Popular Woodworking 2006-06 № 155, страница 12
Out on a Limb A New Column for New Woodworkers Most readers assume that we are awash in tools here at Popular Woodworking, but that's not quite right. In actuality, we are obscenely awash in tools. I just walked though our shop and counted 15 cordless drills scattered on the four active workbenches - and we're not even running a cordless drill test right now. You name it, we probably have one, or have seen one, or have worked with one recently. Though this might sound like heaven to you, we all worry sometimes that it colors our view of the craft. Because we have many specialized tools, we end up using them in the proj ects we build and showing them in our step photos and extolling their virtues. I think this is natural - a dedicated hollow-chisel mortiser is going to make mortises better and faster and easier than a drill press and a chi sel. But not everyone can afford a hollow-chisel mortiser, or even a table saw, power planer or a smoothing plane at first. Good tools are expensive, and it takes a while for the beginning woodworker to gather enough tools to actually build something of substance. Or does it? For the last year or so, we've been plotting a different kind of column for this magazine. We're calling it "I Can Do That" and its first installment is on page 26 of this issue. In every issue, this column will offer plans for a project that can be built with a small set of power and hand tools - stuff that a beginning woodworker likely has, such as a jigsaw, block plane, miter saw and hand drill. All of the materials for the projects will come right off the shelves of a home-center store. There will be no specialty lumber to find or oddball hardware to search for. We want the projects themselves to appeal to woodworkers of all skills, from the beginner to the seasoned craftsman. You're not going to see any chunky, cheesy 2 x 4 furniture (though you might see some nice stuff made using 2x4s, if you catch my drift). Nice furniture doesn't have to be difficult to build. And here's the last interesting wrinkle to the column - we're not going to print step photos of the construction process. I know this sounds insane for a column designed to appeal to the beginner. But here's the wrinkle: We're going to offer a free online manual in PDF format for this column that will show you how we perform each operation (ripping, cross-cutting, curve-cutting and so on) with a limited kit of tools. We'll update the "I Can Do That" manual (available at ICanDoThatExtras.com) as we add new techniques with each installment. Having an online manual will allow a beginner to dive into this column at any time, and it keeps us from cluttering our pages with photo after photo of the same basic operations in every issue of your magazine. We think you'll like this approach, and we have some ideas for how to make it even more interesting. I'm trying to talk Adam Cherubini, our "Arts & Mysteries" hand-tool purist, into producing a separate online manual that will show you how to build these projects armed only with hand tools. Let us know what you think. PW Christopher Schwarz Editor CONTRIBUTORS HARRELSON STANLEY Harrelson Stanley is many things including entrepreneur, Japanese tool expert, craftsman, teacher and video host. But most important, he is a fanatic about sharpening. The words "sharp enough" aren't in his vocabulary. A graduate of the North Bennett Street School and an apprentice in Japan for 11 years (studying traditional crafts), Harrelson now makes his living sharing his passion for sharpening and selling Japanese tools and waterstones (he brought Shapton stones to the United States). In this issue Harrelson shows a freehand sharpening technique he teaches at woodworking shows that he calls "side sharpening." It begins on page 62. SAM SHERRILL When a tree falls in the Cincinnati area, there's a fair chance that the phone will ring at Sam Sherrill's house. Since the 1990s, this economics professor and amateur woodworker has been harvesting thousands and thousands of board feet of lumber from downed urban trees. His efforts led to the publishing of a book, "Harvesting Urban Timber" (Linden), an appearance on "The New Yankee Workshop" and a web site that connects urban property owners with sawmill operators (harvestingurbantimber. com). And when he has a spare moment, he makes nice furniture. Read about his most unusual urban forestry project in our "Out of the Woodwork" column on page 96. Our Privacy Promise to You We make portions of our customer list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services we believe you may enjoy. If you do not want to receive offers and/or information, please let us know by contacting us at: List Manager, F+W Publications 4700 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236 10 Popular Woodworking June 2006 |
