Thursday, May 27th, 2010
Link to the MP3 File
Well, it was my birthday this week, so that means it’s also Splintered Board’s birthday. If you’re not following me, the original Splintered Board podcast began at the end of May, in 2008. I was very new to woodworking and was eager to show everyone my progress. I wanted to join the ranks of the Toolmonger podcast – my first ‘manly’ podcast subscription, Tommy MacDonald’s Rough Cut Show – my first woodworking podcast subscription, Marc Spagnuolo’s The Wood Whisperer, and Matt Vanderlist’s Matt’s basement workshop.
The show didn’t really catch on too quickly, and I still don’t see the number of subscribers/downloads that The Sawdust Chronicles has… In the first few months I received a lot of mail that I regarded as ‘hate mail’. It was very critical – to this day I still believe the emails to have been pretty critical – but I believe that these critics had my best interests at heart. Through social networking online, I’ve actually ended up cultivated pretty nice relationships with some of these guys.
And that’s probably one of the most reinforced lessons that I’ve learned about the online woodworking community, and even some of those that are never, and probably will never be, online – it’s that they are generally just really nice people. Sure, there are bad eggs in every group of people you meet, but even in the woodworking arena, the bad eggs are still pretty good.
Now, I’ve been getting a few correspondences about Splintered Board succumbing to the phenomenon that is now known as ‘pod fade’ . Hopefully every time I released a new episode, after being silent for a while, squashed those rumors or concerns. It turns out that I’ve been unbearably busy. So busy, in fact, that I’ve been doing very little woodworking. And, a low turnout of woodworking means a low turnout of woodworking podcasts. Sorry about that, but that’s just what happens when life gets in the way.
Again, addressing pod fade. I mentioned, on Twitter I believe, a few months ago that I might turn Splintered Board into a blog, but continue doing The Sawdust Chronicles. Well, The Sawdust Chronicles is definitely not going anywhere – in fact there are some great new surprises coming soon. The blog thing is still up in the air, but I think, for the most part, the podcast – Splintered Board – will remain silent except for the necessary podcasts.
What does that mean??? Well, it means that I have handshake obligations with Fox Chapel Publishing to review books, Micro Jig and Total Saw Solutions to demonstrate and use their products, and of course I’ll be involved in Woodworkers Safety Week each May. Plus, I’ll be podcasting about each woodworking project I complete, as they are completed.
The vast majority of shows will be video episodes from now on. I hope that gets people excited, I know I love doing video shows… But that also means that the post production time is longer, the episodes are shorter, and the time between podcasts will remain extended (especially since my output has been very sporadic over the past 12 months).
Another change is that I’m not going to promise to do one project per season. I think that was ambitious of me, and doable too, but things just aren’t working out with that, so I’m just going to fall back on doing things as I’m able to get to them.
Projects I have in mind are going to include another iteration of the X-Leg table, a possible weekend commission project, a bent lamination coat hanger, and a stack lamination Pizza Pie table. So there will be plenty of material to podcast to you in the future.
What have I learned in two years of woodworking podcasting? It’s a pretty tall order to list everything that I’ve learned, but I’ll give you some topics in no specific order: Microphones, Audio/Video Editing, Lighting for Videos, Tool and Shop Safety, Sharpening, Hand Tool Use and Maintenance, Power Tool Use and Selection, Dust Collection, Shop Layout, Scavenging for Materials, Relational Dimensioning, a little about Finishing, Versatility of the Tools You Own, Bargain Tool Hunting, Furniture Design, Period Furniture History, Lathe Use, Scraper Importance, Inlaying, Wood Bending, Wood Grain, Wood Figure, and much, much more.
Tags: birthday, fox chapel, marc spagnuolo, Matt Vanderlist, Micro Jig, projects, Rick Waters, tables, Tommy MacDonald, toolmonger, Tools, total saw solutions, wood, Woodworking
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Day 1
Met Al Navas – Sandal Wood Podcast – Talked about his ailing shoulder
Met Mike Brady – Fox Valley Woodworkers Club – Glen Huey came over and showed us the Blue Spruce mallets that will be awarded as prizes of the Hand Tool Olympics
Watched Jameel – Bench Crafted – Demonstrate leg vice to spectator
Met Mark Hockstein – Loogie – BS’ed
Presentation – Anatomy of a Masterpiece – Jeff Greene
Very concerned with examining furniture design within the context of the historical period – what was going on at that time.
Styles migrating (over time) France – England – Colonies
Oscar Fitzgerald – 20th Century American Furniture and Why You Should Like It
Anyone who has an interest in furniture would like this session. Of the 7 sessions that I went to, Mr. Fitzgerald’s was probably the most energetic. I described it later to several people as if we were shot through a cannon made up of 100 years of American furniture. I was especially pleased to see some of my favorites included in the fast-paced presentation, such as Jere Osdood, Hopkins and Wendell Castle. But he didn’t limit it to my prefences, he also included several pieces from Maloof, Frank Lloyd, Wright, many other Arts & Crafts designers/builders, and reproductionists.
Immediately following, I got a semi-private interview with Mr. Fitzgerald which I’ll be sharing on The Sawdust Chronicles and the Splintered Board Podcast.
After the interview I wolfed down a $9 lunch, that I vowed to not be forced to eat again, and in only 5 minutes! I befriended Dale Barnard of Barnard Woodworking School, and was off to another session.
Presentation – Jim Tolpin – Measure Once, Measure Not at All
Jim Tolpin’s talk, about how specific imperial measurements aren’t always needed for every project, was pretty refreshing. I’ve always wondered what the ancient woodworkers and stone masons used to measure their work pieces, since there was not always been an established, recognized, and accepted standard unit of measurement.
Mr. Tolpin showed how he loosely uses body-size comparisons to get dimensions. Then he uses story sticks and templates to record the project’s actual measurements. Not once was a protractor, ruler or tape measure used, and he never wrote down any numbers.
During the Q&A Session afterwards Jim cut the parts of the project out of cardboard and assembled them within minutes.
Don Williams – 19th C. Joinery, The Transition From Hand to Power
Don was probably the most consistently entertaining presenter that I saw at WIA. His accounts of personal experiences and jokes about how woodworker apprentices must have always gotten the wrong end of the stick, were just hilarious. Don’s comparison of hand tool use today to Ghandi ‘getting back to basics’ and rejecting his modern life, was very profound and thought provoking.
Mixed in with the levity was a ton of tool history. The fact that the first known powered saw (water powered) was built and used in 1337, was just astonishing. At least, until we found out that they had chop saws and wind powered table saws in the 1500’s. The 1700’s brought us water powered vertical gang saws with 10 blades, jointers and planers running on steam and veneer saws.
We didn’t see bandsaws until the 1800’s, which totally amazed me until I talked with Don alone the next day. I sat down in a Q&A session where he and I were the only people there. When I walked in I thought he was sleeping.
We discussed finishes, advancements in technology from machines to medicine, and of course tools. He said that I shouldn’t be so amazed that the bandsaw didn’t exist before the 1800’s, because the machine may have been dreamt up, but it may have been shelved until people were able to produce a strong thin band of steel that would not break.
Day 2
Got a late start because through an amazingly crazy series of events, at 3am I discovered that our water heater had sprung a leak. That led to me deciding to go to the conference late – if at all. At 7:30 we got on the phone with the water heater replacement guys and scheduled them to come out to the house that day. Phew!!
Anyway, I got to the convention late and missed the Greene & Greene session. So I decided to go to reproductionists Jeff Headley and Steve Hamilton’s Casework and Detailing session. I jumped in a few minutes late and found an open seat in the back near Matt Vanderlist. About 2 minutes later Shannon Rogers came in and took the seat next to me.
Jeff and Steve’s presentation was great!!! Each piece they showed us was knock—downable. The first piece they put together was a Chippendale chest, but it almost didn’t happen. They spent an exaggerated 5 minutes trying to figure out how the sides dovetailed into the bottom panel. Turns out they’ve been showing this knock-down Chippendale chest for 7 or 8 years. And their instruction on how to create each decorative piece and functional joint was excellent.
Take aways from this session were:
A new way (for me) to create a splay foot on a case.
Glue blocks constructed from smaller blocks with alternating grain directions.
On dovetails, use your mortiser to cut the pins. Stay 1/16 or less from the line, and pare away the rest.
Woodworking Workshops of the Shenandoah Valley
wwostv.com
540-955-2022
They have workshops schedule once a month, at least through July of 2010.
Afterwards, I got to meet up with Shannon and Matt in the Marketplace and BS a bit. Matt and I ran into Al Navas, while Shannon traded a prize that he won at the Hand Tool Olympics for another recently highly valued item, Chris Schwarz’s Hand Plane Essentials.
I’ve got to give credit to Megan Fitzpatrick and her administrative crew at the show. Every time I’ve had a question, they’ve been right there to answer it or help out when needed. I’m starting to think that I’m bothering them, though…
Brian Boggs – Composing with Wood Grain
Not only does Brian talk to us about the positives and negatives about displaying and working with wood grain and figure, he relates about experiences when the grain in some pieces would not be fully appreciated.
Brian touched briefly on how consideration should be given to the structural strength of different directions of grain.
Matched 4 boards together to look like 2 boards on a table top. Two sequenced boards from a log were book matched then the next board in the tree went thru the center of the tree, meaning it was ¼ sawn. Took ½ of the ¼ sawn board and placed it on the outsides of the book matched boards. Came out looking like a 2-board table.
Keynote Speech – Thomas Moser
I had just concluded an interview with Mr. Moser when we all filed… I’m sorry, when we all gushed into the dining hall. After settling down at our table I saw that I had probably sat with some of the most well-known people in online woodworking that were in attendance – outside of the Pop Woodworking crew themselves.
The table included Shannon Rogers, Matt Vanderlist, Bob ___ from Czech Edge Tool, David from Blue Spruce Tools, Ron Brese from Brese Planes, and Jameel Abraham from Bench Crafted. We quickly ate and sat through about 19 hours of Glen Huey giving away prizes to people who’d competed in the Hand Tool Olympics.
Finally Tom Moser took the stage and presented a wonderful account of his life, not just his woodworking career. I couldn’t do it justice to recount it here, nor do I think my voice could hold out if I tried. Rest assured, the man has furniture design and woodworking skills. Admittedly, I went into the conference having a completely different opinion of Thomas Moser than I did after that night.
Day 3
Bob Lang – Arts and & Crafts – The Unadorned Truth
There’s not much that I can say about Bob’s session. I’m not a real fan of Arts and Crafts furniture. And I probably went into this session with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Mr. Lang at least gave us a thorough history of the Stickley Brothers. But, there wasn’t much more than that. I found it interesting, but maybe it was because I didn’t sleep well for the previous 2 nights – I found myself falling asleep 3 times. Sorry Bob.
Today was my day to buy stuff, and before I knew it I was out of money. I expected to see wider discounts on items while vendors were contemplating boxing their wares up and dragging them back to their stores. Unfortunately, the discounts I saw weren’t great enough for some of the items I really wanted, but didn’t really need. I really would have preferred
Tags: Al Navas, bencrafted, blue spruce tool, brese planes, Brian Boggs, Chris Schwarz, Dale Barnard, Don Williams, dovetails, Fox Valley Woodworking Club, FVWWC, Glen Huey, jameel abraham, Jim Tolpin, mallet, marc spagnuolo, mark hokstein, Matt Vanderlist, Megan Fitzpatrick, Mike Brady, Oscar Fitzgerald, Popular Woodworking, Rick Waters, Shannon Rogers, splintered board, Thomas Moser, Woodworking in America
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »