My wife is an extraordinary cook and since one of my serious pleasures is eating well prepared, full flavored food, we make the perfect match. One of my other pleasures is finding simple ways to display my woodworking craft while also making our home more functional. Anyone who has rustled through a drawer looking for the perfect sharp knife for a particular job is aware of not only the frustrations, but also the hazards of this method. So after shopping for some magnetic knife holders and being less than satisfied with the industrial “workshop” models, I decided to take a crack at making my own. My first challenge was finding magnets strong enough to hold any size knife without the threat of...
The path to selling our wares is not usually a straight line for a craftsman. Generally we start out making things we enjoy.... discover others seem to like what we're doing.... perhaps sticking our toe in the marketplace via an occasional weekend market..... when it dawns on us "hey, people seriously might be willing to buy what I make on a larger scale". Hence The Prodigal Carpenter's recent foray into the world of retail interior marketplaces..... We recently contracted for a 8' x 10" space in a local interior marketplace known as Woodstock Market http://woodstockmarket.com We considered the environment and other vendors ( This is a large interior market with multitudes of vendors offering their wares) and were impressed, discussed their contract...
Okay you might think I’m crazy but YES it’s time to think about gardening; even if we’re in the middle of winter. For the serious gardener who wants to get a jump on the crowd and who doesn’t want to pay a high price for well developed plants come April, the time is now. Consider planting some seeds now and you will reap the rewards come spring. A couple things to consider: You need seeds and a starter mix (the little peat starter pods work great). You need space, warmth and light. I happen to be blessed with a greenhouse but I learned early on that producing produce year round was futile. Greenhouse (or hothouse) vegetables just don’t taste the same...
Before continuing with the other tools in my shop I wanted to add a few comments in regards to my table saw; specifically sleds and jigs. A great way to practice and hone your table saw skills is to create sleds & jigs that will save you time and help you with more precise cuts. Since my table saw is relatively small it came with a rather inferior miter gauge which I improved by simply adding a longer piece of MDF to the gauge. I’ve also built a sacrificial fence and a couple of jointer sleds that have saved me time and money in “squaring up” my rough wood. Although all sleds will get their use and help...
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,...
