franco88

.....with all these tools, I should be able to figure out a way to get this hole out of this board...

The idea of improvement is always on my mind even though I have been working wood most of my life. I still find lots and lots of room for improvement. My education is so far incomplete - adequate, but incomplete. I would not mind, in the least, adding the wisdom of this book to my knowledge base.

i guess that if you want to ask "How does one use such a thing?" then everybody will think-" you're not an artist, are ya son!"
For my part, I would say that "out of bounds" is where most of the interesting games are played and that, making it up as you go is a sure way to have an interesting journey. There's a lot of fun to be had along the way, especially when you reach a destination that you knew nothing of to begin with but are thoroughly delighted with when you arrive.

The table is 14 years old now and no movement so far... of course the owner takes very good care of it.
I'll see if I can post a photo of the center and other details.
Thanks for the feedback.

I haven't won anything tangible lately! The book would be a nice start....
I have visited the homes of Frank Lloyd Wright but the work there was carried out by students and faculty so the workmanship is lacking. Visual learning is the most permanent kind. Seeing is believing...or something like it.

Thanks Hank for sharing your experience. We understand that where we are and what we find interesting are forces that prompt us to do our work in a particular way. It is hard to see those forces looking forward at them but easy looking back.
I appreciate you perspective, it helps me with mine.

Here are my milestones. The access to and love of using:
1. 10" tablesaw
2. 36" wood lathe with a 12" swing
3. Good quality hand planes
4. a cabinet scraper and a hand scraper
5. my own workbench with my own wooden screw vises
6. my mind and heart to bite off big bites of work
7. what I had learned about using and applying clear finish

I started as a painter and thus learned the last thing first. I easily learned refinement later. The tablesaw made cabinet work achievable. The wood lathe is a fascinating tool and holds my attention to this day. Thanks to Richard Raffan for his books on design and technique. Hand planes marked the real turning point though. Beyond the hand plane, the humble scraper teaches that much can be accomplished with a very simple tool. At that point my own bench, designed and built after reading Scott Landis' book on workbenches, revealed how much I really needed one.
I then set out with a foundation of basic skills and tools to bite off big bites and find ways to chew them.
I often think of the artists of Bali who make exquisite masks for their opera with only a small blade of steel to carve and scrape them and grass brushes to paint them. This reminds me that it is not the tools, but the mind and hands that count for the most in craftsmanship. But to all the tool manufacturers out there - thanks to for the great tools, they certainly help.

Since I just heard about this today. I am going to need a time machine to go back and send in my request for a winners list. No matter how quickly I send it in it will not get there by Jan. 5, 2010.....
Your confused reader.

Pens seem to get the most ooohs for the effort, although they aren't the most appropriate gift for everybody. In my experience men tend to appreciate the pens most, while the women tend to like lidded boxes or bowls. I like the look of the yellow pine bowl on the table there. I have turned a lot of bowls from similar wood. That wood family with its "stripey" appearance it is a striking accent for any table.

For anything creative to emerge from the mind, something imaginative must precede it. Beautiful books feed my imagination. They are tangible.

Similarly, woodworking is made meaningful to me almost entirely because of its three dimensional nature. Holding in the hand or looking directly at an object, while in the process of creation, is to exercise the power of the creator. Meaningful work indeed.

Woodworking as an occupation is clearly not for everyone, but I believe everyone benefits from the exposure to problem solving and personal interaction with physical objects like wood. Taking raw materials and converting them to something useful is a satisfying experience that many people miss. I believe that anyone can, and should, have this experience; and it's all the better if the useful object is beautiful.
I feel that as a very experienced woodworker, I bear some responsibility to share as least some of my hard-won experience and the "joy of making" with those coming along in the craft. Teaching is just avocation for me but I hope to make it a way of life. Woodworking in a classroom/shop setting allows the student to have something besides a letter-grade. And as a wise artist told me,"it's therapy really, a remaking of the world that helps you see that you can be better too."

The current trend toward handcraft education is a good sign that this country is not headed for the dumper as quickly as some suggest.

I have been making storage drawers/bins out of empty lacquer thinner cans for years and have filled them up with all the small additional stuff one keeps for occasional use. They make it relative easy to find forgotten stuff and they already have handles on them. So make a bookcase and load it with these handy drawers!
Since the one gallon can is rectangular I cut the broad side down the centerline and free from the top and bottom and fold it in (leaving the rounded portion of the corner alone to act as a structural stiffener for the sides).