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
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Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
When last we left him, Rick Waters, aka ‘Splintered Board’ the self described ‘Woodworker Un-extraordinaire’ was about to continue his project in completing the most difficult, most dangerous, possibly the most disgusting project of his woodworking career the Baby Diaper Changing Table. Said table has quickly and rightly become Splintered Board’s nemesis.
With such heinous acts against the woodworker as: repeatedly demanding more and more wood; requiring many extra hours of design; consistently jamming up an 18″ thickness planer; having so many pieces that the woodworker can’t possibly keep track of them all; weighing so much that the constant shuttling back and forth to the school woodshop is breaking the woodworker’s back, this table has now resorted to pulling out the big guns.
It has now called in the woodworker’s wife to comment on the lack of progress! Splintered Board has no choice, this table is going down!
Meanwhile, locked away in the bowels of the ‘Mancave of Sawdust’, Splintered Board tackles another project. This first commission (pro bono, naturally) proves to be no challenge for Rick’s fledgling skills.
And if that’s not enough, in this episode, your hero, Splintered Board will share a tip on wood identification, some anecdotal information about a pen-turner, and the possible future of THE SPLINTERED BOARD PODCAST!
Thanks, Greg, for the great intro!!!
Please visit Greg Crites’ website VeinArmor.com
Tags: art, basement workshop, box, chisel, chronicles, furnitology, Furniture, hand tools, Jointer, miter, modern woodshop, planer, Podcast, power tools, Renaissance Woodworker, rough cut, saw, sawdust, Table saw, the wood whisperer, toolmonger, Tools, wood, woodwork, Woodworker
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Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
I talk about a Drying Times Document, Fine Woodworking Index CD, Fine Woodworking Content CD.
What I learned this week…
I love the Bandsaw!!!
Mark your waste.
Don’t look like an idiot.
Newbies don’t know scrap!
Tags: art, basement workshop, box, chisel, chronicles, furnitology, Furniture, hand tools, Jointer, miter, modern woodshop, planer, Podcast, power tools, Renaissance Woodworker, rough cut, saw, sawdust, Table saw, the wood whisperer, toolmonger, Tools, wood, woodwork, Woodworker
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Sunday, September 21st, 2008
Fox Valley Woodworking Club Meeting
I had another woodworking club meeting last week. This one’s content may not have been as exciting for me as the previous one, but I did get some very valuable time with the club’s vice president. The club president is out of the country, on business, but the VP and I agreed to sit down with the pres. when he’s back, to discuss ways to get the younger generation more involved in the hobby/craft.
What I Learned This Week
Something that may be obvious to some, others may have learned it simply by occurrence, but I really didn’t expect this to happen. What I found was that wood residue stays on blades. Like I said, it may have been obvious… Walnut and Purpleheart getting ’smeared’ on the faces of maple boards.
What am I reading now?
Box by Box by Popular Woodworking. I picked it up last night and am already getting some great ideas.
Bridge City Toolworks CT15 Stainless Steel bevel angle tool for the small price of $289! Compare that to the bevel angle tool I almost picked up at Woodcraft last night for $16.99.
Local (to me) woodworker’s blog ‘Spackle & Sawdust’ by Patrick Jaromin: At least he’s local to me. Less than 5 miles from my house is local, right?
Coming to grips with replication: Well, it looks like Wendell Castle has already done something very similar to what I wanted to create. Lately I’ve been calling it the ‘Dali Table’ because it reminded me of Dali’s melting clocks. Not that it was going to have anything to do with a clock, but that I wanted the table to look like it was melting – liquid. Well, I went on over to Wendell Castle’s website and took a look at some of his desks and tables, and was really surprised to see an almost complete replication (if you can call it that, since he did it first) of what I wanted to do. The proportions of certain features of his ‘Table with Leg’ aren’t what I had imagined, but it was so similar, I almost don’t want to make the table now. Am I being a baby about this? I emailed back and forth with Neil Lamens, over at Furnitology, about this and he had some very interesting things to say about it. Castle’s sculpture background firmly planted him in Art, and thus he creates/created furniture as art. While the rest of us create, mostly, for use and if we can make it look art-like, well, all the better.
A little bit on Safety: This past week Kaytrim (Mike Dove) pointed the ‘Twitter Crowd’ to a LumberJocks discussion topic on workshop safety. Please be careful when bare handing wood with power tools!
The Sawdust Chronicles is available! Erik Pearson and I are now recording episodes of The Sawdsut Chronicles, a podcast for beginning woodworkers, by beginning woodworkers. Our aim: help newbies understand craft terminology and techniques, make the craft less ambiguous and intimidating.
Tags: art, basement workshop, box, chisel, chronicles, furnitology, Furniture, hand tools, Jointer, miter, modern woodshop, planer, Podcast, power tools, Renaissance Woodworker, rough cut, saw, sawdust, Table saw, the wood whisperer, toolmonger, Tools, wood, woodwork, Woodworker
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Sunday, September 14th, 2008
Our Veterans, Where are They? As a few of you already know, I went to my first woodworker’s club meeting last week. It was great! Although I was probably one of only two people there that were born anywhere near or after the 1970’s, I still had a great time. In fact, looking at the crowd that was there (probably over 150 people), I was wondering where all of these woodworkers hiding? Why don’t we hear from them in our digital woodworking community? Router Cabinet Design? I just saw a maple base cabinet come up in my neighbor’s trash. This cabinet has a nice drawer on top of the door – you know, like a kitchen floor cabinet would. I was thinking about picking it up and using it for that router table that I so despirately need. But then I was thinking, ‘Hey, why doesn’t someone make a router cabinet that is one giant drawer?’ Then you could change the sawdust bag easily and change the bit easily. I don’t know if that’s something that everyone is looking for, but that’s the first thing I thought of. Too bad I don’t have room in the garage for a cabinet, or I’d have picked it up. My First Box This weekend I built my wife a box. This was my first box, but even without taking any measurements at all, I was able to make it completely square with an inlay and miter keys. Take a look here and let me know what you think.
Tags: art, basement workshop, box, chisel, chronicles, furnitology, Furniture, hand tools, Jointer, miter, modern woodshop, planer, Podcast, power tools, Renaissance Woodworker, rough cut, saw, sawdust, Table saw, the wood whisperer, toolmonger, Tools, wood, woodwork, Woodworker
Posted in Furniture, Podcast, Uncategorized, Woodworking | No Comments »