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Woodworkers Blog

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Woodworkers Blog

We have decided to include this link to Rockler's Blog, and Fine Woodworking Magazine's Blog, in favor of ours, at least for the time being.

A  blog on our experiences with woodworking, clients, and general comments on the business of woodworking. 

Oct. 30, 2006
After just having returned from a Woodworking show in Portland Maine, I once again was surprised at some woodworkers attitude about using a splitter, or anti kickback device. These little devices can prevent very serious injuries, or even death! A kickback can occur at any time, and just because it hasn't happened to you, doesn't mean it never will. Get one and use it!!

Biesemeyer makes a very good one. It's appears a little pricey, but it's well worth every penny! 
www.biesemeyer.com

Nov. 1, 2006
The woodworking and tool forums are almost ready!

Watch for them over the next couple days, and start posting comments and questions.

Nov. 2, 2006
The forums are online!  Please make use of them, as they were a pain in the ...  to get figured out. 

Nov. 9, 2006
Several articles have been added to the site in the past few days. Topics include more articles on veneering, and a start to the carving section.

Nov. 13, 2006
I've been adding to the recommended reading section, and while it's time consuming, I'm making headway. I didn't realise I had so many books on woodworking.

Nov. 16, 2006 
After a day of repairing custom built shelving units, I'm amazed at what some woodworkers call finish work. Some guys never catch on to the fact that it pays to build things right, and to do what the customer wants. Instead of altering things to satisfy the client, they just quit!  The work itself, was very poorly done. A little pride in your work goes a long way, and customer relations is pretty important, if you want to stay in business for any length of time.

Nov. 17, 2006
I was just reading my new issue of Fine Woodworking's Annual Issue of Tools & Shops, and came across a letter to the editor, submitted by Kevin Jaynes, regarding leaving the scribe lines on a dovetail joint, visible. This has been a "Pet Peeve" of mine, for years. I've  always wondered, what was the point of making beautiful hand cut dovetails, only to leave the scribe lines visible? My feeling has been that if you're going to the trouble of making such a beautiful joint, why would you leave this detail showing. To me, it seems to be like running the football to the one yard line, and calling it a day.

A similar situation is carving ball and claw feet. A designer came into my shop to check out a piece I was building, and commented on the lack of tool marks on my carvings. I said I don't like them, so I don't leave them. This particular designer, Vitorrio Ginzburg, who is also a close friend of mine, and is quite talented, spent his college years working in the Winterthur Museum, in Delaware, with Charles Montgomery. His work consisted of working with the 18th century masterpieces, displayed in the museum.

He commented that these masterpieces had the tool marks left on them. I guess he was trying to lead me to leaving the tool marks, because his next comment was, "do you think they left the marks, so people would know that they were hand carved"?  Me, being the wise guy that I am, responded by asking him, " you mean as opposed to laser carved". (it's a safe bet that laser carvers weren't commercially available at that time). 

For my taste,  it's not done until it's perfect. And perfect does not have little gouges or flat spots, or tool marks. As this is such a personal preference, I guess there is no right answer, it's what you're comfortable with.

Nov. 27, 2006
I hope everyone has had time to digest the thanksgiving feast, and maybe had some time to contemplate, exactly what the idea behind the holiday actually is. I often  forget to stop and smell the roses, if you know what I mean. It dosen't take much to bring me around though. When I see someone in poor health, I do at that point realize just how lucky / blessed I really am. And remember,  smell the roses, before they die, or it really doesn't count.

Dec 15,2006
It's been another busy couple of weeks, so I've been neglecting the site and the blog. A lot going on at the moment, and the Ezee-Feed site is being rebuilt, (in my spare time), as it's written with  yahoo provided software, and there's just too much back end coding that I can't deal with. So time to start over with it.

Dec. 20, 2006
Well I've been adding pages to the site on a fairly regular basis, and it's generating a fair number of hits. What I don't understand is where are the questions on the forum? I hope I'm not the only one with questions!

Jan 2, 2007
Happy New Years everyone! We've been busy adding articles on a regular basis, so stay tuned in. Also, we've started adding page links in the articles, to tool and material suppliers, pertaining specifically to the articles. These links will take your directly to the suppliers tool page, which the article is discussing. Hopefully this will prove to be a convenience for you. To date, most of these links are to Rockler's Catalog, as they are a reputable and competitive source for tools and supplies. They also have a unique system to allow links to their pages.

Jan. 12, 2007
Festool has done it again, with the new type of mortising machine. The DF - 500 promises to cut down on the time needed to make quality mortise and tenon joints. Check it out in the portable power tools section of the site.

Feb. 13 2007
For anyone building furniture and cabinets, this is the time of year in which wood products tend to shrink. Whenever we get a call from a client saying doors are warping, or caulk around built ins is opening up, the first question is, "do you have a humidifier installed".  100 % of the time, at least so far, the answer has been no. Things that looked great in the summer, now are less than perfect. Obviously something has changed. It has, and that would be the moisture content in the wood. I explain to clients that installing a humidifier is the first step. Sometimes they think I'm just trying to avoid the problem, until I explain it. Heat, especially hot air heat, has a big effect on both houses and the furniture in the houses. I will tell them that once a humidifier has been installed and running for a few weeks, if there is still a problem, we'll come running, just let me know. They have never called back to say the problem is still occurring.

We have decided to include this link to Rockler's Blog, and Fine Woodworking Magazine's Blog, in favor of our's, at least for the time being.

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Written by: Lee A. Jesberger  © 2006

Inventor of Ezee-Feed systems ®

Website Created by: Lee A. Jesberger 

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