Woodshop plans

Thinking about the work of George Nakashima, I too was expecting to see a more oriental design quality.  However, after visiting his website I became intrigued not so much by the actual design of the furniture, but more so for his teams work ethic and inspiration.  That is what I most appreciate.  Never would I have thought woodworking can be such an intimate process between man and nature.  It is fascinating to realize the process of woodworking (particularly by Nakashima) as a bond and destiny of a single tree.  Its inspiring to see the levels of dedication and perfection given towards a single tree.  I tend to run into perfectionism as a stressful and problematic issue, but after researching the works of Nakashima, perfection in woodworking seems like a pleasant requirement.  Although I personally dont particularly like the design of Nakashimas work, I honestly do appreciate the background story behind the work.  I enjoy the ideals of concept, perfection, and art.

I recently heard from Tanner in Maryland. Hes a 13-year-old woodworker with some very creative ideas. Check out some of the stuff hes been making.





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I was delighted to see Travis Johnsons version of my wacky Jetsons wall clock. Looking at this clock just makes me happy.



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Book boxes are  great gift projects. Jeffrey Berry made two from Mothers Day. One for his mom and his mother-in-law. Love the cover treatments!

So, you want to know the easiest and quickest way to build woodworking projects?

Here, I will compare and contrast two of the most effective products on the market and allow you to choose which one you think will be most suitable for your particular needs.


“Teds Woodworking” $67

If you want to learn how to start building amazing woodwork and woodwork designs the faster and easier way,then you need TEDS WOODWORKING PLANS. The plans are clearly drawn and there are step-by-step explanations of how the plan should be done and put together.

In this package,you will learn how to start building your outdoor woodworking projects easily so that you are fully up and running,creating remarkable woodwork projects within days from now.

Heres why its so cool:

- Over 16,000 Woodworking Plans
- With CAD/DWG software to view/edit plans
- Step-by-step instructions with photos
- High quality blueprints and schematics
- Lifetime members area with woodworking videos

This is the *EASIEST* way to start your woodworking projects  - and its still at a ridiculous low price.

If youre just starting out or youre a seasoned carpenter, youll find out just how simple it is to build projects using TedsWoodworking step-by-step plans.

With over 16,000 plans, it covers a ton of projects. Check it out and see why I endorse it so much.

Youll love it.

Download over 16,000 woodworking plans and designs right  HERE!





“Woodworking4Home” $49

You are probably tired of looking through stacks and stacks of projects on woodworking in magazines and books of all kinds for some instructions on how to do a certain project.

How would you like to have woodworking plans (actually thousands of them) available to you anytime you wanted them? It would be so easy when you do not have to paw through all kinds of old magazines but have it right there at your fingertips.

The Package Consists of 14,000 Woodworking Plans with Step-by-step Instructions, Photos and Diagrams to Make Every Project Laughably Easy.

If you are looking for Best Blueprints, Woodworking Illustrations and Schematics to Make Any Project Easy and Hassle-Free, then I urge you to get The Woodworking4Home DIY kit which has proven itself again and again. With thousands of happy users its time for you to get in on the action.

To find out more about “Woodworking4Home” CLICK HERE!



Heres the bottom line: If you are planning to start your woodworking project, any of these products isnt something you SHOULD use, its something that you would be insane not to.

Sometimes things move along much faster than you expected. Today in the shop I took care of what has been one of the most intimidating things I have had to do. Along with many other hand tools, I inherited 2 planes from my wifes grandfather when he passed. a #5 jack plane and a #4 smoother. The Jack plane is a Stanly / Bailey plane, very nice, but it has never worked for me. Early on I did not have the know how, and later on I was just a little scared to take the thing apart and get it to work. That little self doubt voice that rings loudest in the back of your head was holding me down. I have read everything I can find about hand planes, "The Handplane Book" by Garret Hack is on top of that list, also many articles written in woodworking magazines, most by Christopher Shwarz.

Usually I can figure something out by reading about it. I do it all the time, but hand planes still were kind of a mystery. the #5 never worked, the #4 worked intermittently, depending on the grain of the wood, time of day, weather in Lima, and migratory patterns of monarch butterflies. What it took was to get over myself and pull these guys apart, now I get it, pulling them apart told me all the rest I needed to put the pieces in place and tell me how to use them. Kind of funny really.

I thought these guys would need some serious work to get the running. Pulled the all the way apart, cleaned out all the gathered crap in the nooks and crannies. (including old spider egg bundles, one in each plane tucked between the blade and the frog) scrubbed the rust off things, oiled all the screws and adjusters, and flattened and sharpened the blades. Ta Da!!! Its amazing how well they work. I figured out how to dial in the thickness of shavings and got things set just right and it took a whole lot less work than I imagined.

Two planes down, several more to go but that wasnt the whole day in the shop for me. I also got to spend a few hours with my nephew Bailey. Hes a boy scout and pine wood derby season is on the way. The uncle with all the woodworking tools is back in town and how can you say no to spending a little time making saw dust with the kid. He started with a bunch of energy, but after we got to doing some hands on, he really showed a lot of patience and ability. Im gonna look forward to more projects with him.

Cheers

Oldwolf

Welcome Back Everyone,

To continue from yesterday: Ive taken the bowl back down to the wood shop and Ive deepened the two sections of the bowl so it will accommodate both the bowl in the center with veggies all around it.

Here are the photos:

This photo shows a side view of the bowl and if you look carefully you can see a little tear out in the end grain. Im dealing with this by sharpening my roughing gouge and very gently shaving away the surface:

Here is the bowl after a couple of minutes-you can see how this is smoothing down the surface. It sure saves time on sanding!


Hollowing out the bowl was not difficult as its well balanced and the wood is finely grained so it turned smoothly. Ive fit the dip bowl to fit up to its rim. You could use a bowl like this for nuts or other types of treats as well and it can be used with or without the dip bowl:


In this photo Ive done a little preliminary sanding. I really like this bowl:


Its getting really cold outside and my hands are freezing up and I still have one more project to do, Im going to stop and come back tomorrow and finish sanding it.

VW

Hi All,

Well, while Hollys bowl cools its heels in the shop, we have another project to do and here is the story behind that:

I have a lovely cousin in California who is quite ill at the moment. Fortunately she has a lot of family support in this and specifically she has what sounds like three lovely daughters who have been actively supporting her and her husband. Two of the daughters live in California and the other lives on the east coast. All of them have quite a distance to travel but they do take the time to see their mom and to help out their dad.

I dont know about all of you but being a caregiver can be a lot of work and very stressful and the people in this world who do care for very ill family or friends should be called out and recognized for all that they do. So here is the SWW effort in that direction: Im going to make the daughters each a small present as a thank you and also to let them know that regardless of how the situation with their mom turns out, they have family who care very much about them.

Discussion and Plans

Im going to make each of the daughters a small wooden plate that they can take home and use. I have some white ash, black walnut, and a piece of cumaru wood to use in this and Ive cut out two of the blanks so far.

This is a photo of the cumaru plate (the square plate) and the black walnut blank:


I will cut out the white ash blank later this week and get all of these blanks ready for turning. As Ive only turned one piece of cumaru wood in my life, this will be a new adventure as this wood is very hard and dense and will present a challenge.

So here we go again. Get some coffee and drop by the wood shop-we have a new adventure before us.

Best,
VW

Yesterday was a beautiful summer day, actually one of the first hot sun, blue sky, put your shorts on, summer days of the season and I took advantage of it to go to the Danby Bluegrass Festival with some friends. Will and his Goldtown group, were playing with some other friends as The Johnny Davis Band so it was an easy decision to hop in the car and go. Compared to the other acts, they were definitely the youngest, but they ripped through a number of bluegrass standards and some of their own stuff and were well received by the crowd. I know they had a good time too ... The site was picture perfect, the other performers were real fine and it was just a great afternoon .... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

I got there in time to see Smokey Greene sing that 70s classic, "Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goal Posts of Life" ... I last saw him do that locally in the 70s before we both quit the bar scene. I missed a great photo op of a small group of line dancers doing the dkmjttgpol line dance ... quite the sight. Smokey closed his set with about 20 people on stage helping him sing some classic standard, though I cant remember which one it was.

Next up was Will and his friends doing their stuff...

Will, getting down some good banjo licks ...

Acoustic Blue ... Classic standards and gospel, with Smokey helping them out..

the crowd

The last set I caught was by Junior Barber and his friends from Platsburgh, New York.
Junior as a dobro player is right up there with Jerry Douglas imho, and it was great to see them perform. Im sure the group after them was great but we had the Lilly party to go to, where there was an acre of blooming daylillies, an acre of friends, a 1/2 acrre of pot luck food, and about a half hour of professional quality fireworks. Its an annual event for at least the last ten years and never fails to be great. Had I checked my email before bed I would have found an order for one of our fanciest pool tables. Today I feel like I went through the goal posts for the winning point.