Understanding Wood Finishing with Bob Flexner
Saturday & Sunday
May 6 & 7
9am-5pm
Tuition: $225
Item# 991357
Make a Chess Gameboard & Box with Suzie Tindall
Friday, Saturday & Sunday
May 12, 13 & 14
9am-5pm
Tuition: $279
Item# 991389
Japanese Woodworking Tools and Traditions with Toshio Odate
Saturday & Sunday
May 20 & 21
9am-4pm
Tuition: $175
Item# 991395
Antique Restoration with Alan Noel
Saturday & Sunday
May 20 & 21
9am-5pm
Tuition: $250
Item# 991390
Download a printable version of our Spring Class Schedule
Painting Large Surfaces
When painting using only a brush, the first stroke of the loaded brush will deposit a fair amount of paint depending on how hard you press on the brush. Thus, the next pass will deposit less paint and the next less and so on, until the brush has to be loaded again. When painting a large surface in this manner, it is virtually impossible to apply an even coat across the entire surface.
Achieving a smooth and even coat of paint on a large surface such as a chest of drawers, kitchen cabinets, paneling or a project that you built can be very hard to do using the traditional paint brush and a bucket of paint. Whenever I paint large areas I tend to approach the project as if I were painting a wall, using tools such as a roller, paint tray and a couple of brushes used for cutting in the corners.
The way to achieve a smooth surface is to roll out the entire surface with a roller and then "dry brush" the surface again very gently with a dry brush. The brush will pick up a very small amount of paint and eliminate the pattern of the roller, leaving a very thin, even coat that when dry will appear as though the surface had been sprayed.
Painting tips:
Many have asked and now it's here - the Highland Woodworking Affiliate Program ! Give your visitors access to one of woodworking's most experienced and trusted retailers. Become an affiliate member of our woodworking team and earn sale commissions while establishing name recognition for your own site. It's as simple as posting a link on your site to refer customers to Highland Woodworking.
Learn more about the Highland Woodworking Affiliate Program
We have Oneway 2436 lathes in stock! Call us at (800) 241-6748 Ext. 321 for more information or to place an order.
The month of May will feature two very special events at Highland Hardware. Two exceptional woodworking educators, Bob Flexner and Toshio Odate, will be visiting us and conducting in-depth seminars. Mr. Flexner will cover wood finishing in the no nonsense style he has become famous for. In a two-day class,
Understanding Wood Finishing
(991357), he will provide valuable information that will demystify the often-confusing world of finishing. The class will be held on Saturday & Sunday, May 6 & 7 from 9am 5pm.
Another legend we are thrilled to host is Master Woodworker Toshio Odate. On Friday, May 19 from 7pm to 9pm we will present a
lecture and slide show
(991394) that will introduce us to Odate's successful career as a sculptor and art professor. On Saturday & Sunday, May 20 & 21 from 9am to 4pm Odate will conduct a demonstration seminar,
Japanese Woodworking Tools and Traditions
(991395). On Saturday (991385) he will cover the spectrum of Japanese tools for woodworking, especially focusing on recent developments in sharpening equipment and techniques in which he has participated. On Sunday Odate will construct a shoji, or Japanese screen, using Japanese hand tools and techniques, right down to the shop-made rice glue fastening the rice paper to the wooden frame! This will be an informative and busy weekend with a superb teacher who has done as much as anyone to make Japanese tools accessible and useful for a generation of American woodworkers.
See a detailed description and/or register for Bob Flexner's seminar on May 6 & 7,
Understanding Wood Finishing
(991357)
See a detailed description and/or register for Toshio's lecture/slideshow on May 19,
Toshio Odate, the Sculptor
(991394)
See a detailed description and/or register for Toshio's class on May 20 & 21,
Japanese Woodworking Tools and Traditions
(991395)
E-mail us at
woodnews@highlandhardware.com
with your woodworking or finishing questions. Selected questions will be answered in future issues. If your question is selected for publication, we'll send you a free Highland Hardware hat.
Question:
I have an old table saw and jointer that I inherited from my father. His father bought them in the 1950s and they still work great. However, the tools have developed some rust on the table surfaces. It's not deeply imbedded rust, but there's a significant amount of it on the tops. I'm not sure what the tables are made of, but they are a dark steel color and are not soft at all, so I suspect they are steel.
What is the best way to remove the rust from the surfaces without damaging the tops, and is there something I can apply to the surfaces to prevent further rust in the future?
Answer
Man With a Plan
By Terry Chapman
I am an engineer by trade - precise, organized, and I get things built according to the plans. I look at all the possibilities and gather all the necessary information, and then make the best choice of method and material in order to design it. I love eliminating the wrong answers and getting the correct answer down on paper. Its what I do its who I am, and I am good at it.
A few years ago, I was surprised to see a discussion of my profession in the
Ask Ann Landers
column in our local newspaper. The discussion concerned how difficult it is for spouses to live with engineers. Engineers see things in black and white - there is no gray and apparently that lack of gray is a major problem for many spouses. Plus we never get on juries. You see, it all stems from the way we are trained and the way we work. If two equally qualified people have the same set of facts, they will inevitably arrive at the same conclusion. Its simple. How could there be any other answer, except that one person may not have all the facts, or is simply not qualified.
In the past when I did woodworking, because of my engineering background I thought the way it was done was to make all the pieces to the dimensions on the plan and then just glue it together. Just the way all my projects are done at work, you know. Pretty simple stuff, just like any other problem. Only one right answer how could it be anything else?
A few years ago, I went to a seminar where the instructor was building a Windsor chair. He started out by carving the seat, and then he did the most amazing thing, a thing which changed my woodworking life forever.
More
The Bob Saye Method of Wiping On an Oil Finish
By Bob Saye
Do you want to achieve a finish youll be proud of on that piece that you worked hard to put together? Have you not used a lot of different finishing products? Would you like to produce such a finish without wearing your arm out sanding coats of polyurethane? Here is my method of attaining a very smooth finish without a lot of hard work, using basic oil-based products.
Those products include oil-based pigment stains, like
Minwax
and
Varathane
; oil-based finishes, such as
Waterlox
or
Watco
; and oil-based polyurethanes, including the regular form, the wiping varnishes, and spar varnishes. This process also works well for homemade oil finishes, like the ever-popular mixture of tung oil, mineral spirits, and polyurethane. If there is oil in it, you may like to try this method.
More
Highland Hardware was pleased to take part in this year's SkillsUSA High School Cabinetmaking Competition for the state of Georgia. The event, held on April 28th at Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville, GA, included approximately 15 students from the SkillsUSA state high school division.
SkillsUSA
is a national non-profit organization serving a partnership of high school and college students, teachers, and industry representatives working together to ensure America has a skilled work force. The students are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations and SkillsUSA works towards helping them excel in their chosen field.
This year's cabinetmaking competitors constructed a nightstand-style cabinet with a door and drawer from plans provided by Tony Suess, head instructor of the Carpentry and Residential Construction program at Gwinnett Technical College. Having only three hours to complete the project (and to take a 50 question written test), the students worked with great intention and focus, remaining solidly on task for the entire time. All the students showed remarkable skill and confidence using the stationary and hand-held power tools as they made the sawdust fly.
Highland Hardware assisted in judging the competition and donated prizes for all participants and awarded education vouchers for the top three winners (to attend woodworking classes at our facility). Kreg Tools graciously donated the prize of a
K3 Master Pocket Hole Jig System
for the top winner.
The three top finishers were:
Kreg Super Kit
$199.99
This impressive kit includes just about anything you could need for pocket hole joints. You get the Kreg K3 Master System, Kreg Bench Klamp, Kreg Right Angle Clamp, Kreg Trim Carpentry DVD, Kreg Cabinetmaking Booklet and an extra Kreg Drill bit.
Item# 124028
Kreg jigs simplify pocket hole screw joinery, even allowing you to assemble many projects without using bar clamps. Kreg Maxi-Loc Screws add great strength to the joint and serve as high-pressure clamps while your glue setsclamps which don't cost much, don't weigh much, and don't have to be removed when the glue is dry.
Fine Thread Maxi-Loc Screws are recommended for use in hardwood. Coarse Thread Maxi-Loc Screws are recommended for softwood and man-made sheet materials. Standard length used in 3/4" stock is 1-1/4"; 1" for thinner stock, 1-1/2" for thicker. All screws use #2 square drive bits.
Save 10% on all Kreg screws during May and June!
For anyone whose woodworking interests include furniture and particularly American Period furniture, there is currently an outstanding exhibition at the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia. The exhibition consists of works by 24 very fine craftsmen, all of whom are members of the sponsoring organization, the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. The 28 pieces on exhibition were chosen from the more than 250 entries which were submitted by its members for consideration by SAPFM and the Telfair Museum for inclusion in the exhibition.
The craftsmen whose works are displayed range from professional furniture makers with careers spanning over 50 years to a young North Carolina community college student who recently won the top five awards in the Association of Woodworkers and Furnishings Suppliers competition in Las Vegas for his John Townsend Newport block front desk and Newport corner chair; from retired senior business executives and other serious hobbyists to a fourth-generation furniture maker who heads the furniture shop at Colonial Williamsburg. Many of the craftsmens' works have been featured in
Fine Woodworking
and other national publications.
The quality of the work ranges from outstanding to unsurpassed, and the pieces represent a nice spectrum of Period American furniture and accessories. There is a marquetry cabinet which will leave even the most skilled of craftsmen simply shaking their heads in disbelief. The SAPFM indicates this is the first exhibition of its sort by an established American museum. This is a wonderful exhibition of 21st Century craftsmanship at the highest level and will continue through May 28, 2006.
For those who may be unfamiliar with Savannah, Georgia, it has one of the largest historic districts of any city in America. It is a great walking city with interesting things to do and see. There are very good restaurants as well as both reasonable and interesting places to stay.
Visit the Society of American Period Furniture Makers website
Visit the Telfair Museum of Art website
Thanks to Marion Smith of Atlanta, GA for notifying us of this wonderful opportunity to view the work of these talented craftsmen.
Individuals and non-profit organizations are welcome to submit free public service announcements that are of general interest to woodworkers, such as meeting dates, membership info, upcoming events, etc. E-mail us at
woodnews@highlandhardware.com