I recently received an email from Marc Spagnuolo welcoming Woodworker’s Guide to The Wood Whisperer Network!

The Wood Whisperer Network is a collection of blogs related to woodworking that offer lessons and tips learned through personal experience. It include blogs from both amateurs and professionals as well as audio and video blogs.

The Wood Whisperer Network is the creation of the Wood Whisperer himself, Marc Spagnuolo. Marc is a professional woodworker, pod caster video producer and a contributing editor to Fine Woodworking and is based out of Phoenix, Arizona.

Marc also operates The Wood Whisperer and the Wood Talk Online websites.

The Wood Whisperer website is “the online video show that offers a refreshing look at an age old craft”. Using online video Marc shows us step by step instruction on various projects that he is working on as well as woodworking related road trips. The website also includes a blog, product reviews, woodworking hints and more.

Continue reading 'The Wood Whisperer Network'

1. Crosscutting large sheets of plywood on the tablesaw can be difficult, and you usually end up binding the blade, burning the wood, or worse. To get around this, clamp a board under the plywood, and use it as an auxiliary fence which rides against the left edge of the tablesaw top.

2. You can use your screwdriver bits with a ratchet using a 1/4″ socket. This comes in especially handy when trying to put a screw in an awkward place.

3. Blunting the end of a nail will often prevent it from splitting the wood because a sharp point tends to separate the fibers of the wood causing it to split, while the blunt end shears the fibres as the nail is driven.

4. When woodturning always work down hill. In other words, work from the outside towards the center of the spindle or bowl. It is easier to work and control the gouge, chisel or scraper working this way.

5. Some woods, such as walnut or oak, are very tough and hard to carve. You can soften the wood up by applying de-natured alcohol to it. The alcohol will not cause the grain to raise like water will. The alcohol, of course, will evaporate with time.

These are just a few tips that I picked up over this past week. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Back to the shop…

I realized that there were no posts related to woodcarving so I thought I’d upload some photos of the few carvings that I have done. Although I enjoy carving it seems to always drop to the bottom of the list of things to do and be pre-empted for time. Perhaps seeing these will inspire me to pick up the chisels again in the near future.

Here is a photo of one the first carvings I did. This was around the latter part of 2003. It is a cowboy boot that’s made of pine and stands about 6″ tall. I finished it with a dark stain, trying to give it that ‘scuffed old boot’ look’:

Continue reading 'Sleeping Birds, Boots And Spirits'

This is a project that I did a couple of years ago. When we had our kitchen cupboards made we couldn’t find a stove fan vent hood that we liked so I built one. Because there were issues with getting the fan vented I wasn’t able to finish the hood by adding the trim until yesterday.

The sides and back are made of baltic birch and the face is made of solid birch to match the rest of the kitchen cupboards. It is finished with a couple of coats of Varathane.

Continue reading 'Trimmin’ Da Hood, The Fan Goes Wild'