The Renaissance Woodworker » Podcasts

RWW 83 Hand Tool Tip #2 Squaring End Grain

Shannon — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:14:02 +0000

It’s time for another hand tool tip. You have crosscut that board and now you notice it isn’t square or parallel to the opposite end. Yes you can use a shooting board to fix it, but this gets hard with larger boards. A shooting board is really just a jig that makes a fundamental skill easier. Isn’t it best to learn that fundamental before relying too much on the jig? Let’s show you how to do it the real way without the “crutch”

Click To Play

RWW Podcast Episode 82: Roubo Workbench Lower Shelf

Shannon — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:54:13 +0000

I have completed all the functional aspects of my workbench and it has already greatly improved the quality of my woodworking. Now it is time to turn my attention to some of the creature comforts. I find myself crossing back and forth across my shop to get a bench hook or a shooting board and I need to put in a shelf to store all of these accessories.

This episode came out longer than I had planned as I really try to keep them under 30 minutes. However, I find that oftentimes woodworking shows can be frustrating by telling you how to do something without actually showing it so I decided to keep in all of my footage of cutting the tongue and groove joints by hand. So I apologize for the 200+ MB download (even after compression) but I hope you will enjoy the show.

Click To Play

RWW Episode 81, Hand Tool Tips # 1

Shannon — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:47:34 +0000

I am introducing a new segment this week called Hand Tool Tips. I capture a lot of footage when I’m working in my shop. A lot of it really isn’t relevant to an ongoing topic or a specific project so it just gets filed away under miscellaneous tips. Hence the birth of Hand Tool Tips. In each episode I will highlight a specific process or technique using only hand tools.

In this episode I demonstrate how you can add a bevel to the long edge of a board using only your hand planes. Doing this same task on a table saw can be dangerous if you’re not very careful and often results in unsightly burning no matter how sharp your blade. Those burns have to be cleaned up with sandpaper or a plane anyway so why not skip the table saw altogether. You might even get it done faster!

I’ll do my best to get out another episode of Hand Tool Tips soon and they may be great filler in between projects (or when I can’t get the video edited in time on an existing project). Please let me know what you think of these short format shows and please let me know if you would like to see a specific topic covered.

Click To Play

RWW # 79 Contemporary Chest of Drawers Finale

Shannon — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:50:46 +0000

This week I wrap up my chest of drawers project by fitting the drawers, adding drawer stop blocks, installing hardware, and applying the finish. Then I severely screw it up and apply the finish again.

I hope you enjoy it!

Click To Play

RWW # 78 Contemporary Chest of Drawers Part 2 Dovetailin’

Shannon — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:15:10 +0000

I know there are a lot of sources on how to cut your dovetails by hand, but I figured I would try to add my own to the mix. It seems as if we can’t get enough dovetails tutorials. I know when I was learning I looked at everything so here is another source from a relatively new dovetailer.

This week I add the dust frame and back panel to the chest carcase and then move on to dovetailing all 5 drawers. I hope you enjoy this episode and don’t hesitate to hit me with questions or suggestions on how I can improve.

Click To Play

RWW 77 A Contemporary Chest of Drawers, Part 1

Shannon — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:55:05 +0000

This was a piece that was commissioned at the end of summer and fortunately I caught most of the build on film. Granted it is all my old camera so the quality is a little lower than what you have been seeing as of late. I skipped most of the initial milling stages since we have talked about that previously and pick up just before the glue up of the carcase.

Not sure how many parts this build will work out to but enjoy.

Click To Play

RWW 76 A Little Christmas Turning

Shannon — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:17:53 +0000

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Renaissance Woodworker. As with every year, I was hard at work at my lathe turning out all the little gifts for friends, family, and clients. I haven’t done a turning episode in a while so I thought I would bring you all into my shop and turn some handles. This ice cream scoop came from Craft Supplies and so did the pizza cutter that I show.

Click To Play

Thank you all for watching all year and I look forward to 2010. I hope everyone can get their share of quality shop time this holiday and see you all next year!

RWW 70 The Roubo Returns

Shannon — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:39:51 +0000

Welcome back to the show. I appreciate everyone’s patience while I took a few weeks off. My new job is going great but it has kept me very very busy. Add to that helping my wife at her school and attending all of the fall musicals and recitals that go with being the husband of a music teacher and I have not been in my shop much. What’s more is that I have hours of footage from my shop and from WIA that needs to still be edited into shows. Regardless, I think I have my wits about me again and I wanted to take a little break from the WIA coverage to show you some Roubo footage. I have been hard at work when I can get the time between other projects getting this beast completed. For all intents and purposes the bench is done. I still have to complete the sliding leg vise, but everything else is done. So this week let me show you how I finally completed the top by adding the front laminate and dovetailing it into the end cap.

Click To Play

RWW 69: WIA Western Sawing with Ron Herman

Shannon — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:08:09 +0000

If you think you have a lot of saws then think again. Ron Herman probably has more saws than anyone alive. What’s amazing is he uses everyone of them and uses them well.

Enjoy this episode full of gratuitous vintage saw footage.

Click To Play

RWW 68: WIA Stringing & Inlay with Chuck Bender

Shannon — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:37:29 +0000

Another great seminar at WIA this time centered around traditional inlay techniques with Chuck Bender.

Make sure you check out Chuck’s blog for complete instructions on how to make your own set of Bender inlay tools.

Finally, a few points on Sulfur inlay that I forgot to mention in the podcast. When cutting the recess for the Sulfur, you should undercut and create a kind of dovetail effect to lock in the material. Once the Sulfur is cool and scraped clean, it should be painted with Shellac to seal it in and protect the color before applying your finish of choice.

Click To Play

RWW 67: WIA Cherubini’s Joinery Planes

Shannon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:57:58 +0000

Adam Cherubini gave an entertaining presentation on the typical joinery planes found the the 18th century Joiners tool chest. Here are a few clips from that presentation and a bonus look at Adam cutting dovetails in the hand tool olympics.

Click To Play

RWW 66 WIA Boring Cat Fight

Shannon — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:22:13 +0000

Here it is for your viewing pleasure, Heather Griffin, Megan Fitzpatrick, and our very own blogging heroine Kari Hultman step up to the plate to bore us all.

Click To Play

RWW 64 Lathe Season is Coming

Shannon — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:03:54 +0000

This is just a short episode to fill in the space before the next WIA conference. I didn’t want to start a new project series with WIA coming this weekend and my coverage to follow after that. In this episode I mention my plans for upcoming episodes at the lathe and 2 more project series: finishing the Roubo, and a chest of drawers.

Stay tuned to the blog for real time video and audio updates coming to you from Valley Forge and the Woodworking in America Hand Tools and Techniques conference. I will be posting full episodes with my editorial take on each seminar I attended as well as audioboo updates (you can subscribe via iTunes here for those) that will be posted here on the site as well as broadcast out via Twitter.

In addition I will try to capture some video from my iPhone that will be uploaded to YouTube and you will be able to view those clips through the YouTube widget on the home page. New posted will also be announced on Twitter so if you are not following @renaissanceWW then maybe you should

Click To Play

RWW 63 WIA Oscar Fitzgerald and 20th Century Furniture

Shannon — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:02:48 +0000

This is my last post on the WIA design conference that took place in August. Just in time to head off to Valley Forge, PA for the WIA Hand Tools and Techniques conference.

Oscar Fitzgerald took us on a whirlwind tour of the 20th century and covered everything from Art Nouveau to Art Deco, Pop Art, and Post Modernism. So many names and so many crazy designs. There is no way any furniture lover didn’t get something exciting out of this presentation. I hope you enjoy this show in the new enhanced podcast format.

Click To Play

RWW 62: WIA Jeffrey Greene Anatomy of a Masterpiece

Shannon — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:24:43 +0000

I really enjoyed this seminar as it was a look into what drove the “golden era” of furniture styles. With so many styles coming an going in such a short period it is hard to keep up but Jeffrey Greene broke down the defining elements of each style and related it back to political and social events that drove those changes.

Make sure to check out Jeffrey Greene’s site for some great examples of Newport style furniture.

Click To Play

RWW 61: WIA George Walker Seminar

Shannon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:03:40 +0000

In this episode I run down the basics of George Walker’s Unlocking the Secrets of Traditional Design seminar.

Click To Play

George taught us about the basics of design and observation of architecture to gain inspiration for our own furniture. He showed up that basic shapes make up most of our designs and allow for symmetry in proportions and major and minor contrasts as well as punctuated elements.

He also told us that man made architecture can only get us so far and nature is our ultimate source of ideas…

Take a look at this quick video from the seminar where George takes apart a windows into it’s simple shape elements. I apologize for the beginning as I could not get my camera to focus at all. Hang tight it will come into focus in a second.

And here is another clip where we get to see what bad proportions look like on a house compare to good proportions.

RWW 60: WIA Measure Twice, Measure Not At All

Shannon — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:25:47 +0000

Here is another seminar from the WIA design conference. Jim “Table Saw Magic” Tolpin talks about how he hung up his power cords and does his work unplugged now. A really interesting talk about the industrial vs. artisan approach to woodworking and design. Jim followed it up with a talk around taking dimensions from the human body to build furniture.

Click To Play

RWW 59: WIA Composing with Wood Grain

Shannon — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:46:32 +0000

This was Brian Bogg’s seminar at the WIA design conference. Brian was full of great ideas and it was inspiring and humbling to watch the master chairmaker.

Click To Play

RWW 58 WIA Casework & Construction

Shannon — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:24:50 +0000

In this episode I regale you all with my thoughts and recap of Jeff Headley and Steve Hamilton’s American Furniture: Casework and Construction seminar from WIA last month.

Click To Play

Here you can see Jeff and Steve hard at work trying to figure out how to assemble the Chippendale case

This is the half dovetail joint they passed around that was typical for attaching the drawer blades to the front of the case.

Here is a shot of the Chippendale Chest after the seminar with 2 of the drawers removed

And here is a Baltimore card table

In the Q&A session in the marketplace later, you were able to get up close and personal with the pieces and really see how they went together. This was a blast.

Finally I took a quick video of the process for fluting the quarter columns on the Chippendale chest using a scratch stock.

RWW 57: WIA Greene & Greene

Shannon — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:29:35 +0000

By far my favorite seminar at the WIA Design conference in St Charles. Jim Ipekjian has hands on experience working with the original masterworks of the Greenes and the Halls. Enjoy this slide show type presentation!

Click To Play

A big thanks goes out to the Popular Woodworking folks for putting on this show and sponsoring my trip. I hope to see many of you in Valley Forge for the Hand tools and Techniques conference. If the presenters are even half as good (and I know they are) as the ones for the St. Charles show then everyone is in for a treat. Beside, remember all the praising of Chuck Bender I did in previous episodes? Chuck will be there teaching us about inlay and stringing!

RWW 56: WIA Robert Lang, Arts and Crafts and SketchUp

Shannon — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:36:23 +0000

Bob Lang was particularly busy seeing as he was the only presenter who had two different seminars running at WIA, that along with playing “host” as a staff member from Popular Woodworking it was amazing he was still walking about by the end of the weekend.

Click To Play

Bob’s Arts & Crafts seminar was a historical who’s who of the style. Here are some of the names I threw out in the podcast along with some great sites that speak about the influences and social movement ideas

English Arts & Crafts: father of the movement are John Ruskin and William Morris

lesser known in the Urban style

CFA Voysey

CR Ashbee

Mackay Hugh Baillie-Scott

In the rural “Cotswold” style

Ernest Gimson make sure to check otu the virtual museum for some great pics as well as the craftsman videos.

Sidney and Edward Barnsley I had more trouble finding information on Barnsley but I found this interesting book review

Then we cross the pond and look at the somewhat simpler, less elaborate American Arts & Crafts movement.

Take a journey into the Craftsman to learn about the social aspects of the movement

Check out Gus’s work prior to studying in England. Very Art Nouveau and French inspired

Now take a look at his work after getting inspired by William Morris and catching the Arts & Crafts bug. Also think about the Tabouret tables of his later career and compare it to the early table above.

Visit antiquehelper.com

You can see the simpler lines and less ornamentation that is typical of American Arts & Crafts furniture. Harvey Ellis is credited with adding curves to Stickley’s work but I urge you to check out the Craftsman because the large number of Ellis’ illustrations adorn the pages.

Also check out Bob Lang’s site for more info on Arts & Crafts and to keep tabs on the release of his upcoming Sketchup DVD/Book

RWW 55: WIA Shaker Seminar

Shannon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:27:21 +0000

My first seminar was on Shaker furniture hosted by Jerry Grant. It was a great 90 minutes and Jerry is a walking encyclopedia of Shaker history and style. Enjoy the show.

Click To Play

Here is the counter that I mentioned in the audio. This is the piece that Jerry manipulated in Photoshop to try and apply traditional design principles to only to have it come out looking worse than the original.

And here is a clearer shot taken from the web:

This bench although horribly out of focus illustrates the audacity of scale that I mention. The total length is over 13 feet with the seat being constructed from one board.

Finally, as I mentioned in the podcast one of the other things that the Shakers are known for producing is brooms. This is a humorous look at what they could be used for.

How Flat is Flat Enough

Shannon — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 20:28:24 +0000

Listen!

via AudioBoo

Posted via web from renaissanceww’s posterous

RWW 52 Greco Roman Tenons Olympic Event

Shannon — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:49:56 +0000

This is my last installment on the Hand Tool Olympics. The mortise and tenon joint is a staple in furniture making and there are more ways to make it than I can count (yes I have all ten fingers). For the purpose of the Olympic event the contestant will be asked to mark and cut a 1/2 thick by 3″ long by 3″ wide tenon. Let’s take a look at this event and some tips to help you along the way.

Enjoy the show!

Click To Play

Subscribe to my Audioboos on iTunes

Shannon — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:44:51 +0000

I recently started playing with an iPhone app called Audioboo that lets me record 3 minute or under audio clips and publish them direct from my phone. It even lets me attach a picture and they will cross post to my blog. I’m having a lot of fun with this and plan to use it a lot going into Woodworking in America and my upcoming trips back up to The Acanthus Workshop.

I know that many of my podcast listeners do not have the time to get over to the blog to read it so I want to make sure that no one misses out on my profound thoughts capture on Audioboo. You can subscribe to the Audioboo iTunes feed by clicking here and following the iTunes link on the left side of the page.

I am interested to hear some feedback on these clips and what if anything you want to hear more of.

Table saw starter fence for safe crosscutting accurately

Shannon — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 20:05:14 +0000

Listen!

via AudioBoo

Posted via web from renaissanceww’s posterous

Audioboo progress update on my Chest of Drawers

Shannon — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:35:37 +0000

Had some fun this morning cutting grooves for the panels by hand.

Listen!

RWW 51: Olympics Dovetails, Pins or Tails?

Shannon — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:09:42 +0000

This episode I turn my attention to the hallowed dovetail joint. So many woodworkers approach this joint with trepidation. I was among those people until I finally jumped in and tried it out. Once I have actually cut a set I realized that I was making it too complicated and psyching myself out. Essentially this is a sawing exercise and you shouldn’t have to spend too much time with a chisel in hand to clean up the joint.

Now let’s see how many people I alienate by admitting that I cut my dovetails pins first…

Enjoy the show!

By the way, special thanks to Chuck Bender for showing me the dovetail light!

Click To Play

Chest of Drawers Audio Update

Shannon — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:48:25 +0000

Listen!

Chest of Drawers Project Audio Update

Shannon — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:46:49 +0000

Listen!