Since taking the woodturning course in October I have been itching to start turning more bowls. So in preparation to do some bowl turning I purchased the Henry Taylor 3/8″ Bowl Gouge today. These gouges are ideal for all kinds of face plate turning and have a steep bevel angle.

Back to the shop…

We had a special treat for this month’s Atlantic Woodworkers Association meeting – the guests were whirlygig masters Barry and Kara Coutts. Whirlygig masters, indeed!

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1. Stretch a rubber band to the clamps of an F-style bar clamp for one hand use. Pull the clamp open and hold the sliding jaw with your thumb. Then when you are ready to clamp lift your thumb a bit and the jaws will close. Then it’s just a matter of screwing the clamp tight.

2. To hold a block of wood in place between your workpiece and pipe clamps drill a shallow hole in the wood and glue in a magnet. This will hold the wood to the metal pipe clamp.

3. To determine the length of a bandsaw blade when you don’t have a blade to go by, or you’ve added riser blocks, use the formula:

Blade length = = (2xA) + (3.14xB)
A= distance in inches between bandsaw wheel centers when the upper wheel is midway in its adjustment range
B= bandsaw wheel diameter

Or you can always just wrap a string around the wheels, draw it tight, mark it and then measure it.

4. Use adhesive backed foam sheeting to cover the large blade height slot on the front of your table saw to increase dust collection suction. Add this from the inside of your saw and then cut a slot for the height guide shaft.

These are a few tips that I picked up (and/or wrote down) over the week. They come from a variety of sources including magazines, newsletters, online and personal experience.

Back to the shop…

After testing a few projects in recent issues of their magazine that were geared toward woodworkers that do not have a lot of tools, the folks over at Wood Magazine officially launched a new, supporting website for these projects. Going under the banner, Basic-Build, both the website and some future articles will focus on projects that are well designed but require few tools and less skill.

They have created three rules for the Basic-Built projects:

Rule #1: No expensive tools required. No tool in the suggested “Basic-Built Toolbag” costs more than $200, and most cost far less.

Rule #2: You can buy everything at a home center. This ensures that wood, hardware, finishes, and other supplies are affordable and easy to find.

Rule #3: No complicated joinery. Expect screws, butt joints, and half-laps: whatever is simple yet plenty strong without sacrificing style.
Continue reading 'Wood Magazine Launches Basic-Build Site'