Stay ConnectedHowdy! I’m Erik Pearson and welcome to The Novice Garage Woodworker, the online woodworking how-to source for novice woodworkers, by novice woodworkers.
The Novice Garage Woodworker will be about my journey from Beginner to Craftsman. It’ll be a great trip, and I’m glad you’re along for the ride.
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On behalf of all of us at The Novice Garage Woodworker, I want to extend our sincere thanks to all of our loyal viewers / listeners / readers. Because of you our reach has expanded farther than we could have ever imagined. Most of our audience is in the United States, but in the last 2 weeks we've seen visitors from the countries listed in the sidebar, in no particular order.
So, THANK YOU! Please let me know any ideas or suggestions you'd like see from the show, and we'll do our best to incorporate them. Until next time, let's be careful out there!
Recently uncovered from the vault here at The Novice Garage Woodworker is the original Episode 2 video. Thankfully Geraldo Rivera was not on hand to help us with the unveiling! Listen to this short audio introduction, then enjoy the video.
It's been almost a year since my last post, and a lot happened during that time. Hopefully this episode will clear up a few things, but please let me know if you have any questions.
All that said, I am going to continue thIs podcast, and I'm working on a few things right now, so please stay tuned. Thanks for listening.
Loyal Novice Garage Woodworker fans: Thank you for your patience and persistence over the last few months during my absence. Several of you have written in to ask "What Happened?" and rest assured I will explain what happened in my forthcoming audio podcast.
A lot has changed in the on-line woodworking world since I dropped off, and I hope you have discovered all the latest and greatest resources out there. I encourage you to continue to check them out.
Now, get out there and build something! I'll be back with you soon.
My Fundamentals class at Red Rocks has been going great for the last several weeks. In this episode I do a quick recap of the last 3 classes and highlight a fun session we had with hand planes. I also discuss the challenges I'm facing as I try to design my semester project, an original table that I design and build. I mention a few of my design influences outside of woodworking: Steve McQueen and his Ferrari and the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle.
Some newly discovered woodworking influences have gotten my creative juices flowing: The Red and Blue Chair, the Noguchi coffeetable, the work of George Nakashima, Tage Frid his three-legged stool, and perhaps my biggest immediate design influence, the rocking chairs of Sam Maloof.
I've also posted a Flickr photo gallery with photos of the shop at Red Rocks, as well as some links to the web pages from several Red Rocks Fine Woodworking instructors. And, I hope you'll take the survey to the left as to which hand plane I should get as my next tool purchase.
Thanks for listening!
I have 2 major announcements at The Novice Garage Woodworker.
First, I'm going back to college. I've enrolled in the Fine Woodworking program at Red Rocks Community College here in Denver for the Fall semester. I'll be going back to the basics of woodworking in the Fundamentals of Woodworking class.
Second, because of my increased work schedule and now my school schedule, I will be switching the format of the show to more of an audio format. I still plan to do videos occasionally, but I think I can produce the show better and faster through an audio format.
Enjoy Episode 2, and thanks for listening!
Traditionally, table tops and fences for heavy duty woodworking machinery have been made from cast iron. But at the AWFS show in Las Vegas this week, Steel City Toolworks announced they will be shipping some of their tablesaws, bandsaws and jointers with granite tops and fences (in the case of the jointer). Popular Woodworking first broke the story, you can read it for yourself here.
Also, check out what other woodworkers are saying about it on the Knots Discussion Forum over at Fine Woodworking. Here's the FWW editor's blog discussion of the granite tops in their AWFS coverage. Scroll down to the entry for 18 July.
I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, but I'm extremely impressed by the entire Steel City line. I think they are offering well-built, thoughtfully-engineered machines that offer a lot of features not normally found standard on other tool makes, for example, built-in roller stands on the cabinet table saws. Their prices are very competitive and their customer service is highly rated by the folks on the discussion forums. When it comes time to add some new tools to The Novice Garage Woodworker's shop, Steel City tools will be at the top of the list.
What do you think about all this? Please post your comments or send an email to garagewoodworker@gmail.com.
If you are looking for a project to build this summer, why not enter the Lumberjocks.com Summer Woodworking contest? The contest runs July 1 through July 31, and there are 2 categories: Garden Projects and Wood Joinery. The Joinery category sounds especially fun: build something held together with no glue, no screws, no nails, just good old-fashioned wood joinery techniques. In the Garden Projects category, you could build something to spruce up your favorite outdoor area. For us Novice woodworkers, this is a great opportunity to team up with someone more experienced and learn a few things.
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