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Download 2010 Catalog

Work Vs. School – Tom Brown’s Schooldays 

One of my favorite books growing up was “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” written by Thomas Hughes in 1857 it is a fictional account of a boy going to Rugby, a boarding school in England, in the 1830’s. It’s a great entertaining read and has been in print since publication. I mention it primarily because it takes place when Thomas Arnold was the headmaster at the school and introduced a revolution in teaching that we feel today. Before Arnold elite schools taught mostly reading, Latin, rhetoric, and other lofty subjects of practical use to nobody. An academic education was a finishing cultural touch and had little to do with a profession or anything practical except the clergy.

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Wood for Bowl Turning 

Do you think you will ever have enough wood? I intend to have way too much wood left over when I stop working. There are several sources for wood and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Right now let’s talk about wood for turning bowls.

The first place you might try is Dave and Sandy’s house and get some of what is left of that cherry tree they cut down last week. They are two of my church friends and they took down a large cherry tree next to their driveway. I went by with my chainsaw and chopped out some wet pieces of beautiful native cherry and lugged it home.

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Woodworker’s Guide to Bending Wood Book 

Woodworker

Woodworker’s Guide to Bending Wood Book

Step-by-step photo sequences thoroughly illustrate four basic wood bending methods in this guide. There are also seven step-by-step projects presented, including shaker boxes, a bow for an arrow, a rustic chair, the sides of a guitar, and bent panels used for tables and pedestals.

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Fun Reading: ‘The Carpenter’s Tool Chest’ 

“A craftsman is one who understands his tools and uses them with skill and honesty. It does not matter whether his tool is a chisel or a planing machine, it is the work that he does with it that counts and you today can be as good a workman in the carpenter’s craft as any who ever lived if you will learn to know your tools and to use them well.”

— Thomas E. Hibben

When it comes to learning woodworking, sometimes it’s nice to treat yourself like a child.

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Woodworking Tips: Tool Ignorance vs Tool Stupidity 

All woodworkers know if necessity is the mother of invention, then laziness is the grandfather and stupid is the father. (I think I’ll try to get that added to Bartlett’s Quotations.) All jigs, templates, shortcuts, power tools, dumb moves and safety practices are heirs of this illustrious family.

I must admit that grandfather laziness is high in my gene list, but father stupid works quicker for me than the other two.

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Woodworking for Wii 

ritten by Michael Vass

In America one of the biggest concerns that few are speaking about is the loss of creativity in our students. Cutbacks in school funding across the nation has caused the end of band, art and shop programs. Add to this failure to stimulate the minds and hands of our youth the invasive predominance to play video games over other social or creative activities and the future innovators in America look scares and bleak.

Of course this is hardly an event that is isolated to America alone. Across Europe and in England similar combinations of obsessive game play and re-orienting of curricular schedules is becoming the norm, though in far lesser degrees. But unlike in America some educators and creative competitions are not giving up the ghost yet.

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Fan Art Furniture: Star Wars AT-AT Walker Table Lamp 

Generally fan art comes in the form of drawings, sculptures, digital renderings and the like – a little less often it takes the form of furniture objects like this light that pays tribute to the classic AT-AT Walker from the original Star Wars movies.

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Highly Recommended: Gramercy 14″ Saw Vise 

Years ago Don McConnell (now with Clark & Williams plane makers) shamed me into sharpening my own saws.

He was down for a photo shoot and I mentioned that I had sent a saw out to be sharpened with some odd filing. Don stopped whatever it was he was doing and looked up at me.

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Kreg’s New Beaded Face Frame System Is a Winner 

When we saw this jig demonstrated at the AWFS Show in Las Vegas last summer, our first thought was “Who needs another specialized router table jig?”Boy, were we wrong! Kreg’s new Beaded Face Frame System has taken off like you cannot imagine. Simply put, it easily produces cabinet face frames that feature attractive professional-looking beads that connect flawlessly around the entire frame.

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Poliform Varenna Kitchen by Carlo Colombo – new ‘Twelve’ design 

Cool and contemporary meets naturally beautiful in this stunning kitchen by designer Carlo Colombo. The new Twelve kitchen, designed for Poliform Varenna kitchen company, experiments with “minimal horizontal thicknesses and maximum wideness,” as described by Poliform. The modern style comes sans handles, resulting in a very chic, sleek and streamlined look, which is a nice feature in what is usually a chaotic, cluttered space.

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