While on a recent visit to Sacramento, California I had the opportunity to visit a Woodcraft store. Now, at the outset, let me say that this post may not be of interest to some of my American friends who have one of their stores nearby. To you, this may not seem to be a big deal but for years I have wanted to visit a Woodcraft store, not only because of the good things that I heard about them but simply because this was another woodworking store to visit. You know, as woodworkers, we can never pass up an opportunity to go tool shopping!

This location, though not all that large, was stocked full of, well, I guess everything that a woodworker would need. There were woodturning tools, woodcarving chisels, exotic woods, planers, table saws, bandsaws. lathes, books, pen making supplies, safety equipment, hardware and much, much more.

As you can imagine, this was a woodworkers dream, to visit a new woodworking store and to see an array of products and tools, particularly those not available at home. For those of you, who like me, have never been to a Woodcraft store, here are some photos that I took on my visit:

Continue reading 'A Wild And Wonderful Woodcraft Tour'

Here’s a candle holder that I recently made out of Lacewood. It is about 3.5″ in diameter and 2″ tall. It’s finished with the Shellawax combo.

I bought a Lacewood bowl blank and was lucky to also find a small piece of it in the scrap bin. Since I hadn’t turned Lacewood before I thought I’d start with the piece of scrap. It was easy to turn and even though it has a coarse texture it finished up pretty nice.

Lacewood is a wood that comes from Australia. It is also known as Silky Oak, likely because of the prominent rays that are similar to Oak. It is a reddish brown / pinkish color.

Continue reading 'A Lacewood Candle Holder'

1. Remove pencil marks on your wood with lacquer thinner. It is easier and more effective than sanding and it works in tight corners.

2. When you need to enlarge a tablesaw dado just a bit tape a piece of paper to the fence and run the wood through again. You can vary the adjustment with different thicknesses of paper.

3. For a quick lubricant for tool miter slots try scribbling on the bottom of the slot with a pencil. The graphite will make things slide more freely.

4. When using wood filler mix in saw dust from the wood you are working on to make the filler a better match.

5. When making wooden toys with wheels use a sharpened piece of copper tube to punch small washers from a plastic coffee can top. The washers make good spacers and the wheels spin better.

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 some from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Got a woodworking tip that you want to share? Let me know and I’ll add it in a future issue of Tips and Tidbits!

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