Wood’n Bits Workshop

Having Fun With Miniatures

Larry | May 6, 2009

There are a lot of great blogs in Cyberspace. But one that I enjoy more than most because of its presentation is Doreen’s Miniature Projects and Tuts. Doreen is having so much fun with her miniatures that, if you follow her blog, you just can’t help but have fun too.

Not only does she present interesting projects as she does them, she photographs those projects as though the homeowner, Julie, and her friend Kate were doing them. Do yourself a favor and spend some time on her blog, watching Julie and Kate in action. It’ll warm your heart.

Cheers — Larry

larry@woodnbits.com

Category: Miniatures, News | 1 Comment »
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Two Cents on Common Sense

Larry | May 5, 2009

This week is Internet Woodworkers Safety Week. If you wander the various woodworking blogs and websites you’ll find a bunch of very good advice on how to stay safe while working with the machines that are so much a part of modern woodworking.

Some might suggest that the best safety advice is not to use them. While those woodworkers who work only with handtools may cut their finger occasionally, they slap a band-aid on it and go back to work and have no fear of losing digits or worse.

The truth of the matter, however, is that all of the advice on how to do safe woodworking is useless if you don’t also bring into your shop a healthy dose of common sense. It used to be that by the time you became an adult you had acquired a considerable amount of common sense and this helped adults navigate their way through life. More and more, however, I’ve come to believe that something has changed.

Surf through the woodworking forums and you’ll see that a lack of common sense is the basis of many accidents. You find people saying things like “I had a kickback occur last night because my table saw fence isn’t aligned with the blade.” The other day, in one of the carving forums a guy said, “I don’t see much value in a carving glove. I don’t cut myself very often.” Sometimes accidents aren’t accidents at all. They are the result of people without common sense being trusted with sharp objects. Common sense would dictate that you don’t use a table saw whose fence isn’t lined up with the blade. Arguing against a safety glove while admitting that you’re cutting yourself sometimes demonstrates the same lack of common sense. Without common sense, you will hurt yourself if you go through life, whether it is in your shop, in your kitchen, or while driving your car while text messaging.

If the guy pictured below falls and breaks his neck, would it be an accident? I don’t think so.

So maybe the best safety advice is to think about what you’re doing, what could go wrong, and what would happen if it did? Use common sense. Realize that while true accidents can occur, many accidents are not accidents at all but rather a result of a lack of care – a lack of thought. It might help to put this sign on the machines in your shop.

Cheers — Larry

larry@woodnbits.com

Category: Woodworking | No Comments »
Tags: Philosophy, Safety

Lucky Me!

Larry | May 3, 2009

My favorite woodworking magazine is Fine Woodworking (FWW), published by Taunton Press. This magazine consistently presents high-quality technique and furniture construction articles that, while directed at full-size furniture creation, can be applied to miniature furniture making as well. Tauton’s extensive book offerings form the core of my woodworking library.

A year or so ago they made themselves even better by establishing an online library of videos and articles and for a pittance one can become a member. I just love it, though I confess that I spend far more time watching the online videos than I probably should.

The current issue, pictured above, is an example of some of the innovative things they’re doing with this dual approach to publishing FWW. The magazine presents a wonderful 8-page article on creating a Morris chair. This is supplemented with online videos of the entire build process. If you simply divide the chair dimensions by 12, this stuff forms a blueprint and workshop for the creation of a 1/12 scale version of such a chair.

More recently, the folks at FWW have started presenting small product announcements of books being released that might be of interest to woodworkers. They make these announcements ‘contests’ as if you leave a comment, you become eligible to win the book. And guess what? I did! I’m now the proud owner of:

This is a beautiful 185-page book and if you have any interest in carving lovespoons, I highly recommend it. I admit to being biased as I love pretty much everything that Fox Chapel (the publishers) produce. In my opinion they have their finger on the pulse of the carving and scrollsawing communities and understand what people in these areas want to see and Fox Chapel knows how to present it.

The book begins with a history of lovespoons and each page just drips eye-candy for the woodworker. Then, with superb photographic support all aspects of carving these art objects, and I emphasize “all aspects” here, are covered in detail. There’s even a section on fixing mistakes, something that most woodworking books lack. It’s truly a complete course in lovespoon carving, complete with 15 spoon patterns and a section on designing your own.

And so, my two favorite publishers have teamed up to make me a really happy camper. Thanks FC and FWW.

Cheers — Larry

larry@woodnbits.com