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Some years ago I started treating my scrap pieces from the scroll saw with respect. I guess meaning I try to make the scrap pieces as if I am also using them in other situations.. Sometimes I hit upon a project cause I leave these pieces laying around to give my brain some help.? That might be how WALT got his start.. No , not by using the scroll saw dummy!!!

At what point in your life (and year) did you start woodworking? I get asked this question occasionally, like this week. I usually respond, "Well, that's sort of like asking a singer when they started singing." I grew up in the 50s and 60s. I dinked around with wood some as a kid, but my father was not really a woodworker. Just a farmer, you know, fix it up yourself kinda guy. I got some formal "industrial arts" in seventh and eight grade. But not in High School. That was for the "shop guys" as they were known. Off to college in the 70s. After graduation, lived in apartments for a few years and built some things "just because I needed them for the home." Moved every year or two for about 5 years, which made it difficult to really get started. Then about 1980, started acquiring a few more tools, doing more reading and self-education, and took off as my primary avocation. About 2003, frustrated with my job and fearing the biennial layoffs, quit and started my own furniture repair business. Still here, still learning, still doing the work,though now semi-retired, part-time, and woodworking as a hobby "because my kids need things for their homes." Most of the people I know started out the same way.

I sort of played the part of handyman when I bought my first home in 1957. Didn't really get into woodworking 'per say' until 1976, when I purchased my present home. I added a 14' X 28' addition to the home and finally built my 20' X 22' garage, which ultimately became my workshop. My first big project was to build the oak kitchen cabinets for my home including 23 raised panel doors and 6 drawers. From there, bookcases, entertainment centers tables etc. Then turned to making band saw boxes. Don't get much time in the shop today but I still enjoy it. The years have slowed me a bit.

John did I goof up gain. I don't usually type anything in turning. Its all greek over there. They use words I never heard of...

Graduated from high school in 54 and that week mom reminded me I would have a payment on my car coming due real quick so I better go to Lubbock and get a job. Dad had died when I was a freshman in high school. Next day I started stopping and asking for a job. I got three offers that day to come back the next day and go to work.. Furniture store delivery, auto parts delivery and a floor covering sales shop and he didn't say what I would be doing, sweeping probably.. Went home and told mom I got three jobs and she said then tomorrow real early stop and tell the other two why you chose one other and you are sorry..... She said be nice to them for which ever you choose you might in time change your mind so keep the door open so to speak cause you might want to ask them again.. She was a real smart lady, just a very poor lady. That furniture store taught me things from day one that I still do in my shop and working with wood is something I have always enjoyed doing..

Started in 1975. Didn't realize how much fun it was until I quit building things for money.

Used a pair of tools today,, The chisel was for mortises, the 'shave was to round things over, before the sander smoothed things out.. Jig to hold these handle still, long enough to chop a hole... tenons were fatter and longer than needed, so they got trimmed a bit...test fit? Got the other handle fitted, as well Will have to sand away the markings..later. Tried the saw blade assembly... And cranked the wingnuts down as far as I could....added a clamp.. Just need to buy the rod for the top. need to sand this smooth, and maybe a little finish....then post as a project?

We never had pheasants in our area. I never even heard stories of them being in the southern part of the state. Plenty of turkey and grouse, but no pheasants or quail. Farming was not a big activity in my area. It was oil and timber. Corn fields were not huge or very common, and grain wasn't grown. So, the habitat may not have been there for these birds. Hmmm, so you were the ones stealing all of our turkeys! LOL!

Christmas is less than 2 months away. We have the opportunity to make this Christmas special for our Gold Star Christmas Family. Please head over to this page and give what your heart suggests. Sure, you might win a fantastic prize from our most generous sponsors. But, really, the winners will be those kids on Christmas morning when they see there really is a Santa. Had a few flakes of snow here last night. Kinda early for these parts but they say it's going to warm up some later in the week. @Ron Altier is still making his Christmas ornaments. Ron certainly can create beautiful objects from that colorful plywood- You can read his post and the comments at- @Steve Krumanaker is working on Christmas gifts. He turned a beautiful box from spalted beech- Check out his post for comments and more pictures- @HandyDan found a couple of really nice videos. The first one is about a young turner. The kid has skills- The second one is on a neat way to "turn" a sphere on the lathe. It appears to work well but it does require a special setup- The Woodturning OnLine newsletter came this week. Several good articles. With Christmas coming, this might be a nice little gift for someone- Here's the link to the PDF tutorial by Dennis Daudelin https://www.woodturningonline.com/assets/turning_articles/toy-soldiers-wife.pdf Sometime back, we were discussing finials. Thin turning is an art in itself. Here's a link, from Woodturning OnLine, to a PDF tutorial from Honolulu Woodturners member Alan Carter. He demonstrate an awesome thin stem turning. http://honoluluwoodturners.org/16_tips/Alan Carter_thin stem tutorial.pdf Read the entire newsletter here- http://www.woodturningonline.com/index.php Speaking of the art of turning- @Steve Krumanaker posted pictures of their turning club's demonstration with Cindy Drozda. Check out his post for more of her art- Rick Turns posted his list of YouTube October woodturning videos. Plenty of good stuff- Safe turning

Never tried to put this many together before. I'm having to use maw's kitchen for this chore.

Here is the finish. Used Watco then Beall buff

Remains to be seen... Got the all-thread, the wingnut, and a washer today....got those installed.. Had to cut the rod for length, then grind off a bit AFTER the wingnut and washer were in place. The other end? Had been folded over, and into a shallow mortise. Grinder cleaned it up, as well. Things were cranked down tight enough the blade twanged when tapped. Gave it a try....wasn't worth much as a rip saw, wrong teeth, but when I tried to crosscut some Hard Maple.. It sang right on through.....smooth cut, too... This is where the blade came out of the cut. I need a bit of practice in using one of these saws, Rather different grip and guide going on... About $5 counting the store-bought stuff....seems to work..

Keith...ya just told my story, almost exactly! Essentially, the same timeline, no formal training, though. I learned through reading, doing and asking questions. Most of my work has always been on the enjoyment side or home needs...I rarely did an outside job unless it was to help someone else, or to learn something new that I didn't know. Oh, and I'm still learning everyday.

got the bosch today. Gosh golly that thing delivers. holes in hard stone are easy.

We had a Sears Hardware on the west side of town that has been gone for about three years now. I feel them getting rid of their catalog was a big hit for them too. They should have morphed it into an online part of their business.

I see a distinct similarity in these posts! Almost everyone has had a Craftsman RAS at the start of his woodworking life. I got married in 1972, but literally had no room for any tools beyond a power drill (Wen) and a hammer. In our second apartment, we had a garage large enough to build something in, so I borrowed my B-I-L's old Beaver contractor's TS and loved it! Moved to our third home, which had a full (but LOW) basement we shared with the landlord, so I decided to get my own saw. Money was scarce, and when I found an RAS for $150 LESS than the cheapest TS, (Sears), that became my first stationary power tool. A little fussy to set up, but it has served me well, and still sees occasional use. I DID have to replace the rods that the rollers travel on, as the originals got a little sloppy after we built our house. I added a full-size drill press, bench-top belt sander, several grinders and sharpeners as I saw a need. Then Dad had a stroke, and no longer felt safe around power tools, so I first got his old 8" TS/ 4" jointer combination (grossly underpowered) and then his 1952 model ER ShopSmith. The saw was given away, and replaced with a Ridgid TS, but the ShopSmith is my lathe and occasional boring machine, as well as disk sander. A Craftsman miter saw has pretty well replaced the RAS. I took that miter saw out of the box set it on the table, and the first test cut was RIGHT ON! Have never had to adjust it. A King SCMS, on the other hand, was so out of whack that countless hours of playing with it have resulted in a machine that is only borderline useable. Also got a Craftsman 1/4" router somewhere around 1975, (on sale, half price) which still runs like a charm. Got a Triton router for the router table, but haven't used it yet. Sears Canada, as you may have heard, is closing. No big loss, as their tools just aren't what they were in the 70"s. John

Ok...and look what all that "clean living" has done to me.... First coat the The Infamous Witch's Brew is now applied to the box This may or may not get a second coat, before a gloss poly is added...we'll see... At least the dovetails show off....

There ya go, folks. A twofer. Save Michael's hair AND give the Merlo family a great Christmas.

Speaking of demise, when I first moved here in 1979, there were few options for lumber and hardware stores. One local home center that my wife refused to ever go back to because they treated her with a condescending attitude. Another (Swallen's (Fred)) that was more like a homey building center, but did have some stuff, eventually closed after old man Swallen died. Then a string of failed hardware stores, Western Home Center, Central Hardware, Furrows, HQ (which I think was a subsidiary of KMart, enough said), Builder's Square, Contractor's Warehouse, 84 Lumber and so on. I was really glad when Lowe's first came in (the original store was just a small building center) and Home Depot came in town. A few years ago, Menards made their mark, too. There a still a few Ace and Do-It-Best hardware stores, but don't carry much other than dimensional lumber and portable power tools (drills, routers, etc.) Sears, well, we've already bashed them. We do have EB Mueller, where I got all my big iron and they're still in business and do both retail and commercial. There was also one hardware store near downtown that carried Delta back in the day. I didn't find out about them until after I'd purchased most of my shop. They're gone, now, too. We did have one local hardwood supplier, but shortly after I started buying there, they closed, some said because of EPA regs on their kiln, I don't know. Paxton was first a commercial supplier, then opened a retail store (that Steve Mickley ran for a few years) and decided they didn't want retail, then after five years or so decided they really could. Steve Mickley and his partner started a lumber store and Rockler hardware, but he either ran out of money or just decided to retire and move to the mountains, so that's closed. Rockler has been in town for some time and has decent hardware. Woodcraft was first a company store, then a franchise, then franchise sold to another franchisee, then back to a company store. They've been in 3 locations (though two of those are in the same strip mall), right around the corner from Rockler. Both do carry some stationary power tools, though Woodcraft seems more interested in turners. I've heard turners spend a lot of money on gadgets and tools.

Come on guys don't make it too easy for me to win that $500 gift certificate because It will be very hard to decide what I want to get and it will mean a lot of hair pulling and I don't have any to spare. Let's all make sure we show the Merlo family how much we value the great sacrifice that was made for us. Put some smiles on Charlie's and Camilla's faces and leave them with memories of a great Christmas. And don't forget, I'd like to keep what little hair I have.

I started out with welding as a hobby. Made trailers gun safes did repairs modifications to trailers. I was helping a friend pack up his inlaws who were moving to Florida. The father-in-law had a purchased but never used Craftsman RAS. He made me a deal I couldn't refuse for helping him so I took it home and set it up in the basement. Couldn't get it to cut straight for nothing until I decided to read the instructions. There is a process to setting them up to cut well. Duh!! I soon learned that if you moved the saw on it's stand even a little the saw would need recalibrated. So I welded up a solid stand for it and bolted it to a wall in the basement and the saw became a joy to use. Made quite a few projects with it. I did wood projects in the winter months welding projects in the summer months. I ran across Norm and the New Yankee Workshop on PBS and became a faithful viewer. I noticed the table saw was his go to saw for most cuts and looked for a used one. Found a used Rockwell 10" for sale and purchased it and the world of wood working lights came on and I was hooked. I saving for and buying tools as I could afford it. I really like the table saw and stayed with the Delta brand and purchased a new jointer and miter saw from the local hardware store I was loyal to until their demise. Sadly they were forced out when Lowes and Home Depot moved in. I also have a two Delta lathes and a thickness planer. I have tools of other brands since it is hard to be loyal to a defunct Delta Co. My Delta tools have all served me well but the others have too. Woodturning has become my favorite part of woodworking. It is very addicting and enjoyable. I have always been curious of the Shopsmith but have never had the opportunity to work with one. I have seen them go cheap in the used market but don't have the room for one. But never say never. It may happen and live in the weld shop whish already has a second table saw, RAS and band saw.

When will your funeral be? Preston

Not dissing SS, "Some of my best friends and good craftsmen are SS only users." I visited George Reid in Dayton while he was still alive. He was probably the best craftsman I've ever met, and I've met a bunch. He worked in a dingy basement shared with a washer and dryer, and his "finish room" was a dark corner underneath the steps. All of his equipment was early 1940s old iron and he did not have that much of it. Had a very nice collection of sharp carving tools that he'd purchased from an estate. I heard him say once he did not own a router, "but could see how it might come in handy." I also had a soft spot in my heart for him because he looked enough like my dear grandfather that he could have been one of his ten siblings. https://books.google.com/books?id=1HPnwXyp4OUC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=george+reid+cabinetmaker+dayton&source=bl&ots=clhdOxoXF1&sig=b-u_hUPtm2oD2aIZyCFLuAR4_bk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAo4jFrq3XAhXHQyYKHRD5AZcQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=george reid cabinetmaker dayton&f=false

in a word, no. Titebond lab tested 11 glues, including 6 of theirs (stripes) and tried to stain them. F.a.i.l. So when you're gluing up, don't be sloppy (and don't be like Norm and have streams of glue running down a edge-to-edge joint. If you wet the surface with water or mineral spirits, glue boo-boos (or should I say glue-boos) can show up before you stain.

I grew up in a rural town in Maine in a family (father & uncles) that mostly built their own homes. So I picked up enough on the way to know how to use a level and a hammer, plus a few other tools. After I was married, my wife and I bought an old house that needed a great deal of work. We eventually stripped it to the frame and redid everything interior, plus doors and windows, heat, plumbing & electrical. About that time I was helping one of my uncles build spec homes on a small scale. We worked evenings and weekends, and while I was throwing up 32 S.F. of sheetrock at a glance, my uncle was working on cabinets with more patience than I had ever seen in my life! Work on one corner for an hour to make it perfect. So when it came time to build our new kitchen (and the cost of manufactured cabinets was out of our league) I decided that maybe I could find some of that patience I had seen in my uncle. Long(er) story short, I borrowed some tools and asked a thousand questions and eventually built a pretty nice knotty pine kitchen. Only took me 18 months but what the heck! I found that working on those cabinets was the most therapeutic mental therapy I had ever experienced. So, I just kept playing around as a hobby and still thoroughly enjoy it.

4 years wood shop 79-83. Working residential/commercial cabinetry since August 83..... My old wood shop teachers mother was good friends with my mother... My old shop teacher became a truck driver when wood shops started declining...

That is a beautiful piece and the finish really shows the grain. Nicely done! Steve

Christmas, 1955. Grandma sent me a box containing a hammer, some nails, a coping saw and lots of small wood cut-offs from my uncle's patern-making shop. I've been butchering wood ever since, and I still have the tools! John

Norm always wiped his glue with a wet sponge. I have done that a few times when necessary and found that it works well.

There are guys that find good deals on used Shopsmiths and buy them just for the lathe and/or drill press/horizontal boring functions. Sure, the price of an older 10 ER or MK V may get you a DP or lathe but, not both. I've never bothered to add up all the $ I've not spent on single purpose tools (and floor space) that the Shopsmith has made redundant but, I'm sure it's a bunch. Using one takes patience, there is a learning curve, but once you begin to understand how all it's idiosyncrasies work together, it's one fun machine. Sorta like a woman.

Topic moved from Turners Forum to General Woodworking Forum. I also updated your tags for you Jess.

Were at 47% of the goal. Come on, guys, we can make $1500 standing on our heads. Bill

Other than the power being out for a while, it was better than expected. I have a herd of dead ash trees which i need to have taken down but haven't contacted the guy who took the last one for me.

Did you get hit by the storms that rolled through? Everything else OK?

squirrel the chicken of the trees

Hey, NICE! FWIW, that was the first saw I ever used. The standard wood saw in 1950's Germany. Even logs were cut with these, but a somewhat larger version, probably a one-meter blade. Mine had a heavy cord and a wood strip to tension the blade. Also, blades were interchangeable depending on what you were cutting. As for stress on the tenon joint, the ends just push straight in on the center piece, so as long as there is no side play in the joint, you're good! John

Finally got some power back here. Saturday wasn't bad; spent 1/2 day at the Restore. Sunday was a blur and yesterday was getting fallen tree of part of drive (have to finish that job today) and getting generator going (have to put that away today) and make a special trip into the office to check computer there (suspect power outage took it down).

Smart! I swear some of them went to college, either that or they have ESP.

Actually, one year I found out that the WLF were trapping and relocating the flocks. Apparently, the Citidiots had decimated the population in the Poconos, so they were trapping them out of my area and sending them East. I had watched one group all spring and summer, only to find out they got the whole flock the week before the season started. Needless to say, when the locals found out what was going on WLF found that their equipment and traps were mysteriously going missing or were destroyed. They finally got the message and stopped taking them and moved on, to, ah, more friendly pastures. In one case, they inadvertently, strayed onto the Seneca Reservation, the Res. police confiscated everything. The state raise a stink, but they didn't have a leg to stand on.

Wonder where they go? Must have a winter retreat somewhere... I suspect he turned out to be the guest of honor seated at the head of the table too?

Got mine

Instead of sending our own folks to pop woodworking Keith, that would make a great suggestion for our own community! We have the mapping, we have the know how, this would make a great feature for our site.

Never doubted for a moment Gene! We were counting on you as you always support these efforts! Thanks sir.

Dan, thank you sir, yes all the funds will be used for the family's Christmas, just as prior years projects were. You are absolutely right! Thank you so much for your participation!

Done!

One nice thing about this design was that the back was flat and didn't go back into the corner. Not as much space in the closet but it pretty much avoided the non-square corner problem

Guys, I have put in another day (1/2) and here is where I'm at. The Mrs. said she will be painting this with chalk paint so used some primed crown I had on hand.

Okay I know it’s Saturday morning but my Friday got away from me and I didn’t get my post up. I had been pushing all week to finish inventory for a craft show last night. Friday I was putting the finishing touches on cutting boards and getting everything loaded into the trailer. Today I’m grilling burgers during lunch time at the shooting range for Burgers and Bullets. When I finish there it is home to the shop and work on a Walnut Island top. Sunday afternoon after church I’m shooting in an USPSA event and if there’s anytime left in the day it will be back to the shop and work on the island top. A full weekend for sure, but should be a lot of fun. How about you, What’s on your woodworking agenda this weekend? Love to see all the projects and pictures so share your weekend agenda with us. Whatever you do have fun and make sure to work safe!

Whaaaaaat! You mean your not supposed to be busier when you retire...I'm doing something wrong! I traded one full time job for another one that doesn't even pay.

Got a project going today with the Woodworking club. Building bookcases and bathroom shelves for a childrens home. This will be in my shop. Two club members have cut the parts and now we will do the dados and glue and brad to put them together.