Our Picks

North House was founded in 1997 by a small handful of inspired locals passionate about traditional craft and cooperative learning. When we published the first catalog of 12 courses (including Inuit kayak building, Scandinavian bowl carving, and canoe paddle making), North House didn't yet have a home — or even a classroom. However, two old forest service buildings on the harbor serendipitously became available, and North House settled in and began building a campus.

Adirondack Folk School

This schema is a very interesting version of a workbench. If you download and look at the schema, you'll not only have a great plan for a workbench, but you'll also see many parts that can be built separately for your own workbench, new or existing, there are quite a few great ideas in this schema. There are even details on building your own wooden vise, a very interesting vise at that.
Enjoy!

My shop is a small,15x15 area.  No windows.  I did clean up, a lot, before the photos.  Don’t know what else to say...it’s small.
 

 

 

 

Today Easy Wood Tools announced a new set of Mini Easy Hollowing Tools to the world.  We are very proud of these tools and I am sure they will be a hit!  The thing we don't really advertise and you guys here at TPW should know is that @Steve Krumanaker and @lew were a critical part of our team in developing these tools. 

Well here I go, time for me to build a new PC. 
But being the way I am, I can't build anything that's quite normal. 
Doe's anyone remember the Silver Boxes I found awhile back? 
I knew when I picked them up I'd have to come up with a good use for them, but what? 
Well here we go with what will become of the first one. 

Went to the big town this morning, got home about noon. Why not make more state puzzles. Only this time I printed out one pattern and made two puzzles...I nailed 2 1/4" bb plywoods together and cut them out in the same amount of time it takes to cut one out...I did use Scotch brand clear packing tape on the wood before I sprayed it with stickum. For the guys who uses Duck brand tape and you are getting all kinds of sticky stuff left on the wood that someone has to clean off then try Scotch Brand.

I hope to revive this project this weekend. All the components have been cut, steamed, bent, shaped, and now I need to chop the mortises in the rear legs for the back slats. 
 

My son asked me to build him a computer desk.  He gave me latitude for the design except for the length, depth, and height.  I know that he would be adding a computer monitor bar and he wanted power and USB grommets installed in the top.
 
Material:  Top: 13/16 hard maple.  Base: 1 x 2 cherry.  Drawer: 5/8 hard maple
Base construction: Front legs are cherry bent lamination with 14 degree cant.  Drawer has box joint construction.
Finish: Base has one coat BLO, one coat 1 ½ # shellac, one coat gel stain, and another coat 1 ½# shellac. Overall, everything has two coats pre-cat lacquer.
 
I wanted the desk to be and to appear to be light weight. I know there will be a structural issue if someone sits on the desk top.  I want the desk top to have a floating surface appearance, the base to have curves & angles; and the drawer to have a clean look.  The inner form radius for the bent lamination was 7 7/8.   The base joinery is M&T.  Each joint was doweled with two ¼ dowels.
Thanks for looking.  Danl
 
 
 

 
 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His mother wants him to be a few states smarter than his class mates when he starts to school......and this is a mighty good way to learn the states.
  

Good morning guys, I need to make myself one of these and am wondering you have made one and could share yours? I have looked thru YouTube and have found ones that are super simple from a piece of wood with a screw at one end to some very nice looking ones. The bulk of these videos don't go into the differences and the extra things the "fancier" ones can do. 

One of the very first woodworking blogs I ever became interested in is this blog by Kari Hultman, a wonderful craftswoman and artist really, in my opinion she brings hand tooled woodworking to another level of refinement.
Kari and I have been social media buddies since the old days of this blog, even though Kari has picked up a new line of work and interest (leather), I still visit her blog frequently. It reminds of a time on the internet when things were just simpler, and straight forward, and her old blog is still live, enjoy!

3 sales to check out this morning.....was batting 330....one sale had a few tools I like...
$2.25 sitting there....What is so special about a small ball pean hammer?
Well...it is made of Brass...haven't figured out the writing ( local Rail road at one time was known as the CCC& StL RR)  ball end looked a bit abused..

A friend of mine a year and a half ago was camping by this lake with his buddies. A big wind came up abruptly as they were standing around the fire trading great adventures. Suddenly a cedar tree blew over and pinned three of them to the ground. The others rushed to cut the out to rescue them.

There is a first time for everything they say. Today, for me, that "first time thing" was turning a cowboy hat. About six hours from mounting the blank to putting it in the bending jig. I could never have turned this without the guidance, the encouragement, the tutelage, and did I mention the encouragement? Of my good friend and mentor, Bob Lipp, who is Vice President of our local wood turning club.

Our club meets this Sunday, I got demo duty. In the interest of spring, doing an easy spindle project. Garden dibbles.

had a bunch of scraps of Ash stashed away....from before all the medical stuff went on....decided to see what I could cobble together from it...

Well I got the cabinet done. It is not fancy. The wife wanted it made out of pine and wanted it plane. It is 48 inches wide, 7 feet tall and 19 inches deep. Everything is glued and pocket screwed. It was made from 1 by 10 pine. For the trim and doors 1 by 4 pine and 1/4" plywood and 1/4" plywood for the back. I stained it with a light Maple and put two coats of poly over that. She was happy and wants two more smaller ones.

This is a present for my sisters birthday #81. Thought the blank was curly but not so changed the color scheme. More later.

I have taken an interest in green woodworking lately, and among many other facets of woodworking, and I am trying my hand at carving spoons, join me in the fun!

This is a scanned document of the now defunct Workbench Magazine of this era. Permission was granted by the new Workbench Publication for The Patriot Woodworker community to copy and use the old Workbench Magazine at our pleasure, and for free distribution and re-use.
 

Today I finally finished the set up for my garage since moving from Corona, CA to Bowling Green, KY!
Got everything in its place but will have to tweak some things. The clamps are hung on the wall along with 6 saw horses. The 2 large metal shelves I got to go through all of it. When we get a new shed 1or both of those shelves will go into the shed. I am waiting now for some dust collection fittings for the new Saw Stop from Rockler. Since I do not have a dedicated dust collector,  I will use my Ridgid shop-vac. I knew I had to finally use those Rockler Gift Cards as they have been in my wallet for a long time.

Something we do not talk about a lot is finding and marking the center on a piece of wood.
    1. The easy way is to mark a square blank with a line across opposing corners and where they cross is the center.
    2. A little more is a tool for lathes to find center on either square or round blanks and mark a line. With this tool you can do some irregular shapes by making several lines across the piece and select a spot in the center of all the marks. 
    3. Use a pencil in your hand extended but not to the center . Rubbing your finger on the edge of the blank mark all four sides and then select a spot roughly in the center of those marks.
 
   

My wife completely surprised me, we just had our 28th marriage anniversary and she loaded me up in the car and we drove to my anniversary present, I had no idea where we were going until I drove us up the main street of the Maloof residence and saw the brown colored historical site street sign that clearly stated "Sam Maloof Foundation Historical Site" and I jumped with joy.

This is a knowledge-base repository of wood related subjects and the people who make the art and industry, and the tools and machinery used to create and form the wood, and the wood and material and the process's that are used to form and shape the wood.