This past week I ventured over to Glen Huey‘s shop to use his jointer (mine is in dire need of blade sharpening) to make tapered legs for the federal card table I’m working on. The next day I was chewing the fat with another woodworker at work who asked how I did it with just a jointer.

After several drawings & step by step directions on the white board in my office he looked at me and said “I just can’t see it!” So I told him I’d go home an take a few step by step photos and that’s when the light bulb went off. I remembered that Popular Woodworking posted a video online of the very technique.

So we logged into the web and did a quick search for it so he could “see” it. After viewing Glen demonstrating the technique he looked at me with that “you have to to be kidding me” look. But before he could speak I said “yes, it’s that damn easy and works every time!”

I believe it was Troy Sexton who first came up with this method and shared it with Pop Wood but prior to learning it from Glen I can say I used each and every jig I could find to make this operation easier. It didn’t matter if it involved a tablesaw or a bandsaw it was a pain to set up and get done. But this, it’s super easy, accurate and CRAZY FAST!

So using the code provided by Pop Wood’s player I embedded the video of Glen demonstration the technique.

Give it try cause once you do you’ll use it every time you need to taper legs!

If you’re not a believer yet maybe you’ll enjoy this video of Orianthi featuring Steve Vai performing: “Highly Strung” instead?!? They’re both phenomenal guitar players!

Popularity: 22% [?]

Saturday morning I set out to Glen Huey’s shop to do a little research on an issue I was having with my Bosch Colt router.

Earlier in the month I had purchased a precision collet from PreciseBits.com that would allow me to use 1/8” bits in my Colt for inlay work.  (Routing for stringing 1/16” and below)

When I tried to test fit the collet it worked great except I could never get it tight enough to actually hold a 1/8” bit.  This is because I was using both a spanner wrench that came with the collet and the tiny wrench that Bosch mailed out to people who didn’t like using the “red button” to tighten their bits.

The reason I don’t use the “red button” to help tighten my bits is because I use a Micro Fence plunge base with my Colt.  (Something that made the Colt 100x more useful!) And by doing so the base hides the button making it impossible to reach hence the use of two wrenches.

So what we found is that the precision collet was so much larger than the stock collet that it bottomed out on the wrench.  This made it impossible to completely tighten.  You could get it tight enough to not come off but not enough for it to hold the bit.

This is where out of the box thinking comes in.  We had to have a thinner wrench.  Since we didn’t have access to grinder we used a spindle sander and a fence to sand the end of the wrench down.  This allowed us to get it thin enough (without making it too thing to be used) so we could hold the bit in place.

What we deducted is that we know Bosch doesn’t give the extra wrench away with the kits (you have call them to get it) because of the “red button” deal and that PreciseBits.com didn’t have it when designing the collet for 1/8” bits.  Or if they did, they decided to still make it extra long to get extra threads holding the bit in place since it was so small.

So after that we walked over to Stan’s (a local doughnut shop) to reward ourselves for a job well done!

Now I’m wondering what I can modify this Saturday…

Popularity: 17% [?]

Building 18th Century American Furniture is the latest book from Glen Huey and F&W Media.  It brings together what I think are the best projects from his first three books together.

The 20 projects are:

1. 18th Century Cupboard
2. Chester County Tall Chest
3. Chippendale Entertainment Center
4. Diminutive Dish Cupboard
5. Massachusetts Block Front Chest
6. Massachusetts Highboy
7. Mt. Lebanon Shaker Counter
8. New York/Canadian Stepback
9. Pennsylvania Chest on Chest
10. Pennsylvania Tall Case Clock
11. Shaker Press Cupboard
12. Shaker Sewing Desk
13. Shaker Small Chest of Drawers
14. New England Secretary
15. Slant-Lid Desk on Frame
16. Townsend Newport Highboy
17. Sheraton Field Bed
18. Seymour Sideboard
19. Federal Inlaid Table
20. Queen Anne Drop Leaf Dining Table

Now when I heard this was coming out I was both a bit upset but yet excited.

I was upset because I felt the book should have added a new project or two or should have added a few of his best furniture projects from the magazine but I’m sure this was much simpler for the publisher to put together and won’t knock them for that.

But what I liked about this was the fact that I now have ONE book with Glen’s projects (that I would build) out in the shop instead of 3.  I say that because with Glen’s first book (Fine Furniture for a Lifetime) I am on my second copy.  (I use that book at an idea guide, a project reference, you name it.  That book has my favorite woodworking book ever!)

But like all good things his first two books have been remanded so unless you go to Glen’s (WoodworkersEdge.com) site you won’t be able to easily find them.  (and now  you don’t need to!)

So if you are new to Glen’s work or new to woodworking you’ll really enjoy this book.  Its really a step by step book with tons of photos instead of just text with a photo here and there.  This way you get to see what he’s talking about.

NOTE: This book is a collection of projects from Glen’s first 3 books:

• Fine Furniture for a Lifetime
• Building Fine Furniture
• Building Period Furniture

Here is a photo of my Chester County Tall Chest that I built from his book.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Woodworking and research goes hand and hand so much that we have developed so many ways of doing it.  Seems we are always doing the following:

• Collecting every how-to book we can find on a topic
• Subscribing to every woodworking magazine we can find
• Scouring the web for every free plan we can dig up
• Buying museum books covering a specific time period
• Or a combination of all

Now I’ll be the first to tell you I refer to my museum books (and Glen Huey’s) all the time.  They are an endless resource of detail and information when I can’t get my hands or eyes near a collection to study for a project.

Tome Reader by Ozyman

Well as the years go on those books are being publish less and less and the ones that are out there are becoming harder to come by and if you find the one you want or need it costs a small fortune!

So with the graces of the internet, more auction houses and bloggers are posting beautiful photos and details online.  Now the problems with this is keeping track of them and let’s face it when you need them your computer will crap out and you’ll lose your bookmarks.  (Personal experience it talking here)

To help get around this I found a wonderful free tool on the internet (on for my iPhone) that does all that but more for you.  It’s called Evernote and if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth its weight in gold!

Some of its features are the following:

• “Type a text note. Clip a web page. Snap a photo. Grab a screenshot. Evernote will keep it all safe.”
• “Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and made searchable. If you like, you can add tags or organize notes into different notebooks.”
• “Search for notes by keywords, titles, and tags. Evernote magically makes printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable, too.”

I’ve used this so much that I’ve graduated from the free version to the pay version.   By doing so I’m now keeping track of woodworking projects, work ideas, home photos, blog ideas, you name it and it can’t be easier to use.   (NOTE: For $5 a month you get more monthly allowance for uploads & storage with the pay version but if you don’t use the crap out it you’ll never need to think about the pay version!)

I don’t want to waste your time with a tutorial on how I put it to use.  I’d rather you go take a look at it and see how great it is.

And no, I’m no way associated or get paid by them.  It’s just too cool of a tool to not share!

Popularity: 3% [?]

The Popular Woodworking Store has a new CD out where you can learn to make a living in the woodworking business.  It says its from 2 experts and even has 6 start up projects to help get your business started.   Now the funny part to us was that the two projects shown on the cover is mine (top one) and Glen Huey’s (bottom one) and no we’re not the “experts” either.

Check it out here: CD: The Experts’ Guide to the Business of Woodworking

Popularity: 1% [?]

This past Saturday I attended the Freud Tools Event that Popular Woodworking put together that was hosted by the Friends of  White Water Shaker Village.

Now to be honest, I couldn’t give a rat’s rear-end about the Freud part of the event.  (Even though I love Freud blades and use them on everything I bolt them onto!) My interest was 110% focused on where the event was taking place!

See, this village is 2.2 miles from my home and I had no freaking idea it even existed prior to reading Megan’s post on the blog.  I felt like a complete moron.  Really, how can one have that history 3 stone throws away and not have a clue?

Anyway, I made sure to clear of my calendar of busy house chores and yard work (actually I just ignored them) so I could attend.

Man I was amazed.  As I arrived to the event I had passed several buildings that were part of the village, a shaker cemetery, and all kinks of new homes intertwined.

When we arrived we were greeted with coffee and doughnuts (anyone who knows Glen Huey know these are his two favorite food groups!) and immediately invited into the buildings for a bit of a history lesson on village and their culture.

After that we were invited on tours of the buildings and left to walk around and venture off.

Some of the things I learned:

1. In the floor of meeting house were dots inlayed that were dance cues.
2. That once a family entered the society, they were no longer husband and wife.
3. Shakers often took in orphans, taught them a life skill and at 18 they got to chose to stay or venture out into the world.
4. They had two doors into the meeting room. One for the men and one for the women.
5. Since they didn’t have a lot of lumber they built their dwelling and meeting house out of bricks.
6. They didn’t die off because of the whole celibate deal; it was more due to innovation of manufacturing taking over their trades.
7. The hole in the roof of the first floor of the meeting house was there so the prior owners could put a hot tub upstairs.
8. While the family lived on the second story the kids had the first floor to ride their big wheels around and around.
9. The meeting house was also at one time storage area for grain for own owner.
10. The SVoWW group leases the village from Miami Whitewater Park who purchased it from the prior set of owners.

Also during my visit,  Glen introduced me to a couple of people on their board so I could discuss with them ways of  building their web site to help drive membership which they are in desperate needed.

See, they are non-profit all volunteer group that is restoring this entire village that is need of A LOT of work!  (And that is a huge understatement!)  So if you’re near buy, check them out.  It’s well worth your time!

(Here are photos from the tour)

P.S. The Freud part was pretty cool too!  They were great and showed of some of their upcoming tools.

EXTRAS: Google Map location and Google 3d Warehouse photos of the village

Popularity: 1% [?]

Did you know that back in the day Federal Period furniture builders had a grading system in place for customers who purchased their works?

I didn’t but it made since once it was explained to me.  This is a brief explanation of how it works with card table legs.

The system was based on two things:

• The amount of stringing you wanted & where.
• The amount of coin you were willing to part with.

Using a 4 leg card table as an example, if the customer didn’t want to spend much money, they would get fronts of the front two legs of their table stringed and a simple oval inlayed.

This would be considered a “C” customer.

If the customer had few more dollars and wanted to fancy up their piece they would get fronts of all four legs stringed and have a fancier oval inlayed into the two front legs.

This would get you upgraded to a “B” customer.

Now, if you were just showing off how much cash you were tripping over you’d get the front and out sides of you back two legs stringed.  In addition you’d also get the front and both sides of your front two legs strings as well as a fancier oven inlayed.

This would get you to the top of the class as being an “A” customer.

Now this was just an example of the legs.  The same theory held true for the amount (and how fancy) of stringing you wanted on the aprons and tops.

In addition I found that the cabinet makers of old didn’t always make their inlays.  Just like we mail order for them or buy them from Woodcraft/Rockler, they had craftsmen who did nothing but made inlays for them to buy and use in their furniture.  (The main difference was they didn’t use CNC machines to make theirs.)

1. Photo #2 given to me by Glen Huey
2. Photo #3 from Maui Woodworker’s Guild from their workshop with Steve Latta
3. Photo #1 was found many months ago on Google and I have yet to find it  again so I can give proper credit

Popularity: 3% [?]