various ways of approaching the basics.
Amy will be providing a beginner’s take on a number of different woodworking topics, including joinery, sharpening, hand planes, carving and much more. Keep your eye out here for more articles to come!
In the meantime, you can read about Amy’s entertaining exploration into different ways of cutting a dovetail.
If you are struggling to get a good fit on your dovetails with a handsaw, the Barron Magnetic Dovetail Saw Guide can help. Use the guide as an assist if you are just starting in your dovetailing, or keep it in your toolbox for foolproof angle cutting even when you have your technique down.
In the video below, Mike Morton takes a closer look at the Barron Guide, demonstrating how it works and showing us the best way to use it to cut pins and tails on your next set of dovetails. If you have been frustrated in your attempts to cut close-fitting dovetails, try the Barron Magnetic Dovetail Saw Guide, available at Highland Woodworking.
If you are overwhelmed by all of the choices for sharpening and honing your plane irons and chisels, we can help. In the video below, Justin Moon takes a closer look at the many different options for sharpening, including water stones, diamond plates, oil stones, ceramic stones, sandpaper and more.
Watch the video to learn pros and cons of each sharpening method, and get started sharpening with confidence in your own shop today.
Have you ever flattened your workbench? If you have an old bench top that has endured a lot of use, it might be time to return the top to flat so you can maintain the accurate reference surface that so many of us need from our workbenches.
In this video, Morton walks through the process of returning a workbench to flat, using a Jointer Plane, a Sander and a Jack Plane. Take a look and get your own workbench back to flat today!
A few weeks ago we got an email from a customer who wanted to share his “Pay It Forward” story for the holidays, but wanted to remain anonymous. Here is his story about how he sold all of the tools in his shop to a military veteran for just $1:
It would be an honor to me for you to share my story of my experience (with this fine young man and my soldier friend) of talking for several hours with a returned soldier and then selling my woodworking shop’s tools, machinery, and all contents/everything to him for a dollar and a handshake.
If you don’t mind, please don’t share my name or contact information. I share my story with you to let everyone know that for me paying a little back to a young man who fought for me, and for all of us, was much better than the money I could have made by selling my shop’s contents to someone who wouldn’t have appreciated either this young man’s sacrifice and service or the tools themselves. I could have made a lot of needed cash selling everything I had (it was several truck loads, but it was worth much more to me to have made a new friend and to help a soldier whom I had never met, but will never forget.
My wife didn’t understand at first my decision to sell everything I had for so little because she knew how much time and money I had put into this shop. After she met him and got to know him, she understood my decision completely.
-Anonymous