Christmas in March

I'm always a little embarrassed to post when I receive a donation of product. I'm afraid it sounds like I'm bragging or being boastful. The truth of the matter is I'm extremely grateful. Producing a show such as The Garage' cost a bit of money to do.
So donations are always needed and welcomed.
Also- I think it's only right that the generous folks who have donated get their rightful acknowledgement. It's not why they donate, they rather keep it quiet. I think it's the right thing to do.

Today I received some wood turning tools and accessories from Nathan Esminger of Rockler Woodworking and Hardware.
This isn't the first time they've sent me product. If I need something and ask them, the good folks at Rockler always say yes. This generous donation of product enables me to incorporate some wood turning projects into the episodes.
I can't wait to get turning.

Thanks to Nathan Ensminger of Rockler Woodworking and Hardware. Visit them at www.rocklerwoodworking.com
Thanks you'

As always - Thanks for following

Be safe and be creative

Best
Steve

Hancock Shaker Village

Yesterday I returned from a trip to the Berkshires and Hancock Shaker Village.
What can I say? The drive was beautiful. The area is full of great thrift stores, antique shops, all kinds of artisans and awesome roadside attractions.
I delivered the bench to the village. The village was built in 1790
The village is closed for the season but will open to the general public on April 16.
I find everything about the Berkshire area inspiring.
I want to thank curator Lesley Herzberg and Facilities manager
Bill Mangiardi for a great visit.

As always - Thanks for following.
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Thos. Moser

Yesterday I received my Thomas Moser catalog in the mail.
I started receiving them years ago. The images of the furniture in the catalog are fantastic. Now- if you're into woodworking and furniture making then you probably have heard of Thomas Moser, especially if you're into Shaker furniture.

Thomas owns six furniture stores around the country that create, build, and sell shaker inspired pieces. The furniture is top notch, highly crafted, mostly made out of American cherry wood.

Receiving the catalog in the mail reminded me of a book I have titled "How to build shaker furniture" This book was written by Thomas Moser in the seventies and was ( and probably still is ) the how to book on building shaker furniture.
The book gives a brief history and background on the Shakers and is full of photos of great shaker furniture pieces as well as hand drafted detailed drawings of shaker pieces. The illustrations were created by Christian Becksvoort, who worked for Thomas and now in his own right is an expert builder and authority on Shaker furniture. Christian also is an editor for fine woodworking magazine.

Thomas,s original workshop is in Maine, and it's still the location of the company headquarters and workshop. Christian Becksvoort lives and works in Maine. Christian authored a book called " The Shaker Legacy" published by the Taunton Press.

My book by Thomas Moser is full of tick marks, and has some tape holding the spine together, But it still inspires me when I look through it. Thomas Moser inspired a lot of woodworkers and turned them on to Shaker Furniture. If you're into furniture making, or even just want to learn more about the Shakers, Than I suggest you pick up a copy of Thomas's book.

Well - I'm on my way to Hancock Shaker Village.
Inspiring'
As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

How bench will travel'

Tomorrow I'm delivering the bench I made in a recent episode of the show to the Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA.
The village/museum is going to use the bench in one of their community rooms.

The bench is modeled after a bench from the village that was made in the early 1800's.
If you enjoy living history museums, and shaker furniture then you must visit the Hancock Shaker Village. The village opens in early April and offers all kinds of events and workshops.
It's only a couple of hours drive from the furthest points in Massachusetts, located in the fantastic Berkshire mountain area.

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Wax coating

I waited a few days for the oil finish to fully cure.
I then applied a coat of regular paste wax on the chest. I applied two thin coats and buffed them out between coats.
I waited a full day and then I applied a thin coat of tinted shoe polish to the chest. The shoe polish is made out of wax so it buffs up to a nice sheen. The tan tint in the shoe polish adds an amber patina to the pine.

The best thing about it is that it only used a 2 OZ can of shoe polish and it cost just a couple of dollars for the can.
Perfect'
The wax and polish isn't maintenance free. It will need a thin coat applied and then buffed out every six months or so. I love how the wax looks and feels on the pine.

As always - Thanks for
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

following

House of Windsor

House of Windsor

We spent another great weekend in the Berkshire mountain area.
We spent the weekend at my wife's Grandmothers house. I love going there. It seems like I discover something new each time.
I love making furniture, all types of furniture. My personal favorite aesthetic is mid-century modern but I love all types and styles.

While visiting my wife's Grandmother I noticed there were all kinds of Windsor chairs around the house. Windsors are great in that most of the building is done with hand tools, even today.
There are a few bow back Windsors with woven seats as well as a few comb back chairs in the house.

If you're looking for a great book on Windsor chairs check out a book called a Windsor handbook by Wallace Nutting. This book will teach you how to identify the differences and discover the nuances of Windsors.

If you're looking for a 'How To' make a Windsor chair book then check out a book called 'Chair Makers notebook' by Peter Galbert
published by Lost Art Press. The link is below
http://lostartpress.com/…/boo…/products/chairmakers-notebook. I've had the pleasure of working with Pete and he is a fantastic teacher and an exceptional maker.

Other notable makers who teach chair making workshops are Curtis Buchanan and Elia Bizzarri. I've attached links to all of these great makers websites. Please check out their work, it's quite amazing and inspiring.

www.petergalbertchairmaker.com
www.handtoolwoodworking.com
www.curtisbuchananchairmaker.com

As always - Thank for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Curve appeal

Curve appeal'

I finally decided how, and what type of finish I'm going to use on the coopered lid chest.
I'm using an oil and a wax finish.
Today was a great day to do some finishing outdoors.

I use a product called 'Dura Seal' from min-wax , which is now owned by Sherwin Williams. Dura Seal is an oil based product made for hardwood floors. You can get in neutral or pigmented.
It has a little varnish in it so it cures nicely. The oil penetrates the wood and the varnish cures, adding protection.

You probably won't find Dura Seal at your local home center but you can order it at most Sherwin Williams paint stores or find a local flooring supply store and they might have it. It's incredibly easy to use. You simply apply a liberal amount with a brush, wait fifteen minutes and wipe off the excess. I normally wait a day before applying a wax top coat to the surface. You might have to buy a large container of Dura Seal, I don't think they sell it in small quantities but it's worth it. I've had my container forever and it hasn't hardened like other products.

Instead of regular paste wax I'm going to use shoe polish. You can by wax with a tint in it but it's expensive. I bought a small can of tan shoe polish. Once the oil drys I'll apply the shoe polish. If I apply too much and it's to dark I can simply wipe the excess off.

After I apply the polish I'll wait twenty minutes and then buff it out with a piece of denim cloth. The denim brings up a nice sheen, almost burnishing the wood. The tinted wax will give the distressed pine an aged look.

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative.
Best
Steve

 I am very fortunate to have been asked to try out some new nail guns from Milwaukee tools. I will be working with some sample guns and then giving my feed back. I will post my thoughts and comments and critiques as I use the nailers. The nailers won't arrive til April. Below is a little blurb about the product as it appears on Milwaukee's website

"Milwaukee® Delivers Breakthrough Performance with M18 FUEL™ Finish Nailers "

MILWAUKEE, WI- By harnessing the power, performance and run-time that they are able to deliver through M18 FUEL™ technology*, Milwaukee has announced the next breakthrough for the industry. The new M18 FUEL™ Finish Nailers are the first cordless solutions on the market with the power to consistently seat nails sub-flush to hardwood surfaces with no ramp-up time and no gas cartridges.

As always - Thanks for and following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Done

I did a little work on the chest yesterday and was able to finish it.
Well - almost. It still needs a finish on it. I haven't decided if I'm going to stain it or not.
I added a tray that can be removed to access the interior or you can slide it from side to side. This small chest has a lot of joinery in it.
I'll be making another one for the show. This is the project for the next episode.

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

The fruits of our labor

The fruits of our labor'

You should've seen the look on my sons face when he looked out his bedroom window this morning and saw a couple of sparrows making a nest in the house he and I made last week.

I hate sounding preachy, and I never want to use this face book page as a platform to do so'
So - lets call it, 'A gentle reminder'

We live in a very rushed world. It seems like everything has to be instantaneous, like a scratch and win lottery ticket. We get impatient if our internet is slow. We expect immediate responses to emails and text messages. We have smart phones, tablets, laptops, you name it.' I'm not opposed to technology. I use power tools to create work. We all live busy lives and at time it's easier to hand our child the smart phone or tablet so they can entertain themselves while we do other things. I get it''
But what I don't get is why we would prefer to do so over spending some time with them. Time- the most valuable of all things. We rush around living our lives but then as we get older we try to slow it down. crazy'

I'm by no means perfect, or have the perfect recipe on how to live your life. To each his own. I feel that the making of objects is an inherent trait to the human species. we are makers. We have articulated wrist. This is a trait only found in humans and apes and monkeys. We use these articulated wrist to build and make objects, play musical instruments, type on a keyboard and to communicate. There's a reason why we feel so fulfilled when we make something. I feel along the way we've ignored this inherent trait and forgot how to nurture and foster it.

What I don't want to do is to ignore what's important to my son. Time with his dad. Back to the bird house. The house took only an hour to build but during that time spent with my son I learned what was going on in his seven year old world. I learned about his friends at school, the games they play at recess, the books they read, his likes and dislikes and a whole bunch of random things. One hour. That's all it took to make a positive impact on his life. We got caught up and connected. My son cheered when he saw the birds in the house he made. He felt a sense of pride and accomplishment, more than moving up another level on a video game. He gave me a high five and said "way to go dad'
I apologize if I've sounded preachy. It's just the act of spending a single hour to make a simple bird house,and getting back to basics had a huge impact. I hope that one day when my son's a parent and his kids are complaining because there isn't anything to do- he remembers this moment and spends a single hour and makes something with them.

I figure that I've been around for more than 760,416667 hours in this world. I can spare one'

As always - thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Curves

Curves

Yesterday was spent working on the coopered lid chest I'm making for the next episdoe we shoot. The lid is made up of ten individual pieces that are cut on an angle, called staves. The staves are then put together to form a curve, or radius. I made a full scale drawing in order to work out the angle of the staves, but they're is always some tweaking involved. I nailed and glued the staves to the lid sides and then cleaned up the points where the staves join together to create a smooth curve.
I have an old no# 27 Stanley Bailey jack plane that is my go to plane. It works beautifully. I have a metal jack plane but I just love how this one feels and works.

The plane is made out of beech wood. I ran the sole of the plane over my jointer to make it perfectly flat. You have to be careful when you do this, you can enlarge the mouth opening too much and shavings will get jammed up in the mouth. If this happens you can make an insert for the mouth and piece it in. You want just enough space to let a shaving go through.

I hit the high spots with the plane and then I used my Stanley no#3 smooth plane to finish the job.
I then cleaned up the edges and planed them level to the sides
I use my hand plane as a level and a straight edge to tell me when I've gone far enough.

I have an 'L' shaped fence that I clamp to the table saw and my bench to help keep the lid in place when I'm working on it with a plane. I love how the lid worked out. A curved top adds a dramatic affect to a simple box/chest.

Today I need to work on the interior shelf'

As always- Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

For the birds

For the birds

My son and I spent yesterday in the garage doing what has become a wonderful annual tradition, building bird houses together.
Each year after the snow melts we gather up our scrap wood and off cuts and build a couple of bird houses.
I love these moments and I love the look on his face when the birds actually occupy the house.
We used some scraps of pine and made two funky bird houses, complete with a beer bottle cap clad roof. We don't have a plan, we just " wing it" ( sorry - I just couldn't help myself).
My favorite one is the one with the two Narragansett brewery beer caps " Hi Neighbor" on it.
We have a lot of fun and it's a great piece of quality time spent with my son.
Thanks buddy'

As always - Thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve

Rikon

Rikon

I can't thank Jack Bransfield and Joe Taylor of Rikon tools enough. These good folks at Rikon donated a much needed six inch bench top jointer and a midi lathe to the show.
I spent yesterday afternoon setting up the jointer, model #20-600H. I can't wait to put it to use. I have a project idea for an episode that this will be perfect for.

The lathe, model # 700-220VSR is the largest of the bench top lathes, known as a midi-lathe. It is beefy. Both of these products are perfect for anyone working in a small space such as the garage.
Visit www.rikontools.com to see the full catalog of products.

Thank you again'

As always - thanks for following
Be safe and be creative
Best
Steve