Weekly Editorial
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Rock ’em, Sock ’em – Talk About Tools!
n this corner — weighing considerably more than his doctor is comfortable with – is Rob “Cool as a Cuke” Johnstone. And in the opposing corner is the challenger, Chris “Fire” Marshall. What in the world am I talking about? The AWFS Battle-Blog Royale, that’s what! It is an online blog in which Woodworker’s Journal field editor Chris Marshall and yours truly will be putting forward our best entries gleaned from the summer’s biggest new tool trade show.
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I Said, “It’s Bubinga, Bubba!”
Do any of you share my personal dilemma? I know that is too broad of a question, so specifically, do you have a hard time telling sapele from bubinga? Iroko from say – jacaranda? When I started woodworking, my family’s cabinet shop used oak and birch and maple for 90 percent of its work. We did spread our wings and use ash and cherry… pretty hoity-toity stuff…from time to time, but that was about it.
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Summertime Woodworking and Hot Tools
When is the best time to do woodworking? When you can! There is a certain mythology that woodworkers go through some sort of inscrutable metamorphosis … some time around April or May each year (perhaps responding to increasing hours of sunlight or maybe due to paying their income taxes) … and emerge as gardeners or theatergoers or some other such thing.
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Secrets of a Master
Do you know what a torsion box is? Many of you likely do, and some of you do not. In our May/June print magazine, you can learn all about what hip woodworking dudes like me like to call the T-box. It is simply a means to creating a light but incredibly strong subassembly that can become a shelf or tabletop, you name it. It is one of the most important concepts in the arsenal of woodworking weaponry when it comes to designing furniture.
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Thanks for the Fun
As most of you were quick to figure out, our last eZine effort was the 2007 version of our now famous (infamous?) April Fool’s eZine. But because there was a bit of confusion, let me put everyone at ease: I did not really have a horrific shop accident. I am not at all queasy around blood, and I do not wear exotic undergarments of any sort. I understand that many of you find our attempts at humor sophomoric, and that is good – because they are.
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Virtual Woodworking
There is no doubt about it, woodworkers were pioneers in adopting the Internet as a place to share their hobby. And that participation has only grown stronger as the ‘Net has grown more accessible, faster (for some) and easier to use. This eZine is one of the oldest and – thanks to you folks – one of the most successful online woodworking efforts in the industry.
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Putting Daylight in the Bank
I am so relieved … we are back to saving daylight. With the arrival of Daylight Savings Time, we have now apparently gone back to being more frugal with those valuable photons that the sun so generously distributes. (The implication is, of course, that we have been wastefully profligate with sunshine since last October — hmm.) My question to you, fellow woodworkers, is what are you going to do with your “extra” hours of sunlight?
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Using Green Wood
There is a trend in woodworking toward using green wood. No, I am not talking about lumber that has not yet been cured or dried, but of wood harvested in an environmentally sustainable manner. I have always thought of myself as a “good steward” of the environment: I recycle and dispose of my nasty chemicals in a responsible way (I don’t use fertilizer on my yard … just ask my neighbors), so I have to say I am in favor of this trend.
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Groundhog, Shmoundhog
In recent weeks, there have been various reports of oversized rodents poking their beady-eyed heads out of their respective holes in the ground with the goal of predicting the end of winter. While I am generally in favor of traditions, this one seems a bit silly to me. Especially when there is a much more accurate means of determining the depth of winter and the likely onset of spring. I am, of course, speaking of the woodshop winter metric system (WWMS for short). Note to reader: this should not be confused with “The Metric” system that for some reason strikes irrational fear into every fraction-fond American woodworker.
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New Electronic Adventures
am going to tell you about the newest thing on the web: It’s free, it’s fast, it’s complete, and it’s cool! I’m talking about our latest labor of love here at the Woodworker’s Journal: the Woodworker’s Journal Resource Digest – Online. It contains all the tool information that you need, available at the speed of light.
