AsaC

Hydroelectricguy--
Mark Schofield (who attended the 2nd session) and I did talk at length about whther FWW should do one of the projects at the conference as a project in the magazine, since all of the pieces were intriguing in their own way.
I can tell you that we decided not to do the stand-up desk. The equation when it comes to magazine articles is always, "How many people do we think will actually build this?" The trouble with this desk is that it is not terribly practical for modern life, so only a small percentage of readers will actually take it on.
We only do about 15 project articles a year in the magazine, so we have to choose them very carefully. That said we do find other ways to feature cool pieces like this one. Sometimes a nice piece doesn't merit a project article, but it might serve as the example piece for an article on a specific technique.
So stay tuned!

Thanks, all. Answers to a few of your questions:
Mark Schofield, our managing editor, attended the second session and will be blogging about the SAPFM (Society of American Period Furniture Makers) and the special awards to Steve Lash and Mickey Callahan.
Willimasburg doesn't do a DVD of the show footage. It is a great live show, but it is hard to turn 15 or 20 hours of rambling stuff into a good DVD presentation. From my own experience at Taunton, I know that you have to have a tight script for a successful production.

Thanks, Gina. I added a picture of Jefferson (Bill Barker) speaking at the banquet. To be honest, I expected it to be a little corny, but he was just the opposite. He was totally committed to the character, and masterful at it. I was inspired by his first-person stories about the early days of the democracy, how he went about researching and writing the Declaration, etc. He was a true renaissance man, like most of the founding fathers, with a powerful, independent mind.
And DanMart is right about the special treatment that Col. W'burg gives the attendees. Spending a bit of extra time down there really fills out the experience.

Happy New Year, all.
I've really enjoyed the responses and discussion so far. I agree with most of the posts, actually. Of course, Danish Modern had its own sources, as almost nothing happens in vacuum. Also, it certainly has never gone away. My own opinion is that it has faded a bit from the American public's attention, as well as the North American woodworker's. I can't really speak for European woodworkers, or others.
I guess I hope that that changes, that woodworkers rediscover it in the way I did recently, and take it to new places.
A few questions remain from my blog: When historians look back in another century or so, and try to identify a dominant furniture style for the 20th century, will it be Arts & Crafts? Danish Modern? Something else?
And will any identifiable style coalesce in the 21st century?

Here's what I got out of the Jacobsen quote: A little goes a long way, basically. We have to evaluate a lot of furniture at FWW, for the Readers Gallery, for projects, etc., and probably the most common problem pieces have is trying to do too much: too many types of wood, too much contrast, too many eye-grabbing details battling for attention, and so on. Jacobsen argues for artistic restraint, which is almost always a good thing, especially in the long run. The piece that shouts at you can become abrasive over time; just like simple elegance in lines, proportions, and details will grow on you.
--Asa

Great comments here. I'm especially flattered that a teacher of cabinetmaking in Copenhagen took the time to respond. I love that quote from Arne Jacobsen.
And I'll check out Al Navas's podcast and blog, right after Christmas. Right now, my wife and I are waiting for our youngest daughter to be sleeping soundly enough for us to put Santa's deliveries under the tree! Happy holidays, everyone.
--Asa Christiana

fshanno--
No problem using pocket screws to attch the top and shelf. Good idea.
--Asa

I'm so glad to seee that people are happy with this bench. Tell your friends about it. I think a lot of woodworkers struggle for years without a real bench.
A few notes on the suggestions. I think a thicker finish would be great, but like someone said, when the MDF top gets beat up, you can always make another. Maybe that's a good reason not to glue the two MDF layers together but just use the screws we showed.
The leveling feet seem like a good idea, but they might make the bench skitter across the floor when you handplane on it, for example. Maybe some kind of leveling feet with rubber on the bottom of them?
And don't worry about the bench racking sideways. No diagonal stabilizers are needed when you have those long bolts and nuts all tightened down. You could chuck that base off the roof of your garage and it would be fine. Wait, hold on, I can just see the YouTube video now.

Great comments here. I think Larry is right that I used the phrase "in the public domain" too loosely. I meant that the design and techniques are out there for everyone to see. The copyright and patent issues are complicated, though, when it comes to furniture design. My understanding is that there is a lot of grey area, and that cases can be hard to prove.

Safety is always foremost in our mind at FWW. But here's the point people are missing, and the reason we allowed that photo to run in the first place. The force needed to peen the corner of a miter-gauge bar is very slight, and two hammer faces are not going to shatter from light taps. So the safety police are right in theory (there are situations where one hardened face could splinter another) but wrong in this specific case. The context makes all the difference.
This reminds me a lot of the letters we get each time we run a photo of someone grinding on the side of the wheel. Grinding should be done with a light touch, and there just isn't any danger of the wheel exploding as some warn. Yet the letters pour in, saying, "I was always taught..."
I went to tech school for high school and worked in machine shops, and saw people use the side of the wheel regularly and safely, but with a light touch, of course. The edge of the wheel is where you should do most of your grinding, but there are times when the flat side comes in handy.

I thought the same thing, Sleepydad, but it is the same cutterhead Steel City puts in their planers, and I saw some of the cuts it made at the show. Extremely clean and smooth. I should have mentioned that in my blog. Also, each cutter goes on its own ring, and the rings can be removed if the seat that holds the cutter gets damaged. That's impossible on other cutterheads.

Thanks, everyone. The tools on the list were just a few suggestions, all being relatively popular tools we haven't reviewed in a long while. I'm glad folks are using the comment feature to let us know what we missed. That was the plan.
As you can see, people's needs are quite varied. That is one of the challenges of putting together a general-interest woodworking magazine ("fine" or not). But I've seen a few things mentioned over and over, from used tools to sharpening stones to hand tools. Your comments will definitely factor into our decision-making. By the way, we are already working on an article that teaches people where to find used machinery, and what to look for to make sure you don't get a lemon or get in over your head with rehabbing.
Keep the good comments coming.
--Asa Christiana, editor

Sorry for the late credit, Andy. I fixed the caption. I'll be doing more blogs on the conference, so stay tuned.

I'm glad this touched some people. Sam's life touched so many people. Greg, I added some photos to this blog. To see the best photos I shot during my two days, check out the article that resulted from that trip: http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignPDF.aspx?id=24704
--Asa

Thanks, everybody. The response has been overwhelming. There are lots of good ideas and questions here. The upshot seems to be: how to get a small shop to work. Stay tuned. We may well be contacting some of you for your tips.
By the way, I'm always grateful, and a littled awed, when people come out of the woodwork (so to speak) to offer comments and info and a piece of their lives. We put projects and techniques out there--like the workbench in the Getting Started in Woodworking video series--and then sit back and hope people will find them and try them. I can't tell you how rewarding it is when they do (see the post from "Blackwill").
--Asa

Wow, Daniel. It was a joy to see your post and the pics of your daughter. It's just what I had hoped when I posted the project. It's funny how something as simple as drilling can be a treat for a kid. I thought it would be boring (so to speak), but I'm jaded. I had forgotten how cool it is to see the tool cutting for the first time, and how you can feel the cutting action as you pull down on the handle, etc. I'll share this with Mike (or art director), who did the plan, and has a daughter of his own, about the same age as mine and yours.
You made my day (and your wife's).
--Asa

Good comments about safety. I've had a couple of e-mails, too. For starters, this is my daughter, so you can be sure I considered her safety.
I'll take the questions one at a time:
1. Blade exposure. My opinion is that this is not a big safety issue. I lower the guides when blade flex is a particular problem, which wasn't the case here. The safety issue is a tradeoff, to me. Lower guides might keep fingers away from the blade, but they also obscure the sightline, making it hard to see the blade at all, maybe tempting fingers closer than an exposed blade would.
2. Long sleeves. Good general safety rule. In retrospect, I should have had her roll them up. But again, in this case, I just didn't see the hazard. Her fingers would be in danger long before her sleeves got close to the blade.
3. Earmuffs. Seriously? On a 14-in. bandsaw cutting cedar. No.
4. Safety glasses. She does have glasses on, which will stop the stray particle from hitting the eye. But again, consider the context. I hear the same thing about drill presses. Those tools just don't throw material faceward, and not rapidly either, in my experience. Normal glasses are fine for these tools, at least for me. The safety police will say that a particle can hit the cheek and glance upward into the eye. I've never had that happen on a bandsaw or drill press. That's just not what they do.

Remember that my safety approach does not have to be yours. But also remember that some safety rules were made for worst-case industrial situations, with unskilled, fatigued, distracted workers working all day poorly set-up machines, without close supervision.

Good points, all. I'll keep all of this in mind.
I knew I'd take some safety flack when I posted this. Let me add a few caveats. I'm not recommending this for everyone--just saying it works for me. People have to make their own safety decisions. If you are nervous about this, or if you think you might forget to take the gloves off at a critical time, then just wear them when you go to the lumberyard. They'll make it easier to unstack and restack those piles, and the yard guys will love you for it.
As I said, I take them off when there is any chance my hands might come close to a spinning blade or bit. Also, these are close-fitting gloves. That's important.
In some cases, believe it or not, I think I can control the stock better when wearing these, with less of a chance that my hands will slip. On the other hand, I make sure I never have dangling sleeves or jewelry.
All that said, woodworking is inherently dangerous. So take your time, err on the side of safety, and never work when you are tired, distracted, etc.
--Asa

Thanks for the kind words, Rob. It was your article that inspired me to try Japanese paper. It was just as easy as you said it would be, in fact easier, for two reasons:
1. The glue bottle (sold by the paper supplier) had a cool applicator tip that worked better than a small brush for me.
2. The plastic wrapper on the paper roll had some instructions on it. They were in Japanese of course, but there were little pictograms that made it all pretty clear. I followed their suggestion and just applied the glue, clamped down one end of the roll, and just rolled it across the whole screen. Done. No cutting needed until afterward,when everything was dry, when it was very easy to trim with a razor and straightedge.
Next time, I'll try the cool marquetry technique you showed!
Thanks.
--Asa

It is easy to find flaws in any group of 60 pieces, and the Kerrville show is no different. But I'd rather talk about what is right about handmade pieces. After all, someone had a picture of something beautiful in their mind's eye, took a pile of rough lumber, and made it happen. And if they made it 90 percent of the way, that is something to celebrate. Also, remember that with a show like this, people are usually rushing to make the deadline. And finishes are usually what suffers. So I always cut people some slack on that. I saw one beautiful inlaid table that had lengthwise ripples sanded into its surface, telltale marks from a poorly set up wide-belt sander. I had a chance to meet the table's maker, and sure enough, he said he had been rushing to get the table to the show, and put it through the big industrial sander to try to quickly get the marquetry level and ready for finish.

BStev is right. There weren't enough of the best contemporary makers. The more recent choices were the weakest of all. I hope Taunton will do a book like this and get it right.