Prodigal Ponderings — product revews RSS



Leftovers

Have you ever wondered what to do with all those leftovers?  I apologize up front to all the “foodies” out there but I’m actually referring to wood.  Whether a seasoned carpenter or a woodworking hobbier we all end up with extra pieces from various projects which usually end up collecting in the “just in case” pile, or eventually find their way to the trash.   I hate to waste things, especially interesting pieces of wood that I’ve taken the time to cut, plane, and glue after matching up contrasting colors and grain patterns.  I’ve discovered that there is another option, and after talking to a fellow woodworker this weekend, I realized I’m not alone. By taking the various leftovers from my end...

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Spring Cleaning: What's New from The Prodigal Carpenter

  For the last week or so the Carpenter has been busy “spring cleaning” and reorganizing his shop. Seems anytime we’re really busy ,even our best efforts fall short in keeping things neat and organized…….lots of sawing, planing, sanding, turning, and gluing has taken place and the evidence was all over the place:) Micah had little interest in helping.... he preferred to lay in the accumulated sawdust outside the shop. The good news is that the “mess” was a result of a number of new products added to our line………. So we thought we’d share them with you here.   We added Penblocks at the recommendation of a friend who is a pen lover. She clued us in on how true...

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How Safe is Your Cutting Board?

It’s pretty clear that we woodworkers love our wood and for me in particular I get the most satisfaction out of making  end grain cutting boards. They are beautiful, functional, durable, forgiving to your knife edges and, perhaps more importantly, they are far more bacteria resistant than the more common (and less expensive) plastic cutting boards. Of course there are other surfaces that you can use to cut on, however materials like glass or stainless steel are completely unforgiving to your knife edges. If you value your knives, you will choose wood; if you value your health, you will certainly choose wood! **We’ve attached some research articles to back up our claims so don’t just go off my opinion, however...

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Around My Shop

I blogged before on some shop essentials like safety, workbench, electrical outlets, etc but here I wanted to hone in a bit on what kind of tools I use and how effective they are. I don't have a massive shop,so having a large table saw or full size drill press is not practical for me, but if you have limited space and a limited budget there are still ways to create quality products. I have a portable Kobalt Table saw, a bench top drill press, bench top bandsaw, benchtop lathe....are you noticing a theme? Although bench top tools limit the size of the work piece they do not limit the quality. Take my table saw for instance; it's a Kobalt 15-Amp,...

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DeWalt 735x Planer............A Beast!

As far as planers are concerned I'm not sure you can get any better than the DeWalt DW735X.  The motor on this baby is powerful and the blades cut evenly and flush; even the hardest of hardwoods. I purchased my planer almost a year ago and have made about 3 dozen end grain cutting boards along with various other woodworking beauties.   I've used everything from Hard Maple to Walnut to Bubinga -one of the most beautiful yet also one of the hardest woods there is, and oftentimes a blade killer; despite this my Dewalt planer keeps producing quality results time and again.  Nothing will ruin a planer quicker than planing end grain boards, but the DeWalt 735X hasn't missed...

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