Marc Spagnuolo's Blog, page 68

2016 TWWG Scholarship Applications are Open

Today we are happy to announce the launch of the first ever Wood Whisperer Guild Scholarship! There will be a total of 4 scholarships given out in 2 categories (Woodworkers under 18 and Woodworkers 19 and older) The application deadline is Feb 29th, 2016 (so we can get the winners in before the end of the Sofa Table build) so apply today!

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The Wood Whisperer Guild Scholarship

For the first time ever we are offering four Wood Whisperer Guild Scholarships to four recipients. The winners of the scholarships will receive membership into The Wood Whisperer Guild (an online woodworking school) and will have access to one archived project of their choice and 3 future projects (from the Early Bird Bundle) to assist them in their woodworking journey. If you are interested in applying please fill out the form below or go directly to the application.

We expect a large number of applicants, so please be patient as we review all of the entries. We anticipate announcing the recipients no later than the end of March on TheWoodWhisperer.com and will award 2 scholarships to each category: Woodworkers under 18 and Woodworkers 19 & older.

Who is eligible? Everyone that has a desire to learn woodworking

When is the application due? Application Deadline is February 29, 2016 at 11:59 pm Eastern.

How do you evaluate the applications? We seek to award scholarships to candidates who are interested in improving their woodworking skills and career. As for the submission itself, we are also looking at your overall presentation. In this regard, we review and evaluate: Your past work and woodworking history, your vigor of expression and your passion for your topic.

How do you announce the winner? Scholarship winners will be notified on or around March 15, 2016. Winners will be announced on TheWoodWhisperer.com

What will the scholarship recipient receive? If selected the candidate will receive membership into The Wood Whisperer Guild (an online woodworking school) and will have access to one archived project of their choice and 3 future projects (from the Early Bird Bundle) to assist them in their woodworking journey. Every project in the Guild includes the following: Detailed video instruction, plans and project support for your Guild project,
Lifetime Membership to the Guild, access to Live Guild Meetings, access to a library of exclusive interviews with notable woodworkers, access to our exclusive Facebook group where you can connect with your fellow Guild members, industry discounts from popular vendors and of course email support directly from Marc.

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Rick’s Butcher Block Island

When my daughter bought a house she asked me to build her a butcher block island that was small so she could take it with her if she moved. I came up with the idea of using whatever materials I had laying around or could find without buying. The butcher block island is made with sugar maple that was blown down in a storm; I had a section of it milled with live edge in hopes I could someday make something with it. The top is made with the maple and recycled oak from a park bench. The legs are made from old reclaimed cedar sign posts. The towel rack is made from pedals from an old upright piano and the brass rod is from a waste-water treatment plant I used to work at. I had to thread the rod and buy the acorn nuts. The drawer is made from scrap wood and part of the upright piano. The drawer front is spalted maple also known as ambrosia maple. The bottom shelf is oak from the park bench and an old half inch copper water pipe I had laying around. I polished it with a wire wheel and then used 320 and 400 grit emery paper and coated with clear lacquer. The finish is rubbed on Danish oil and rubbed on Minwax satin poly.

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Steve’s Down Burst Chip Separator

The Down Burst Chip Separator is essentially an air tight box mounted atop an inverted metal trash can. My Powermatic Dust Collector is connected to one end of the box by 4″ ducting, creating a vacuum in the box and trash can. Sawdust, from my tools, is delivered to a common 4″ duct that enters the opposite end of the box.

I’ve posted a video detailing its construction on YouTube: 

Debris entering the box is immediately deflected downward by a Plenum Takeoff (a sheet metal hood sporting a large rectangular opening), and into the trash can. The debris scarcely has a chance to enter the duct opening leading to the Powermatic, because it’s located on the box wall behind the Plenum Takeoff’s hood, while the duct delivering the dust has its opening nearly tucked inside the hood’s opening.

Once the debris has entered the trash can, it’s no longer exposed to the air currents between the two 4″ ducts mounted in the box. The debris then has a tendency to stay put.

My separator is mounted on the shop wall, about 3′ above the floor. The apex of the inverted trash can’s convex lid is fitted with an opening, collar (Flowtite), and cover (TeeCover). This means clean-out of the separator requires no disassembly, only the pulling of the friction-fitted clean-out cover, to allow the debris to fall into a box or bag.

When I tested the Down Burst Chip Separator on a large box of wood chips and dust, 80% of the debris (by volume) ended up in the trash can. I’m going to extend the duct opening (of incoming debris) even further into to Plenum Takeoff hood, and see if I can bump up that percentage.

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New Shirt Designs Available

After the successful test launch of “I Love the Smell of Shellac in the Morning” t-shirt last month, we are excited to announce the official opening of our TeeSpring Store with huge selection of sizes, styles and colors. In addition to offering Shellac in the Morning, we have added 2 new shirts! After a number of requests, “The Schwarz” shirts are back, along with a new shirt for HVLP lovers! There are only 6 days to order before the 1st printing, so get yours today!

 

 

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Jeremy’s Cigar Humidor

I wanted to build a new cigar humidor to replace my old, undersized one. I figured if I was going to do it, I wanted it to look nice too.

This is basically a box in a box design. The outer box is made of African mahogany, with lacewood and padauk inlays. The vertical corners are hidden spline miters while the top and bottom sit in rabbets. The bottom was covered with felt, and the top sat low enough that the inlays are flush with the top of the sides. The whole thing was then finished inside and out with General Finishes High Performance Top Coat. I actually ran a small bead of glue on all of the inside corners to create an airtight seal so that the moisture wouldn’t all leak out of any small cracks.

The inner box is all unfinished, kiln-dried Spanish cedar. That particular species is the preferred species for humidors. The pieces were all press fit and only held with a small amount of glue in the center to accommodate wood movement. The upper edge of the bottom of the inner box extends beyond the upper edge of the bottom of the outer box, and the lower edge of the top inner box is recessed into the lid of the outer box. This means that when the lid is shut, the line where the tops meet the bottoms are offset. Again, this was done to create a better seal, and prevent moisture loss.

I also created a removable tray of Spanish cedar with channels cut on the router table for ventilation between levels. All of the dividers, both top and bottom, are fixed and sit in dadoes.

I had to make a couple of interesting jigs for this project. In order to cut the mortise for the hidden spline in the miters, I created a jig that held each piece of wood at a 45 degree angle. I was then able to drop it on the router bit on the table. Stop blocks at either end prevented me from cutting too far. To cut the corners off of the square of padauk on the inlay at the top, I created a jig by attaching two pieces of wood to a sled. They two pieces formed a 90 degree angle at a 45 degree angle from the blade. I then nibbled away at the corner until my strips of padauk would just fit in the gap. Then it was a simple matter of just cutting off the four corners.

Overall it was a very technically demanding project, there was very little room for error. But it was incredibly rewarding to see the finished product. After a couple of years the padauk has changed to a nice burnished red and the mahogany has started to darken and redden.

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‘Asa No Ha’ Walnut Keepsake Box

Inspired by Japanese woodworking techniques, but always daunted by the level of skill involved, I’ve delved into the wonders of Kumiko-Zaiku. Traditionally found in Shoji, I’ve used a popular Kumiko pattern here to create focal points with both beauty and depth.

Large keepsake box, in a mixture of Walnut, Olive Ash and Maple solid wood. Adorning the top is a popular Japanese pattern known as ‘Asa No Ha’. Brass hinges allow for an elegant and fluid opening, which also integrate a stop, holding the lid open at the perfect angle.

Finished in natural oils and wax.

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A Message From TWW Store

Hello from the Order Fulfillment team for The Wood Whisperer Store! (aka. Marc’s mom and step-dad) Last year we were kept quite busy thanks to all of you and we expect 2016 to be no different. We always strive to keep our prices low by never adding any extra processing or handling fees. In fact, on occasion a few of you have even received refunds when our software had overestimated your cost of shipping! That is why we want to make you aware of some recent changes. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has implemented new postage rates as of January 17, 2016. First Class Package Service will see an average rate increase of 12.8%. But the biggest change will affect our international fans. First Class Package International Service will see a whopping rate increase of 21.6%!!! That is a huge jump on some already hefty shipping costs. I apologize, but these increased fees are not within our control.

Also please note that in February we will be out of town for most of the month. Only a limited number of “easy to ship” items will be available for purchase during this time as Marc and Nicole take over for us. The schedule will be as follows: TWW Store will close on Friday, Feb 5th at 5pm. We will reopen for five days on Saturday, Feb 13th thru Wednesday, Feb 17th til midnite. We will be fully operational again on March 1st. We appreciate your understanding during this time. So if you have been thinking of picking up any TWW gear or WFC shirts or cups for yourself or have some February birthday gifts to buy, do it now while TWW Store is open 24/7! SHOP NOW!

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Garrett’s Garage Wood Shop

Tools often outlive their owners. This is a sad truth, but a woodworker’s skills, passions, and genius are often passed to the next generation posthumously through the tools they leave behind; this is my story.

My wife and I had a comfortable home in an urban setting with precisely zero space for a wood shop. In my spare time, I had been working in a family friend’s shop, whose late husband (Tom) was a full-time amazing person and part-time woodworker. After a few years of me working in her basement our family friend decided that it was time to move on and sell the equipment. I would have bought it, but I had no place for it in our current living situation. My wife knew that I wanted to continue woodworking and decided to make a bold move. One day, out of the blue, my wife sent me a picture of an old house on the outskirts of town with a 750 SF heated and air conditioned attached garage. She told me, “Go take a look at it; if you like it, buy it, and build your dream shop.” I liked it, and bought it. What followed was a massive undertaking (for one guy with a full-time job anyway…) involving removing the spare kitchen, wiring up a new electric panel and sub panel for the shop, rerouting the plumbing, heating, and HVAC lines, and of course moving Tom’s library of woodworking tools. I got many of the ideas for the shop from guys on the internet; my hope is that I can pass some of those ideas from my shop setup on to yours.

At the center of the shop is table saw setup. There is a dedicated dado saw to the right of the main saw, which reduces the annoyance of blade changes. The table router setup is to the right of that on the same plane. Dust collection is integrated into the saws and the router cabinet. NOTE: if you want zero dust from your miter saw, take a look at my miter saw setup; I boxed the saw in tightly and put a 4″ hose on the bottom of the box. ZERO dust escapes when the dust collector is on. The main shop cabinets are made out of studs, cheap plywood and beadboard from a big box store, so I’ve got probably $500 in materials in the cabinets. The ceilings are 12-feet high, so I needed a way to reach the top shelves of the upper cabinets. I used an old library ladder that I found on Craigslist and attached it to some barn-door hardware. Again, it was cheap; that whole setup cost me about $150. Take a look at the clamp storage; it is just 3/4″ conduit running through holes in some studs, but that is the most compact way I could think of to store my clamps, and there are 75 of them on the rack. I mounted my bar clamps permanently on the wall for gluing up panels, which keeps my limited horizontal surfaces clear.

While I was building the shop, I kept thinking, “What would Tom do?” and that really helped guide my decision-making. The result is an efficient, organized and functional shop that gets plenty of use by my friends and neighbors as well as myself. Tom would be proud to know that he was the inspiration for such a place.

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Powermatic PM2244 Mini Review

Powermatic recently released their new drum sander, the PM2244, and I’ve been getting a lot of questions about it. A drum sander is a huge investment so it pays to do your research and make sure you get the right unit for your shop.

 

 

 

 

Alan Parham wrote in recently asking the following question:

I think you recently got the new Powermatic 2244 Drum Sander. My real long term goal is to build guitars and I like the precision (digital) the PM2244 seems to offer along with a decent price compared to other large drum sanders like Woodmaster. My initial concern with the PM2244 is what I will call its “one arm” design. I can’t help but think that over time some “play” (unevenness) may develop since the drum is not supported on both ends especially when it comes to something as thin/precise as a guitar back or sound board. Any thoughts? Is my concern unfounded?

In the video, I address Alan’s question while giving a mini-review of the PM2244. I have only used it on one project so far but I can give it an enthusiastic thumbs up. Below is my direct email response to Alan in case you’re interested:

You’re right to be concerned about the cantilevered arm design. By its very nature, you’d have to imagine the drum will go out of alignment at some point or another. Fortunately, the better sanders are REALLY good about holding their settings for a long time. That said, a day will come when you have to make a slight adjustment. And what sets one sander apart from the rest is how easy it is to adjust. Without a doubt, the PM2244 has the simplest adjustment mechanism I have ever encountered: a simple dial under the table. That one feature alone is a game-changer! Doing a panel wider than the drum? Give it a slight turn to open the outboard side a bit and run the piece through twice. When you’re finished, turn the dial back to the previous setting for a perfect parallel run. And if the drum ever does go out of calibration, it wouldn’t take very long to calibrate with some test pieces and you’re back in business.
Now the digital display is nice but I’m not really in the habit of using it often. The way drum sanders work, you can send a piece in multiple times at the same setting and each time you’ll remove wood. So it can be very tricky to know what that number actually represents. So what I like about the digital display on this unit is it’s simply a relative number. Want to move the drum down exactly 1/64″? Zero it out after your last pass and then move the drum to that decimal equivalent. Of course what happens to the workpiece in reality is a little less predictable because of what I mentioned above.

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