Issue 173
Issue 173
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. And then, the theory continues, some time in September, the Jeykll-and-Hyde transformation moves in the other direction. All I can say is that this theory does not apply to me. I am more likely to be found in my shop in the summer in the winter … it is stinking cold in my shop in the winter. But the prevalence of this theory is so pervasive that many of my favorite woodworking media products go dormant during the summer months … like a horny toad in a dried-up water hole. What is a woodworker to do about this vernally inspired vicissitude? I am so glad you asked.
We are kicking off our Summer HOT-TOOLS Expo, a web site where you can find up-to-date information about the newest woodworking tools, updates from the summer woodworking trade shows and a super-cool free downloadable woodworking plan. That ought to help shed the summertime blues! Check it out and don’t forget … when your other woodworking outlets are letting you down … the Woodworker’s Journal has got you covered.
–Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal
What's In Store
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Collins Complete Woodworker: Booking It
You know how when you stop by the bookstore or the library, you’re often inclined to check whether your favorite author has a new book out?
Q & A
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Drying Walnut Lumber
About how long should it take to dry one-inch thick, 10-inch wide walnut lumber?
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Does Glue Hurt Planer Blades?
Is it true that glue will hurt planer blades if a glued-up board is run through?
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Differences Between Water and Oil Stones
Is there a difference between water and oil stones, and can you use one as the other?
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Advantages of Dewaxed Shellac vs. Shellac with Wax
What are the advantages of dewaxed shellac over shellac with the wax still in it?
Industry Interviews
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Earlex: And Now, for Something Completely Different
Made by Earlex, the HV5000 is a small, self-contained unit that has a carrying handle on top, a built-in well where the cup sits, a recess to coil the air hose when not in use and another recess to wrap up the power cord.
Feedback
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An Ounce of Prevention, a Pound of Cure
An answer in the Q&A section suggested making a 10 percent solution of oxalic acid, and a followup explained where to buy it. That led to a bit of confusion on the part of this reader.
Today's Woodworker
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T. Breeze Verdant: Marquetry? It’s a Breeze
“My aim in woodworking,” T. Breeze Verdant told me, “is to create the greatest amount of beauty while consuming the smallest amount of wood.”
