Things have been a little busy in the Lingenfelter household lately.  I haven’t had any time to post and even less time to working the shop.  I have made some progress on the mini-bench.  I’m to the point where I have attached the face vise.  The hand wheels aren’t turning that smoothly, so I need to troubleshoot that problem.  Once that is fixed, I only need to drill a few dog holes and we will be cooking with gas!

Lately I’ve been doing some research on the Greene & Greene style.  I think there are a few projects I would like to do in this style.  In researching this topic I came across Darrell Peart, who is an amazing craftsman who builds in the Greene & Greene style.  You can find him over at www.furnituremaker.com.  I recently picked up his book and it is incredible.  I haven’t finished the book yet, but when I have I will post a little write-up on it.

While looking at Darrell’s web site, I saw he was teaching some classes over at The Port Townsend School of Woodworking, which isn’t too far me.  I tried to sign up for one of his 2-day classes, but it was filled up ☹.  I’m on a waiting list to see if I can get in.  The ironic thing is, Marc “The Wood Whisperer” just posted he’s taking a weeklong class from Darrell Peart, at William Ng’s School.  I can’t wait to hear about his experience with the class.

This weekend is looking good for some shop time.  I hope to be able to post some pictures of the mini-bench soon.

This is what goes through a woodworker’s mind when they spend a couple hours shoveling the driveway and walkway. My conclusion:  Bevel up of course and low angle seemed to work best ☺.

It was time to dig out of our driveway. My wife needed to go into work today, and 10+ inches of snow wasn’t going to help her get out of the garage. I on the other hand worked from home. Give me an Internet connection and I can do my job from the Moon.
The good news is, its warming up and things are melting. The bad news is, its warming up and things are melting! I just ran out to pick up a few things, and the roads are clearing up, but there are some real nasty ruts in some places and the parking lots are a mess. I hope the weather continues to improve. If so, I should be able to work in the shop soon. For now, I’ll just get caught up on some reading.

Ok, this isn’t woodworking related, but I thought I would give a plug for a new web site my sister has started.  She is an amazing cook and her treats are the best J.  Her business will be selling some of her best treats.  The cool thing about her business model is that you get to customize your treat.  She makes the most amazing marshmallows.  You get to pick from different flavours and toppings, to customize your treat.  She is also selling crispy treats and chocolate bark.  She will be expanding her selection, so look for more sweet treats to come.  Her web site is www.happydancetreats.com.

My personal favourite are the peppermint marshmallows with a chocolate drizzle, yummy.  For you Chili-Heads out there, she has come up will the most unique flavour of all.  She has several types of powered chillies and she put this in or on her different items!  On a marshmallow drizzled with some chocolate, it is the most amazing and unique flavour you will find.  I know you are thinking it’s crazing, but it really works and it’s tasty!

Give her web site a look, and try some sweets for the holidays.

I tend to try to remember things without writing them down. Just ask my wife when she gives me a list of things to pickup at the store. She’d always ask do you want to write that down. I’d always say, no it’s just 4 or 5 items I can remember that. Needless to say I always forget something. Now she just hands me her list.

This time it wasn’t remembering something it was doing math in my head, which is just as bad. Last weekend I started to work on the form for the bent laminate apron, for the small table I’m working. I knew what the finished radii were for the apron. I then had to compensate for the cork I was going to line the form with. I though it’s only a 1/8” I can do that math in my head. I don’t know what happened. Where I need to subtract a 1/8” I added and/or where I needed to add a 1/8” I subtracted. In any case, the measurements were off. Luckily this wasn’t a big deal, it was only a couple small pieces of MDF I had to through in the trashcan. I’m really glad I found my mistake before I got all the way through my glue-up!

What I learned from this? I failed on the Measure Twice part. Even though I was dead on in laying out the wrong measurements. I really need to write everything down. I think I’m saving time by doing stuff in my head. In reality, it has cost me time and money more than once. I think I have finally learned my lesson. I may even start to make grocery lists now .

My wife and I just got back from a trip to Montana. My wife’s parents have a house on Flathead Lake, and we try to go over there each summer. I love the Northwest and can’t imagine living anywhere else, but Montana would be a really close second for me. It was a little cloudy the few days we were there, so we didn’t get any good pictures this year. Here is a picture I took a year or two ago, from the porch their house. It’s really hard waking up this view each morning ☺.

We didn’t stay quite as long as we planned. Both of the parents caught a cold just before we arrived. We hung around for a couple days, but then decided to head home before we caught it. It was still a good trip despite being cut short. We still have a few days left on our vacation, so we will spend it at home. I hope to get some shop time after a few tasks that need to be done around the house.

I’m an amateur woodworker working out of my garage. I’ve only been woodworking for about 4 years, but have had an interest in woodworking for quite awhile. I’ve never had the space to do any real work, so I had to settle for watching woodworking shows and reading books and magazines. Not long ago my wife and I moved out of our apartment and bought a house. I made sure there was at least a small area where I could explore this craft.

My exposure to woodworking
I have always had an interest in woodworking. Even as a young child I was always doing something with wood. I had my first shop class in Junior High and couple classes in High School. I left school with all of my fingers, even though many of shop teachers were missing one or two. After finishing High School, there weren’t many opportunities for me to expand my woodworking skills. I did some work for our local community theater, building sets and props. I also got my sawdust fix volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. For the most part I was a spectator watching woodworking shows and reading magazines.

With the one exception of Roy Underhill (The Woodwright’s Shop), all of the woodworking shows on TV were power tool oriented. After years of watching these woodworking shows, I was quite the power tool guy. At the time I didn’t quite understand or appreciate what Mr. Underhill was try to teach us. Needless to say I became a power tool junkie and a Normite. The first tools I bought were the power tool junkie’s staple: table saw, jointer, planer, phmatic nail gun and assorted power hand tools.

Then things started to change. I came across David Marks (Wood Works) on the DIY channel. This show was different from most everything else on TV at the time, or even now. David was still a big user of power tools, but he also used hand planes, spoke shaves, card scrapers, and other tools not seen on a “normal” woodworking show. David did a show on woodworkers that influenced and mentored him. One of his mentors was James Krenov. The interview with Mr. Krenov sparked an interest in me. I wanted to find out more about this guy, that I had never heard of. After researching James Krenov, I was ashamed I did not know who he was before. I bought a couple of his books, and they changed the way I looked at woodworking. I don’t think I will ever have the vision James Krenov has when he looks at a piece of wood, but I have gained greater appreciation for this craft. I’m more thoughtful now when it comes to woodworking and what I want to achieve in my skills.

The next event that sent me further down the hand tools path was a Christmas present from one of my sisters. She gave me a couple DVDs by David Charlesworth and Rob Cosman. I’m not sure what really triggered it, but a spark was lit inside of me. I was amazed at what these guys were doing with hand planes and handsaws. All I can say, I wanted to learn and know more. I’ll talk more about these two gentlemen and others I have learned from, in future installments.

What kind of woodworker am I?
Am I: A Normite, a Neanderthal, a Galoot, a Roy Underhill disciple? I find myself in a unique position of having a little bit of everything in me. I have a very open mind, which as allowed me to experience a lot of what each has to offer. Although, you can’t go down the hand tool path and not realize there are things hand tools can do better than power tools. On the flipside there are things power tools can do that take considerable more effort with hand tools. You will find my postings will be focused on hand tools, but I haven’t and won’t condemn the use of power tools. Like myself I just ask that you keep an open mind.

I’m pretty new to woodworking. It’s my goal to journal my experiences in learning this craft. I’ll share my successes and failures. As the name of the blog implies, I want to learn as much as I can in this immense topic of woodworking.