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I recently posted about sharpening a 16 point rip saw that I had made a new handle for and used split saw nuts provided by Mike Wenzloff and have used it to cut some slots in 1/2″ diameter hickory muzzle-loading ramrods (a great source of hickory dowels by the way) and have cut some other stuff.

But I noticed the other day that the saw wasn’t cutting right and I looked at the teeth.  Now I have a feeling an apprentice may have cut into a nail or something, none of them will admit it, and the saw teeth in the center of the saw are unusually dull.  Now I do sharpen all of the teeth on my saws and I encourage my apprentices (I had 5, count them five in my shop today) to use all the teeth.  I know I do, so I am sure I did not cause the damage.

So I looked at the saw blade with 288 teeth total and wondered how to best go about re-sharpening.  I marked and carefully removed the new split saw bolts, removed the blade and contemplated filing all of the teeth again.  When I sharped the saw I could tell what teeth I was working on because they were rusted, so I could see the new metal and keep track of the little tiny teeth as I sharpened.

I jointed off the teeth to get them all to the same height, there was even more shiny stuff and it was difficult to see those little teeth, let alone isolating every other one.

But this saw, all of the teeth were still shiny and it looked like a nightmare.  Then I had a light come on in my head (not an incandescent light, they don’t exist in my world, but a grease light).  I light up a grease lamp, passed the blade in the flame and covered the teeth of the saw with soot.  I took care to get the soot on all the teeth (an alcohol lamp is soot-less so it doesn’t work, but a candle or oil lamp will).

I then put the saw into the chops, found the proper tooth to start on, then to my pleasant surprise, it was easy.  The teeth were black until I started filing, it was very easy to see the teeth that had been sharpened, so if I got distracted, which I do with 5 apprentices and one helper in the shop, I could go back and ’see’ just where I left off.

This is an excellent technique which I will employ again on fine toothed saws, and when I was done the soot just wiped right off.  I also think the soot may have provided a bit of lubrication for the filing but I am not sure.  I will probably do it on the next saw I get that needs to be sharped, even with bigger teeth, but for fine teeth it worked great.

Stephen

Any reader of this site knows I am a fan of oil stones... One of the finest quality oil stones out there are by the Norton company are known as "Lily White Washita" stones.  These are the type of stones I learned how to sharpen on - I had one of these stones for many years, and lost it through a mishap 10 or 12 years ago now - and I have missed it. They had gone out of production many years ago and were no longer available, but still command a hefty price for a vintage one on ebay and the like when you found a used one. 

Then, a couple years ago, Joel Moskowitz at Tools for Working Wood worked his magic with the Norton company (the manufacturer and owner of the quarry where they are mined) and got them to resurrect their Lily White Washita line of oil stones. 

When I heard they were available again I was ecstatic.  But of course I didn't buy any right away - I always had something else that was more important to get first, as I now have a hard translucent arkansas that's been serving me quite well.  However - I nearly waited too long...

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For the average user of a retractable tape, there can be some usages of a tape measure that unwittingly reduce its accuracy. Basically, many people are not even aware of these details. I did say usages, but there are also problems inherent with the way a tape measure is made, that for fine work, render it a tool which is not always the best tool for the job. When we ask a tool to wear too many hats, it fails to do as well by us as we may think it should. It is good to know what some of the weaknesses are so we can learn to accept what are and are not good practices for the tape measure.

When you are buying a tape measure, there are several available features that you can consider. For shop use, furniture making and cabinet making, you will rarely need a long tape, but the long tapes have features that enhance accuracy. They come with 1-inch wide tapes, which are easier to read for eye relief, harder to distort and are more rigid. Often the 1-inch tapes include more rivets on the hook, which lend themselves to resistance to wear and stretch. Unless you need a shorter tape for handy reasons, I recommend the bigger tape just for its added stability. (more…)

For the next issue of Woodworking Magazine, we’re investigating the best way to make through-tenons – a hallmark of early American furniture, Arts & Crafts pieces and people who like to show off.

I’ve spent a good deal of energy investigating the joint personally. When I started collecting Arts & Crafts furniture in 1990, I quickly became attuned to spotting the joint in pieces for my collection.

Even better, I had a mentor with an incredible collection. Owen Riley was a photographer at the newspaper where I worked, and he had been collecting Arts & Crafts furniture for many years. His entire apartment was stuffed to the gills with the stuff. And he took great pains to teach me the difference between the makers – I can spot an L & J.G. tusk tenon over a Gustav Stickley tusk tenon from across a room.

And so I’ve always had a realistic view of how this joint appears in real-deal furniture that now costs five or six figures.

Here’s the real truth: The craftsmanship is all over the place. Take a look at the photo above. That’s a through-tenon on a signed Gustav Stickley slipper rocker from my collection. All the through-tenons on the piece look exactly like this. Clearly, they were made with some sort of boring tool, perhaps a drill press or perhaps some form of spindle machine. Heck you can still see some torn grain on the surface of the joint that indicates the rotation of the cutter.

No effort was made to square up the ends of the joint. No effort was made to round over the tenon to match the radiused mortise. There’s just a gap that’s plainly visible on the outside surfaces of the leg.

I always like to compare that joint to the through-tenons on my Charles Stickley arm chair. Charles was one of the “lesser” Stickley brothers, and the craftsmanship and style of his work is often derided by modern writers. The through-tenons on his chair are perfect, as good as any high-class modern work in a gallery.

There’s no consistency by maker. Roycroft through-tenons? Raggy. Limbert through-tenons? Not bad except for a couple overcuts – probably from a saw.

So what’s the pattern? Visibility. The more visible the joint, the more likely that the maker went to great lengths to make it tidy. That seems like it should be obvious, but that has not been my experience with modern work (especially my own).

My inclination is to make the suckers perfect. Why? Because I often have other woodworkers snooping around my house, pulling out my drawers, turning over my tables and the like.

So how do you make these joints spot-on? I’ve used several methods, which we’ll be exploring in the issue. For long and skinny joints, it’s hard to beat a highly-tuned hollow-chisel mortiser (though I’m going to try). For squarish joints, it’s hard to beat a template and a router.

And, in the end, it’s hard to beat wedging, which can expand a tenon into a loosely fit joint. Or, if you’ve had a bad day, putty and a dark dark stain…..

— Christopher Schwarz

I got back to Cincinnati late Saturday after six days at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking, where Phil Lowe taught me and 11 others how to build a demilune table with a veneered apron. I promised to post a picture of my table today. The one you see above is Phil's. The one you see below (not quite completed...) is mine. 'Nuff said.

— Megan Fitzpatrick

How lucky are we? This issue of Popular Woodworking magazine has a second article written by Marc Spagnuolo, a.k.a., The Wood Whisperer. In this installment, Marc examines power-tool accessories. You might be surprised to find out what actually powers these accessories.
    
Have fun watching The Wood Whisperer, and if you didn’t catch his premiere video click here.

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You can also watch this video at popularwoodworking.com/video.

–Glen D. Huey

A short post - just to show some photos of a very recent plane.







A quick kiln update. It is currently running and water is being removed. It is a dehumidification process by way of a household dehumidifier. I will check the moisture content in a few days and report back. There are a few pieces of Ebony in the kiln right now and I am most curious to check the results. If it works - my shop will turn into a flurry of Ebony and stainless steel parts.

This past weekend I had nothing much to do. Well, with the exception of rebuilding the opening mechanism on an overhead skylight. A simple job of removing the old non-working...

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It may not be possible to fully understand the Craftsmen of the past but I think we can get some insight into their lives and works by looking at them in the context of their relationship to the social and economic conditions at the time.  From our prospective of today’s work ethic, lifestyles and modern thinking, we have certain connotations we put upon the past.  We may think that it was a hard and primitive time, with few resources and constant depredations.  We wonder how they could saw a board without a power saw (well I don’t think that, but it is a common view) or get along without refrigeration, but somehow they managed and here we are today. 

 

We have known an 8 hour work day for a long time now, but in the past, the work day was daylight hours and 12 hour work days were not uncommon.  Nor was a 6 day work week, almost everyone took Sunday off.  When today we look at the historic record and see the production that these people produced, we are amazed at how fast or how much they accomplished.  But remember this is all they did!  This was their job and their livelihood, if they didn’t produce they didn’t eat.  And when you do this stuff day in and day out for years, you get good at it, and if you are good at it, they you are fast at it as well. 

 

They didn’t have the diversions we have today, although they did have lives, families, religious, social and community responsibilities.  They worked at their occupations, many supplemented their income with farming and other activities, and provided for families.  Up early, chores around the farmstead, then off to the shop just as day breaks.  Then a full day at the shop, utilizing the daylight to avoid burning expensive candles, lamp oil or the more inexpensive and common grease lamps.  Coffin orders were attended to immediately and the craftsman would burn oil to get that job done, especially in the summer months. 

 

Lets take a Chair Maker for instance.  Now a ladder back chair can have 12 rungs, 4 legs and two or three slats.  Now that is 24 socket holes for the rungs (if my math is correct) and several mortises for the slats, that is a lot of drilling.  A chair maker could make a lot of chairs in a year and that is a lot of drilling, so I imagine they got real good and real fast at it, doing it all the time. 

 

Take a Cabinet-maker building a bureau (chest of drawers) with say 4 drawers.  Now if the carcase is dovetailed completely across the bottom with cleats dovetailed on the top and 4 drawers half blind dovetails on the fronts and through on the back can have over 100 dovetails.  After a couple dozen bureaus, I would imagine the work went quickly, especially if you gang saw, which is what they did.  I have examined old pieces and drawer dovetails almost always match, indicating gang sawing the sides. 

 

I am sure this applies to other woodworking trades as well as any other trade during the nineteenth century and earlier.  By making these pieces over and over again, they got good and they got fast.  I am not on the same level as these early craftsman, but I have been doing this for 36 years, so I am much faster than I was when I started.  With age there is some slowing down but with experience, work is accomplished more efficiently and effectively than when I was younger with less experience.  Increase in experience also reduces fears that generally accompany processes like dovetails or chair making. 

 

The dovetail was the penultimate joint, I thought as an apprentice and was intimidated by the process.  I layed everything out, carefully marked the waste sides and with great in trepidation started.  Now I mark the thickness, put the boards in a vise and start sawing.  Making a chair is also an intimidating challenge to woodworkers and my first chair took a week to make, the last ladder-back took a day and a half. 

 

Craftsmen of the past didn’t have the distractions that we have today, they could concentrate on what they were doing, making and selling their wares.  They did tend to their social and community duties and generally went to church on Sundays.  Craftsmen in many trades such as a Cabinet Maker or Blacksmith were often leaders in their communities, as they were more affluent, probably a little better educated and were well respected, what happened?  

 

I think people in the past had different values and prized their possessions more than we do today.  This is generated, I believe, by our disposable mentality, which is a modern thing.  We buy crap, use it up, throw it away and buy more crap.  Today people are astounded by how much I ask for a fancy side chair as they could buy 4 chairs and a table for less, they don’t appear to see the difference between something that is handmade and something that isn’t.  They don’t expect to buy anything that will last as everything else they buy doesn’t.  I am not sure how craftsmen of the past felt about their work, but judging from the quality of what has survived they did take pride and produced some fine stuff that if properly cared for will last hundreds of years.

 

Stephen

 

 

 

The revival of the Arts & Crafts Movement isn’t just in the furniture store. Woodworkers of all levels of experience have named it one of their favorite styles to build in their workshops. Why? Clean lines and honest joinery.

So we've put together a new CD that features our 49 favorite articles from Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine from the last decade that deal with this important furniture movement.

All of the articles on the CD are in pdf format, so you can view them on any computer with the free Acrobat Reader program. Plus you can print the articles out and take them to the shop when you're ready to build.

If you've never used any of our magazines' articles in pdf format, we'd like to give you a sample for free. We think you'll be pleased. To give it a try, simply click on the link below to download the complete plans for Gustav Stickley's No. 72 Magazine Cabinet, a very popular project from our April 2003 issue.

Magazine_Cabinet.pdf (1.66 MB)

Here's what else you'll find on this CD, which is available in our store for $15 (that includes free shipping in the United States).

■ 42 Furniture Projects: We feature comprehensive plans and cutting lists for a complete suite of furniture for your home, including two Morris chairs, sideboards, side tables, bookshelves, outdoor furniture as well as home accessories, including lamps and wastebaskets. Every project includes step-by-step instruction and measured drawings.

■ 7 Technique Articles: Arts & Crafts furniture uses straightforward joinery like the mighty mortise and tenon. We show you a wide variety of ways to cut this essential joint, plus articles on achieving an Arts & Crafts finish with home-center materials and detailed plans for the jigs and fixtures that will make your shop time more efficient.

This CD is in stock and ready to ship. To order your copy, visit our store today.

— Christopher Schwarz

I'll admit it. I was a Normite. In fact, it was Norm Abram who taught me how to use power tools. At a time when there seemed to be very few female woodworkers (16 years ago), it was a tad bit intimidating to ask for assistance in a woodworking store full of men. But good 'ol Norm was there to give me my first push down the slippery slope of woodworking.

Then about 10 years ago, I became interested in working with handtools. Now I use a blended workshop.

But to all of us—power tool, hand tool, or blended woodworkers—don't we all share an irrepressible and magnetic attraction to workbenches?

My conundrum as a beginner handtool user was: How do you use a workbench? How do you make the most of it? What part of the tail vise is used to clamp stock?

The answers were found in books like The Workbench Book, Making Workbenches, and Choosing and Using Handtools (among others). And with the recent release of Chris Schwarz's book, we have another fabulous resource.

Books like these disclose the importance of bench jigs. Pictured are a cut off jig for dowels and a planing stop. The cut off jig has a roughly chiseled V-groove that holds a dowel in place, and a piece of wood glued beneath the front edge that acts as a bench hook. The planing jig has through-tenoned dowels that drop down into holes that are bored into my benchtop. Both jigs see a lot of use in the shop.

Once I learned how to use a workbench, how to make the most of it, how to build and employ bench jigs, it opened up a whole new dimension in woodworking. And the slippery slope became a whole lot steeper.

Reproducing Antique Furniture are words that seem to get everyone worked up.  Is it a ‘reproduction’?  Is it a ‘copy’?  Is it a ‘replica’?   Is it a ‘duplicate’?  Is it a ‘facsimile’?  Yes I got out my Thesaurus to get more words into the fray. 

 

I am not sure there is any convention here so I think I will take a crack at this one.  A reproduction is a version of the original that has been made using the same tools, traditional techniques and similar materials to the original.  This would be based on the time period of the piece that is being reproduced.  Arts and Crafts probably didn’t use a pole lathe.  And while it may be difficult to get old growth wood, a species match is critical.  And while all old techniques may not be known (yet) using traditional methods is also important in order to call it a ‘reproduction’.   I think anything else isn’t. 

 

A copy or facsimile would be a faithful version in all outward appearances but with concessions to modern techniques. 

 

 

 

I think replica is related to the above characterizations as these pieces would be versions that replicate the look of the original with no indication as to how it was made.

 

 I think the same applies for ‘duplicate‘, although this word can be taken literally and technically and would therefore in an esoteric sense not possible. 

 

Now ‘our version’ can mean anything, and there is nothing wrong with that. 

 

But we need a convention to describe making furniture or other objects as they were made originally; tools, materials and techniques.  This is a reproduction and everything else isn’t. 

 

I have said this before and I will probably say it again and there is always room to discuss the use of the words and their meanings.  I just don’t know how far to push this issue nor where to set the bar.  But if an early 19th century Butler’s Desk is made with power tools unavailable in the early nineteenth century then it is a copy or duplicate or facsimile or replica, but it is not a reproduction.

 

Can you only made a reproduction 18th century piece if your body is nourished by traditional 18th century foods?  (I would like to go there, but I won’t).  Can you only make a 19th century piece if the shop is period correct?  If you are wearing the clothing of the period?  Once again I have gone too far or have I?  Should there be a further distinction of reproductions done where everything is correct?  Is that possible?  Is it worthwhile?  Or is this an academic pursuit I should not bother others with? 

 

That aside, I think that in order to give the proper credit to actual reproductions as opposed to things called ‘reproductions’ there needs to be a distinction.  If someone uses the same tools, materials and techniques of the particular period and makes a ‘reproduction’, then that needs to be accredited and acknowledged.  And they shouldn’t be expected to compete against those that use modern tools, etc to make what they call ‘reproductions’.  Let the modern folks call it something else but leave ‘reproduction’ to mean what it should mean. 

 

Stephen

 

Friday, my fellow students and I got into a very sticky situation. That hide glue that Phil Lowe had us start cooking on Monday finally came into play. But first, we were directed to glue up our tabletops with a spring joint. I was elated – I actually knew how to do this (the first thing about which I felt truly confident all week). But after the glue set, Phil told us to flatten the top. With a smooth plane. My kingdom for a No. 5.

He then proceeded to use an 1-1/4” chisel to very quickly cut a deep chamfer on the underside of his top, then cleaned it up with a spokeshave in just a few minutes. Very impressive. My top isn’t ready for a chamfer. It isn’t yet flat (but it sure is thinner). I’ll have to go in before class on Saturday to finish planing and scraping, before I can band saw the edge, clean it up and cut the chamfer. Our final task before packing up will be to attach the top with buttons, and I want to get that accomplished – in large part so the top of my wonky bridle joints are covered up, and the guys won’t have an immediate and obvious target for mirth.

So I set my top aside as we moved onto veneer. This was a lot of fun – and a hot sticky mess. After cutting the veneer pieces a little oversized, I opened the glue pot and swatted at the dozens of flies that immediately converged on my bench, glue pot, arms and substrate. Then I painted a layer of glue onto the bricked poplar substrate, laid down the veneer strip, added another layer of glue, then squeegeed it off the top and out from the bottom with a veneer hammer (a heavy hunk of metal with a 3” - 4” rolled edge and a handle – it has nothing to do with hammering). The glue tacks very quickly – to everything. While squeegee-ing in the demo, Phil scooped and scraped the excess neatly into his palm and calmly and cleanly returned it to the glue pot.  While we were all squeegee-ing, we scooped and scraped the excess into and onto everything around us (my marking knife was at one point firmly attached to my forearm). But hide glue is easy to clean up – just a little hot water and my tools (and my forearm) were clean.

On Saturday, we’ll add the banding, and hopefully get through assembly. I’ll post of picture of my finished project on Monday – or at least a picture of however finished it may be. But I guarantee those bridle joints won’t be visible.

– Megan Fitzpatrick

Read Part 1 of this series here. And Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here.

Today, Phil Lowe set up a jig to waste out the front side of the bridle joint that the leg sleeves over in our demilune tables, and a niggling thought crept in to my head. Did I really keep the screws out of the leg locations when bricking the rim? I think I did, but… The last thing I wanted to do was hit a screw and set off the Saw Stop. For one thing, the Marc Adams School of Woodworking has only the one dado stack at the moment, and I didn’t want to keep anyone else in the class from getting their work accomplished. And it would be really embarrassing.

Just in case, I moved to the end of the line. I figured if I did set it off, I could handle the embarrassment – as long as I didn’t hold anyone else up. But as I waited, I decided I’d best chop out the waste by hand. The longer I stood there, the more I convinced myself that I’d misplaced a screw. But my handsaw skills are, shall we say, in the developmental stage. So at Phil’s suggestion, I clamped a guide block along my scribed line, and kept the saw blade pressed flat to that "training wheel" as I cut down to the shoulders at each location. Then I chiseled out the waste and flattened the bottom with a shoulder plane. Of course, there was nary a screw in sight.

This was the first time I’d used a chisel for precision work other than dovetails. Dovetails are small. This joint is not. I’ve struggled with getting things flat and even, and squaring the shoulders (among other things). Phil makes it look so easy.

I knew coming into this class that I was jumping into the deep end. In theory, I know why the blade is cambered in a smooth plane, and how to use that plane. I’ve read reams on how to hold and use a handsaw. I’ve watched editor Christopher Schwarz demonstrate plane us, and the three classes of saw cuts – more than once. (Chris makes it look easy, too). Heck – Chris has even stuck a plane in my hand and given me a lesson on its use. But I didn’t pick up the plane again until this class. Using these tools with purpose is very different than reading about it, watching someone do it, or taking a few desultory swipes at a board – no matter how good the instructor. Use it or lose it.

My table might approach mediocrity. My cuts aren’t great, my tenons are loose, and I got so excited about my plane shavings that I was overzealous – the ankles on my tapered table legs are very delicate indeed. But it will be the best darn demilune table I’ve ever built. The next one will be even better – and will use no screws at all.

— Megan Fitzpatrick

Read Part 1 of this series here. And Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here.

I saw this and had to mention it here, if for no other reason than to have a record for myself of it so I can refer to the links... On the WoodCentral handtools forum Joel Moskowitz (of Tools for Working Wood) posted a link to a book archived on Google Books titled “The London Chair-Makers and Carvers' Book of Prices for Workmanship” which was originally published in 1829. Later, he also put up a link to another book archived on Google Books titled “The Cabinet Makers London Book of Prices and Designs of Cabinet Work” published in 1803. These books are fascinating reads if you are at all interested in period woodworking of any kind – and the thread on WoodCentral is a great read as well..

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Lie-Nielsen Toolworks continues to turn back the clock (a good thing in the world of hand-tool woodworking). The Warren, Maine, manufacturer plans to offer a version of the 18th-century French-style workbench made popular in Andre Roubo's "L'Art du Menuisier."

The company has just completed work on its first Roubo bench (shown above) for a customer. The bench is quite similar to the version I built for Woodworking Magazine, with a few exceptions. The two ends of the base are a bit different – there's extra stretchers in there to attach the top, plus cross-bolts that allow the bench to be knocked down. Also, there is a twin-screw vise in the end-vise position at the request of the customer.

All the important functional details are spot-on. There's a wooden planing stop mortised into the top. There's a crochet and a leg vise – you don't have to have both bench accessories to plane things on edge, but they are both convenient and useful. Also, Lie-Nielsen has added a sliding deadman. This is an accessory not shown in Roubo, but is very handy for securing wide panels and doors.

The bench is maple, and Thomas Lie-Nielsen reports that it weighs 400 pounds. The top is 4" thick, 24" wide and 8' long. When the bench is put into regular production, the legs will be 4" x 4".

The bench will be more expensive than the two styles now offered by Lie-Nielsen, a European bench starting at $2,000, and a David Charlesworth-style bench for $1,500. Thomas says that building the Roubo involves additional labor and material.

If you're interested in ordering one, you'll need to wait a bit. The company has temporarily suspended taking orders for benches until it can reduce the waiting list, which Thomas says is now at about nine months.

But if you've seen these benches at shows or in other shops, you know that the quality justifies the wait.

— Christopher Schwarz

Last summer we filmed a new DVD on workbenches. When I say "we" I mean Chris Schwarz, Jeff, AJ and Mandy. I helped as I could, moving benches (three benches were used and rotated through), turning on and off lights, chiseling an area of a workbench and whatever else I could do. I also learned what a "Grip" is. You know when watching the credits at the end of a movie you see the term "Grip".   In order to fix a light issue, AJ came up with the idea to hold a blue cloth behind Chris. It worked and I stood there and gripped the cloth.

Making a woodworking DVD is a lot of work. Many different shots were taken to show something from different angles. There was pausing to wait for the passing of a loud truck, voice overs, changes in the sun glare through the windows, reflections from a camera tripod and other issues. The crew did a great job noticing anything that interfered with the shot or the sound. Then there was the heat.  We had all the windows shut and turned the A/C off because of noise.  When they turned the lights on it felt like putting your hand in front of a roaring fire! 

Now that Chris is done, there will be more hours spent watching the video and selecting the best takes to put on the final DVD. All is all it was a lot of fun for me, and Maine in the Summer is hard to beat. And yes, I went to Lie-Nielsen Toolworks and bought some new tools. I bought two chisels, a 1/2 inch and a 3/8 inch for dovetailing. I have been using Marples blue chip chisels which are great but the sides are quite thick and as Chris has written, the wide chisel sides tend to monkey up the area where the bottom of the tail meets the baseline. So, after trying to save money and avoid buying more tools I splurged on two chisels. If you haven't been to Maine it is a great place to visit and see the Toolworks.

-John 

As I mentioned in my entry from yesterday, my first order of business this morning (after stirring in the skin at the top of the glue pot -- blech) was to band saw away the waste on the inside of my bricked rim. I wanted to go early and get that out of the way, but at Marc Adams' school, power machinery can be used only between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Those are the hours when a staff member is on hand to supervise.

Marc has been running his school since 1994, and in that time, there's been not one major accident on any machinery. That's because safety is of paramount importance to Marc and his staff. Exposure to blades is limited as much as possible by featherboards, hold-downs, shields, fences, sleds and more. As you can see in the picture at the top, in order to cut our table rim's tenon cheeks on the table saw, we had to keep our hands well above the blade in order to secure the workpiece against the jig attached to the miter gauge.

If there's a way to make the operation safe, Marc and his staff have found it, and they're adamant that while at the school, students and instructors follow their proven safety procedures. And they watch like hawks to ensure that happens. This can be frustrating at times -- but it also means that students go home not only with a great woodworking experience, but with all the digits with which they arrived.

On Wednesday, for example, we were crosscutting legs to length at the table saw. Two stops were set up to the left and right of the blade, attached to a sled. Plus a Lexan shield covered the blade. In order to get our leg stock into position, the sled had to be pulled far enough back to allow access to the table under the shield. And though we had a number of small offcuts, the shield prevented anyone from reaching too close (3" minimum) to the spinning blade. It seemed tedious to maneuver the pieces under the angled shield, but it caused the operation to be performed slowly and meticulously. As one of our class assistants, Doug Dale, said, "Often, the safest way is also the most accurate."

It's a great lesson, one I'll keep in mind when I get back to our shop. Now if only there were a Lexan shield to keep me from cutting into my tenons with a handsaw.

— Megan Fitzpatrick

Read Part 1 of this series here. And Part 2 is here.

David Finck designed and built the box at right as a prop in an upcoming movie entitled Nights in Rodanthe, set for release in October. The movie stars Richard Gere and Diane Lane, whose character dabbles in woodworking. David was commissioned to not only supply props, but to instruct Diane Lane in woodworking techniques, including handcutting dovetails and handplaning.

You can see the movie trailer here: http://nightsinrodanthe.warnerbros.com/

I'm curious whether Diane comes across as a legitimate woodworker or if she's as believable as Paris Hilton portraying a brain surgeon. But because I'd just as soon pluck my eyebrows with a chainsaw than go see a barfy romance movie, I'll ask that if any of you would be willing to take one for the team, suffer through the viewing, and then email me your opinion....I'd be indebted. No, really.

Whenever John Economaki of Bridge City Tools teaches classes about furniture design, he always asks his students a question that seems to have no good answer.

The question goes something like this: Would you rather have a piece of furniture with great lines but so-so craftsmanship, or a somewhat dumpy-looking project with perfect and crisp joinery throughout?

You'll have to read to the bottom of this entry to find out how John's students answer the question. Me? I've been struggling with the question all week.

I'm just now applying the first coat of color to a Gustav Stickley plant stand for the next issue of Woodworking Magazine, and I've been beating myself up all week over this piece and my workmanship on it.

The project itself is straightforward and is all familiar ground for me. Whenever I work on a project like this, I try to stretch myself by focusing on some detail to see if I can make it more refined and crisp than before.

For this project, I focused on the curves, and I went to great lengths to get the swoops just right on the aprons and stretchers. And for the most part, I was pleased with how they came out.

And that's when the tenons for the top rails came and bit me on the hinder.

During the final assembly I clamped everything up, drove in the tusk tenons at the bottom of the plant stand and walked away for about eight hours. When I removed the clamps, everything looked good for about a half an hour. Then two of the tenons at the top of the plant stand began to separate at their shoulders. Each one opened up about .006". I think the tusk tenons are pulling them apart. Something was a little bit off in the assembly and there wasn't any good way to turn back.

So I spent an hour on Tuesday morning feeding white oak shavings from my jointer plane into these gaps in an effort to obscure them. After forcing the glue-covered shavings into the gaps with tweezers, things looked better. But they sure as heck weren't "according to Hoyle."

I have to have this project done by Monday, and I have an involved finishing schedule ahead, so I grabbed the stain today and went to work. As the color went on, two things happened: One, I could see my mistakes just as well. You can't fill gaps with stain. Well, I sure can't.

And second, I became smitten with the genius of Gustav Stickley, who designed this plant stand. As the color went on I began to see how the overall piece would begin to look. I stopped seeing the individual components.

So to answer John Economaki's question, I think I prefer a project with beautiful lines to a project with perfect craftsmanship. I want both. Maybe next time.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. Here's how John's students answer the question: He told me that virtually everyone he's taught says they would prefer the perfectly joined clunky one.