Kelley Bagby

I grew up around woodworking tools (see picture, age 4-5ish) but only recently started doing some of my own woodworking.

The Highland Woodworker: A New Episode Featuring Brian Boggs and Ron Brese!

May 172012
 

Click below to take a look at the second episode of The Highland Woodworker! Charles Brock takes you to visit woodworking shops of well-known woodworkers including chairmaker Brian Boggs and planemaker Ron Brese as well as Popular Woodworking editor Matthew Teague.

And keep your eye out for Episode 3 of The Highland Woodworker – coming early September 2012!

Take a Look at the May Wood News Online Magazine!

May 112012
 

Having a slow Friday afternoon? If so, you should make the time pass by reading the May issue of Wood News!

This month we’ve got some great entries in our Show Us Your Shop, Show Us Your Woodworking and Show Us Your Carving columns. Matthew Curry’s Bainbridge Island workshop will inspire you to start checking the real estate listings for something like this for yourself! Tyler Stokes is only 18 years old and is crafting beautiful woodworking pieces, and Richard Cheek displays a very diverse range of carving skill, including a replica of his own left hand!

J. Norman Reid unlocks the mystery of hand planes and how to incorporate them into your woodworking – if you’ve ever been unsure about using hand tools, definitely give his article a read!

Steven Johnson, our Down to Earth Woodworker, has an informative review of the Festool CT Boom Arm Set, as well as a trick for cutting dados with your Festool router. Then he has some fun with a couple pieces about how to get through a discount big box store unscathed (think woodworking) and the development of a line of specialized woodworking shoes.

We’ve also got some new video product tours by Morton, and much more. Go take a look now, and have a great woodworking-filled weekend!

Spring In-Store One Day Sale – THIS SATURDAY!

May 032012
 

If you are in the Atlanta area this weekend, we’d love to see you at our Spring One Day Sale! This time we’ve got Mike Morton, our video product tour specialist, on hand to provide demos of his favorite hand and power tools as well as offering woodworking tips and techniques throughout the day.

We’ll also have Curt Jarrell demonstrating our new Masterpiece Wood Finishes as well as our Sculptured Chair parts kits. Dan Durant from Festool will be showing off all the Festool machines and Jim Dillon will demystify the Leigh dovetail jig and the Leigh frame mortise and tenon jig.

And if you’ve never seen the SawStop hotdog demo, well you’ll have two opportunities to witness it in person, at 11AM and 2PM.

So come join us on Saturday, May 5th from 9AM to 6PM. We hope you can make it!

Curtis Turner: Turning Miniature Vases

Apr 252012
 

This month Curtis is turning miniature vases in his woodturning shop, and he writes about it in his monthly column in April’s edition of The Highland Woodturner.

These projects are quick and would make a great Mother’s Day gift!

CLICK HERE to read how Curtis turns a miniature vase.

Read the rest of this month’s Highland Woodturner by CLICKING HERE!

Check out the April Highland Woodturner!

Apr 202012
 

The April issue of The Highland Woodturner is now available!

This month we’ve got a great column by Curtis Turner on turning miniature vases – just in time for Mother’s Day! And if turning vases isn’t your cup of tea, check out Terry Chapman’s article about his process and inspiration for turning a spoon.

A new featured turning by Bill Stephenson and a great woodturning tip from Highland woodturner Phil Colson plus a couple great woodturning tool deals round out this issue. We hope you like it – go take a look!

The Down to Earth Woodworker: A Design Challenge

Apr 132012
 

In this month’s Down to Earth Woodworker…

After making a tough decision to part ways with his trusty old radial arm saw, Steven Johnson, our Down to Earth Woodworker, is making himself feel better by spending some time contemplating the design for a new stand for his miter saw. And he is asking for your help! Read on to learn more about his extensive design wish list and where to send your great ideas:

Design Criteria

When designing anything, particularly a utilitarian piece, it is critical to establish the basic criteria for the design…functionality, dimensions, etc. So here is my design wish list:

  1. Mobile but solid… The stand for the miter saw must have positive locking wheels. I would like the unit to be heavy, but also able to be broken down into component parts should the need ever arise. An upper component, where the miter saw will be mounted, that could in a pinch be moved to a job site would be great.
  2. Storage…In a small shop every inch counts, so the base of the miter saw stand should include lots of storage. The next question is, drawers, doors, or open shelves?
  3. A long worktable…Many boards I work with are 8 feet long, or longer. I need support, at least at one end, for these longer boards.
  4. Ability to make repetitive cuts without measuring each board…With a long table, I would also like a way to quickly and accurately place stops that will allow me to cut identical-length multiple parts.
  5. And speaking of the table…A “longish” work surface on either side of the saw might also make a good additional shop work surface when horizontal space is at a premium, like when assembling multiple drawers. The work surface will have to be and stay flat, and it needs to be able to be cleared easily of fences or other obstructions.
  6. Future proof…My new miter saw is good…in fact, very good…but is it really top-of-the-line? Who knows? I do know it is not a Festool, and unless I win the lottery, it’s not likely to soon be a Festool. But someday, right? One can always dream. And engineering progress marches on. Who knows? The next generation of miter saws may be even more rigidly accurate. I would like the design to be able to accommodate a different miter saw in the future without starting over from scratch.
  7. Dust mitigation…Catching the dust from a miter saw (or a radial arm saw for that matter) is, at best, a sketchy proposition. I would like to design-in dust collection in order to keep the air in my shop as clean as possible.
  8. Overall footprint…Obviously there would be little point in this entire exercise if the footprint is not less than that of the combined space now occupied by my RAS and miter saw.

With these things in mind, I am gradually noodling out a design, but could use your help. Have you designed and built a miter saw workstation? If so, send me your pictures and/or description. You can email me at: downtoearthwoodworks@me.com

I will then promptly steal, uh, borrow, any great and innovative ideas for my own design. Of course I will give you credit and maybe even include a picture of your design in an upcoming article. That, coupled with just $1.99, will buy you a cup of coffee at the local doughnut shop, so send in those ideas!