Everything Old is New Again

Recently, for a variety of reasons, I've begun looking again at my older issues of Fine Woodworking. Some issues date back to the late 70's; others are just a few years old. While most of the product reviews are out of date, as are some author photos(!), I have been delighted and surprised by the amount of useful information each issue contains. It's clear to me that our craft is largely the same as it was thirty -- and more -- years ago. There are changes, of course, mostly in machinery and other aids. But in its essence the craft of woodworking is virtually timeless, as are the skills and temperament it requires.

But another idea warrants mention. As my woodworking skills and interests have developed, so has my interest in topics that would not have interested me several years ago. (Or perhaps such topics were clearly above my head back then.) The old saying that "everything old is new again" applies to back issues of FW -- and I'm certain of other woodworking magazines as well. So, if time permits, and you've been wise enough to hold on to back issues of your favorite woodworking magazines, take a look again. I think you'll make discoveries there that will please and impress you.

YouTube Commercialization

Am I the only woodworker who's noticing that more and more of the woodworking-related videos on YouTube are little more than free ads? Enter a topic in the search string and you're almost sure to find that a very high percentage (and growing!) of the vids are produced by manufacturers and retailers. The videos are either product introductions, product demos, or "teasers" intended to generate interest in some item or instructional DVD.

What's happened on YouTube is similar to what happened on the Web as a whole: what began as a source of "impartial" information has become a very sophisticated marketplace. Sell, sell, sell. However this aggressive marketing is justified, it's still a shame that those of us who are not interested in making purchases have to wade through tons of commercial "plugs" to find the information we want.

TV Stand with Display Cabinets

The main unit of the TV stand was completed several weeks ago. Since then I've been working on the two display cabinets, each of which has a single adjustable shelf. The cabinets are specifically intended to provide a place to display Carole's bowls -- all of which, incidentally, are made with a scroll-saw, not a lathe. As soon as her new Fox-Chapel book comes out, we'll be able to display her newest creations as well.

The TV stand and the cabinets are all solid cherry, except for the 1/2" plywood backs. All joinery is hand cut, even the carcase dovetails that are not visible in the photo. The finish is shellac. At this time only the main unit has been rubbed out; in several weeks I'll rub out the display cabinets as well.

The Inner Game . . .

Some years ago several books came out with titles such as, The Inner Game of Tennis, and The Inner Game of Golf. All of them had the same premise: that success is often as much a matter of headwork as skill. By "headwork" I mean the mind-set each of us brings to an activity, including our reactions to frustration, disappointment, and victory.

As a tennis player, I found much that was of merit in the Tennis book. I still do. Lately, wearing my woodworker hat, I've been thinking that the same principles apply. Here are a few of them.

First, the pursuit of excellence is what any skill-based activity is all about. Rather than focusing on outcomes, focus on process -- and take pleasure in it. When cutting a tenon or a dovetail, for example, do the job properly, thoughtfully. Strive to cut the best tenon of which you're capable.

Second, resist the urge to fault yourself for not being as much a master as others are. You can only be who you are. And your development is personal. Do the best job you can now. Don't fret about the fact that someone else might do this job more easily or more skillfully. And don't gloat about the fact that you're more proficient than others. Your task is to reach, and gradually increase, your personal level of excellence.

Third, if things don't go as you imagined they would, rather than getting angry or impatient, use the moment as a learning opportunity. Ask yourself questions like these: Why did the short-fall, or error, or mis-cut, occur? What can I do to prevent a recurrence of what happened? Or -- even more creatively -- can I convert this disappointment into an opportunity?

The worst thing a woodworker, or anyone who is working at a skill-based activity, can do is to let self-contempt, frustration, and personal pride interfere with the learning to which each of us must give priority.

Recycling, Repurposing, and Reusing

You've heard all the terms: recycling, repur- posing, reusing. Basically they mean salvaging what you can from an old piece of furniture and putting it to use in building a new one. Example: twenty years ago, I bought a large library table at an auction for $60 or so. Made of a heavy mystery wood that had been stained very dark, the table served a number of purposes over the years -- writing desk, crafts worktable, and computer table, to name three. A year or so ago, I decided it had lived its useful life. So I disassembled it to determine what kind of wood it was and whether it was useable. My discoveries were noteworthy. First of all, the wood turned out to be 5/4 cherry. With a little ingenuity, and accepting the fact that some waste was inevitable (for example, the aprons had a decorative profile on the bottom edge; it had to go) I was able to strip and reclaim every apron and most of the top. I had no use for the legs, but they were in good shape so I gave them to a friend. I even salvaged the heavy-duty metal clips that were used to attach the top to the aprons. Since its "repurposing", parts of the one-time library table have made their way into three projects: a writing desk (shown in the photo), a small sofa table, and a mirror frame. Some lengths of stock still remain; I plan to use them in the building of yet another desk. Since I regularly buy cherry, I know costs well enough to estimate that had I gone out and bought the equivalent amount of wood from my local hardwood dealer, I'd have spend upwards of $200. Not a bad deal! Perhaps more important than the cost savings, I feel the satisfaction that comes from having made good use of an item that might well have found its way into the trash.

Simple Jig for Carcase Dovetails

Here's a photo of a jig I put together to make it easy to use my plunge router to create sockets for half-blind carcase dovetails. As the photo shows, the jig is made from common cut-offs, including a length of 2x4 and a throw-away sacrificial fence. Two 3/8" carriage bolts (6" long) and matching wing-nuts are the only hardware used. In the photo, the long piece in the vise is the workpiece. You can see the sockets marked out on the upper edge. After ensuring that the router has a flat surface to ride on, and that the open end of the sockets faces the operator, careful handling of the router (I use a 1/4" spiral up-cut bit) all but competes the sockets. A little chiseling is needed to ensure crisp inside corners.

Cabinet scrapers are so-o-o-o "low tech"

Some tools are so simple they hardly seem worthy of the name "tool". Cabinet scrapers fall into that category. But make no mistake: these are serious tools -- and seriously useful ones. Mine are rectangular-shaped. I haven't had occasion to need the curved ones yet.

Used properly, cabinet scrapers make it possible to clean up a surface -- for example, to eliminate marks left by a plane -- with relatively little effort. They can also be used to erase the kind of minor scratches and dings that are inevitable as you handle wood during the building process. If your glue-up is fine, and you only need to remove some squeeze-out, then a scraper will do the job quickly and easily. Some people even use them to prepare a board for finishing, instead of sanding.

I recently glued up some boards to make the top of a small display cabinet. The glue-up had a slight crown. In the course of planing down the crown, I left fine ridges that needed to be removed -- not all that unusual, but a nuisance. I reached for my favorite scraper, used my thumbs to create the necessary "bow" shape that makes it possible for the scraper do its job, and within minutes I had removed all the ridges. I also had a flawless, smooth surface almost good enough to call "done". Incidentally, you may wonder what I meant when I referred to my favorite scraper. Scrapers vary in thickness. Really hefty ones are tough to use, so I prefer fairly thin ones (.8 mm, I believe) that can be bowed with only a moderate amount of thumb-pressure.

For users there are several nice things about scrapers. They are inexpensive and readily available. They require little practice to learn to use. They make no noise. They require no dust collectors. They are also easy to read -- you can feel immediately whether they're cutting properly or whether they are dull and need to be sharpened. Fortunately, they are also very easy to sharpen -- no special gadgets are required. Sharpening involves placing the scraper in a vise, flattening the cutting edge, then using a burnisher to create a burr. (There are several good videos on the topic on YouTube.)

For retailers, scrapers have several disadvantages. They are inexpensive and readily available. They require little practice to learn to use. Wait a minute! I just said that! Ah ha! maybe that's why so few people know about cabinet scrapers, and even fewer use them. The fact is, cabinet scrapers are rarely featured by retailers. Why not? A businessperson might talk about profit margins, demographics, and marketing strategies. A person with a suspicious turn of mind might say that our friendly tool hawkers prefer selling pricey tools over simple, less expensive ones. I don't know the reason, and I won't hazard a guess. But I do know that cabinet scrapers are one of woodworking's better-kept secrets. If you work wood, then take my word for it: with just a little patience and practice, you can learn to use this tool that is almost ridiculously simple, but does a slam-bang job!

Leather-topped Writing Desk

It's fascinating to see how a few small changes in the design of an object can transform it. This desk differs from others I've made, such as the one I posted last year. A careful look at each shows a few major but subtle differences. For example, the legs are thinner (I'm moving toward less massive legs). In addition, the desk profile is inverted: the latest desk has the profile below the writing surface.

The bowls and vase, none of which are lathe-turned, are Carole's work. They come from her first book for Fox-Chapel, called Wooden Bowls From the Scroll Saw. Her second book for this publisher is almost completed and should be out in a few months.

What you need . . . and what you want

I read an account recently of a man who visited his successful son's newly-built high-tech home. Gadgets and "conveniences" were everywhere -- and some of them actually made life easier. When the elderly gentleman returned home, a friend asked him what had impressed him most about his son's home. His answer was quick and to the point: "I was most impressed with the fact that my son is working so hard to accumulate things he doesn't need."

As I page through the blizzard of woodworking catalogues I receive regularly, I am increasingly impressed with how aggressive these marketers are in selling stuff that -- in my view, anyway -- isn't necessary. I realize, of course, that improvements in technology, safety, precision, and convenience are often significant. And I'm certainly eager to replace or supplement my existing tools and equipment with items that make my work more accurate, safer, or more convenient. The problem is, too many of the "innovations" being marketed simply don't do those things. In fact, a few I've made the mistake of trying actually made my work more difficult and complex, not less!

So I suppose the bottom line is: know what you need, and buy the best you can. But be skeptical about new gadgets that promise the world. Remember, woodworkers created beautiful products for centuries without the innovations so often touted nowadays. And finally: in our craft, you learn more by doing things by hand first, then by moving on to the "power" assist provided by modern technology.

Television Stand

Here's a recent project which was both technically challenging and wood intensive. It's solid cherry, finished with several coats of shellac rubbed out after a few weeks' drying time. The fact that it's hardwood meant I had to allow for seasonal changes in wood movement. The piece here is the main component of what will become a three-part entertainment center. The two additional pieces -- small shelf units with one adjustable shelf -- are in the early stages. They'll be used to display Carole's scroll saw creations: wooden bowls, vases, and boxes.