Woodcraft Magazine April/May 2020 (94)

Ken Burton is a very talented, very busy fellow. Over the past few decades, this award-winning Pennsylvania woodworker has produced beautiful commissioned pieces and written several woodworking books and dozens of magazine articles, appearing on our cover four times. In addition to teaching woodworking at various venues in the northeast, he has also managed to hold down a full-time position as a highschool industrial arts teacher. Whew! (We suspect he takes speed, although his hair loss may be entirely natural.) We’re delighted to announce that Ken has retired from the state school system to come to work with us as Woodcraft Magazine’s newest senior editor. He’s already all over this issue with his psaltery on page 35, the Steve Butler profile on page 8, and the Woodsense column on page…

A bounty of bonuses. We work hard to pack each issue with quality projects, sound techniques, practical tool reviews, and woodworking inspiration. As part of that, we scour our archives for valuable related content that you can take straight to the shop. We unearthed an abundance of extras for this issue: A clever shop-made jam chuck will help you to turn the elegant table on page 50. For the psaltery (p. 35), see a story on signing your projects. And a shooting board just ain’t gonna work if you don’t have a properly tuned plane and a sharp blade. To assist with that, master woodworker Craig Bentzley penned a pair of important stories that will get your plane operating at peak efficiency. Go online to expand your woodworking know-how with these…

Some months back, close friends asked my wife and me to be godparents to their youngest son, Declan. I was humbled, and wanted to do our friends—and my godson—proud. Despite my questionable character, I immediately decided that I would try to be a good influence on the youngster and perhaps even impart some wisdom to him. But in spending more time with this amazing infant, I realize that I’m the one who’s getting schooled. Declan has inspired me to try to adopt some of his still-unconditioned behavior. No, I’m not putting into my mouth whatever I find on the floor, but I am practicing cultivating the boy’s childlike wonder in my day-to-day life. Children are relentlessly curious. Unburdened by opinion and cynicism, they appear fixed in a state of wonder, which…

A recent commercial names several famous companies that started in a garage, wisely concluding, “You never know what kind of greatness can come out of an American garage.” Enter Steve Butler, the host of The Garage with Steve Butler, a televised woodworking show that’s starting to garner attention. Steve lives in Massachusetts with his modest shop housed in—you got it—a garage. The show features a quirky mix of woodworking, music, and maker ethos. It has slowly built an international audience on cable-access TV. But recently, with sponsor support, Steve hired a professional crew and jumped to public television where the show now broadcasts to over 250 stations. Steve trained at Sheridan College in Ontario and has what it takes to make woodworking accessible to anyone with an interest. The show centers on…

“I have always said that if you have a table saw, a band saw, and a router you’re in the cabinet making business.”—Steve Butler Start with: • A 10" contractor table saw• A 14" bandsaw• A two-base router kit. Keep the plunge base for handheld use and mount the fixed base to a piece of plywood for a router table. Place this on saw horses or on top of a trash can (for dust collection).• Two cordless drill/drivers. This way you don’t have to change between bits. As money permits, add a small jointer and a portable planer—you can often find a local shop that will allow you access to these tools until you can afford your own. While no one likes to do without, you don’t need to have all the bells and…

Alternative air filtration install I enjoyed your Expert Answer (p. 66) in the Feb/Mar issue and wanted to share how I hung my air filtration system in my basement shop. Instead of chain, I used hobby horse extension springs that did away with any vibration up the floor joints into the kitchen. They cost only $4 apiece, so it’s not an expensive alternative to chain. Plus it’s well worth it to not be blamed for the collapsed bread in the oven. —Bob Spear, via email Take a tree, leaf a tree My compliments to Paul Anthony on a very well-written and heartfelt Outfeed column in the Dec/Jan 2020 issue (p. 72). As a woodworker and chairman of our local municipal tree commission, I found that the article aligned with our goals to manage and…