Sep 012010
 
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We have a new addition to our Down to Earth Woodworker’s video collection. Steve Johnson offers up an easy and cheap way to add an air filter to your workshop using a box fan, a basic filter, six feet of J-channel, a length of chain and some miscellaneous hardware. Check it out below, and visit […]

Aug 302010
 
Highland Woodworking classes: French Polish Workshop
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The number of finishing choices available today for protecting your woodworking projects is almost dizzying.  Some options are simple like wipe on/wipe off finishes, while others may require special equipment to apply, like a spray gun system, in order to achieve satisfactory results.   One finishing choice often overlooked is called French polish.  French polish is […]

Aug 262010
 
A post-summer planter
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The altogether autumn-like weather we’ve been experiencing in New England this week has made me start thinking about when I won’t be able to go out to the garden every day and pick fresh vegetables for dinner. Luckily, my boyfriend Bradley gave me a solution for my birthday – a design for a planter we […]

Aug 252010
 
Making an old saw handle friendly again
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Here’s the story of an old saw handle that I restored.  It was actually a pretty lame handle, with the hard lines in the gripping area, which is pretty indicative of a low $$ saw. The saw plate was in decent condition, so I thought I’d see what I might be able to do to […]

Aug 242010
 
And then there was wood!
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As these things tend to do, our floor finishing project dragged out over 3 weeks, rather than wrapping up in the two days I had (naively) imagined. But I will say, now that I’m standing on my beautiful wood floors at the end of the three weeks, I think it was worth it. I wrote […]

Aug 202010
 
Made By Hand - A Book Review
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Many woodworking books fall under two distinct categories, the inspirational, giving us food for thought or highlights of a particular vein of woodworking, or the the more practical, providing hands-on step by step guidance.  A book that straddles that line is Made By Hand by Tom Fidgen, published by Popular Woodworking Books.  Fidgen belongs to […]

Aug 182010
 
The Best Bowl Gouge
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I just went down to the shop and counted my turning tools. I have 19. Most of them I never touch. Some of them I don’t use well and some of them are so bad that I will not use them, and some I have yet to learn how to use. I have one favorite […]