Black walnut and white oak chest.

Here's an example of high quality craftmanship.This Black walnut and white oak chest has: Black walnut Inlaid dovetail joints. Black walnut handles are steam bent. Black walnut hinges for lid and handles have ram horn carving. Black walnut tray with white oak spline joints. Handcarved claw feet made out of black walnut wood. All the wood was grown in Jerome Idaho. Fourteen inches long. Eight inches wide. Eight inches deep.

Larry makes money from his woodwork. Using the net to prompt your business and products is a great way to find customers and sell your product.  Take a look at Larry's Site. Larry's Woodworking - Black Walnut & White Oak Tables and Chests there is a selection of wooden pieces of art that will add style and elegance to any home. 

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Master craftsman, Jim Degan, of the Brookfield Craft Center, demonstrates basic wood turning techniques and shows off some of his beautiful handy work. Don't you just love the feel of turning wood, the crisp firm buzz as the tool touches wood. The smell of the wood dust and flutter of falling chips. Just magic.

After watching this video I raced down to the bottom shed and retrieved some blanks that my grandfather in law had turned. I'd forgotten they where there and now I'm all excited about giving them a spin. Just as Jim mentioned they all still had wax cover. The old method has preserved them pretty well. One or two had split but out of the dozens in the shed I should find a few gems to finish. Thirty years in the making, lets hope they spin up OK .

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A glimpse into the process of making olive wood products in a small shop just out side of Bethlehem. I'm just amazed that this craftsman still has all his fingers.

Just amazing 

Where is that OHS officer when you need him. No eye/face protection, no guards, no dust collection, no emergency stop, no spectator control. Certainly looks like someone has been watching out for him. Its hard to imaging that you could sit there all day and not make a mistake. Still I've counted his fingers and I believe he has all ten.

Safety issues aside it is a simple business using simple woodworking tools. Similar to a craft business my wife used to run. She made wooden fish. Yes, Wooden Fish. It was quite successful till her life situation changed and she couldn't spend enough time on them any more. Children have that effect on mothers 

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Gates can sag for two reasons: Either the hanging post is loose or not strained properly or the gate itself is sagging out of alignment. Both are easy to fix.

To re align the gate is simple as long as the hanging post is sturdy. Just jack the sagging end of the gate up with a lever or jack until it is square again and then place a choc of wood (support block) under the sagging end to hold it in place. Now either attach a diagonal brace to the gate from the bottom of gate at the post to the top of the gate diagonally opposite. If a diagonal already exists then re secure or replace it altogether.

Now drill two hole in the gate in the opposite corners and fit two coach bolts. Purchase a turn buckle and braces to attach to the coach bolts and cut braces to length then simply adjust turn buckle till gate lifts just free of choc. The gate is now realigned. Re attach any loose palings or pickets to the rails of the gate with galvanised screws or nails and you are done.

Picture from Readers Digest (Australia) ,"Home Improvement Handy Man Hints"  page 279  "Realign a sagging gate", 2003

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Galavized joist screw

I usually use three rails on the fences I build.  One about  8"of the ground one 8" from the top of the fence and one in the middle. Of course if the fence is very low then just a top and bottom rail are required. To add extra strength to the fence cut the rail lengths so they span three posts and stagger the joins. Staggering the joins reduces the chances of the fence bending on a post with two or more joins.

Earlier on I would use 4" nails to attach the rails to the post but now I use galvanized joist screws. These little babies are fast and very strong. However they chew through battery power using a cordless drill. Its far better to use a powered screw driver.

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Great news, we have a new beach house in the family.

My mother in law has just purchased a lovely beach house (shack) about an hours drive away. The family and I have been spending many days there over the past month. The place needs some work and my mother in law knows how to rally her family around when work needs to be done.

There's are renovations to be made and some painting and maintenance to be done.  There are plans for a new deck and an outside laundry. So expect to see a project or two from the beach house appearing here. 

The down side is that I have been neglecting this site a little or the past month and must now make some effort to catch up. The team and I have been working hard on new content for this months upload and I'm sure the members of the site wil get plenty of value from these. We have an interview with Jed and another with Ross in the pipeline and a few new books to include. 

The list of plans and patterns has increased for Bronze and above members and there are now several more PDF plans in the Silver section of the site. We are looking at some exciting software to help calculate timber requirements for your next job, so look out for that in the Gold members area. For the Platinum members expect to see the audio version of "Woodworking as a business: Turning your Passion to Profit".  With the audio you will be able to listen to all the chapters over and over again while you work, drive or sleep. Most people know that the real secret to learning is hearing or reading the same thing up to seven times before it really sinks in. So being able to listen to the audio when ever you like or while you are doing something else will certainly be an advantage.

OK it will all be available at the end of the month right here in the members section. Till then continue to enjoy the great material already available in the members section of the site.

Talk soon

Derryck 

P.S the forum is also being changed this month to a new improved one (one that works :-)  

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