We Could Use A Little Help

Your help is appreciated.

For more than a year now, it's been our pleasure to help you enjoy your woodworking hobby. Whether it's the local MWA guild chapter meetings, educational opportunities at woodworking shows or the ever-popular podcast, we are always looking for new and better ways of reaching out to you.

Clearly, we need help.

While the work is fun, the hardest part of running the organization is paying for the overhead. There are hosting fees, printing expenses and the like to help further develop the organization. The Modern Woodworkers Association is committed to keeping membership and participation free for our members, and our plans have not changed.

That's why we are working on two (2) fronts to keep it that way. First, we are approaching a number of companies to see if they might be interested in sponsoring the show on an ongoing basis.  You may have already noticed the second way we are approaching this issue. On the right side of our page, you will see a new section for donations.  While you are under no obligation to make a contribution to the effort, we would greatly appreciate if you would be willing and able to make a contribution to keep the MWA growing.

We know that the MWA has become an important part of your woodworking, with more than 6,000 views and downloads of each podcast. And, we look forward to improving that service in our second year.

Thanks,
Modern Woodworkers

MWA - New Jersey/NY Visits the Met

Several members of MWA-NJ/NY met up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on a recent Friday afternoon to check out the exhibit “Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens.” http://j.mp/WG3mHg

Attendees included, +Jonathan Sidhu, +Rusty Burwell, +Alan Ganek , Jay Siegelaub & Joe Urhane

We toured the exhibit of 18th Century European furniture and saw a mind-boggling testament to the skill of the Roentgen workshop.  Two of the items I found most interesting included this wild Gaming Table and the centerpiece of the exhibit, a large Berlin Secretary - reputedly the most expensive piece of furniture in Europe

Several of us also visited the Nakashima Reading Room (“Gallery 232”) and the Met’s ‘Open’ Storage (“The Good Stuff in the Back Room”) areas which contain dozens of various pieces of fine furniture not currently on exhibit.

We also had a nice surprise while having a coffee and ran into Mike Pekovich, Art Director at Fine Woodworking and his wife (her photo below) who were also touring the exhibits.

(L to R: Mike Pekovich, Alan Ganek, Jonathan Sidhu, Rusty Burwell, Jay Siegelaub, and Joe Urhane)

Farewell

It’s been a bit more than a year to the day since I stepped into my role with the MWA, and we’ve grown quickly. I’m proud of the achievements we’ve made, and my part in them:  developing networks on all major social media, relationships with sponsors, guests, donors, and publications, organizing events around the country -and more than a 10 in the Boston chapter, pulling together a biweekly video podcast with great guests, streamed and recorded live, and contributing to the woodworking community, and more.  I like to think I’ve added quality and value to all aspects of the organization.

The time has come for me step back from my duties with the MWA and to re-focus my priorities, on my family, growing my business, continued learning, growing my skills, and contributing to some other organizations. Thanks to all who've supported my work, and I wish the team the best in moving it into the future.  

For anyone wishing to stay in touch, you can still find me on twitter @mansfinefurn, on Facebook, Google+, or just send me an email!

Thanks for the Memories!

Nick

MWA Boston Chapter Meetup: Lie-Nielsen at the Furniture Institute of MA

MWA Boston Chapter Meetup: Dec 1st, 2012 We're planning a visit to Phil Lowe's shop in Beverly MA for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event on Saturday December 1st, 2012, followed by dinner/drinks at a nearby venue. Join the fun anytime Saturday afternoon to go play with the tools (and buy some, no doubt), and chat with the demonstrators before we set out for food around 5p. Here is the Link to the Lie-Nielsen event information. In it you'll find a list fantastic demonstrators they've lined up, as well as directions to the shop. Please feel free to forward this to anyone who may be interested in joining us for this event, or joining the MWA. Let us know if you're thinking of joining us for the fun!      NOTE: For event invitations and the ability to view announcements issued in Google+, don't forget to add us to your G+ Circles!

Circle us in Google+ | follow on Twitter  | forward to a friend

NH Furniture Masters Exhibit

Tom McLaughlin, Easy Chair #1

We have the opportunity for an insiders viewing of the NH Furniture Masters Exhibit in Concord NH. We'll be hosted by Tom McLaughlin who will discuss the pieces and answer questions.

This event is organized by the MWA Boston chapter, but anyone from any chapter is welcome if you're in the neighborhood, or want to make the trip.

We'll be meeting for this event on Saturday August 25th, at 12 Noon at the NH Historical Society Library, 30 Park St. Concord, NH.

 Please let me know as soon as possible if you're interested in joining us for this opportunity!

Here is the Link to the exhibit information.

 NOTE: For event invitations and the ability to view announcements issued in Google+, don't forget to add us to your G+ Circles!

MWA Podcast Episode 10 - Special Guest Ron Hock

In this 10th edition of the Modern Woodworkers Association Podcast, recorded Live July 25th, 2012, we talk steel and sharpening with our special guest Ron Hock, of Hock Tools and author of The Perfect Edge. If you prefer the audio, it's below. You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or RSS to have all of our podcasts delivered to you as soon as it's released. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel to see the latest video podcasts when they're released. Don't forget to add us you your G+ circles to get notified of upcoming live broadcasts and the latest news, and follow us on Twitter @MWA_National.

AUDIO PODCAST:
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Links from Episode 10:
Hock Tools
Stepping Stone Museum - Looking for volunteers
Home made dust seperator: digitalwoodwoodworker.com
Downes & Reader Hardwoods in Stoughton, MA

Furniture With Soul

At the suggestion of one of our members, we will be having a MWA Boston Chapter Meetup later in June/early July to visit the NAGA Gallery's presentation of Furniture With Soul.

This Friday, June 1st, will be the opening featuring:


Book signing with the author and Furnituremaker David Savage (Cosponsored by Porter Square Books)  
Friday, June 1
5 pm 

Reception with the furnituremakers
Friday, June 1
6 - 8 pm

If you can make it for Friday, let us know in the comments or by email and we'll get an impromptu meetup going with those MWA'ers planning on attending. It should be a great opportunity to get inspiration, and chat with the makers about design, methods, etc.  

If two days is not sufficient notice, fear not, we'll be planning our visit for later in the show. (albeit, without the furnituremakers on hand (that we know of)

MWA Boston Area Meetup, June 9th

Furniture Institute 

of

 Massachusetts

MWA Boston Meetup at (and following) the event:

Thirteenth Annual

Furniture Exhibit 

&

Open House

  June 9, 2012

4-8 PM

Please join us at our Open House featuring student and faculty work. Meet the students, tour the facility and enjoy great food, tasty drink and good company! All are welcome.

For those who haven't seen Phil Lowe's shop, here's a great opportunity to meet the students, instructors, see some furniture, get inspired, talk shop, ask questions, sign up for some classes, meet some great people...

All are welcome (NOT just Boston chapter members, if you'll be in town, let me know!)

As usual, the meetup will occur during the event, and will likely continue at a local restaurant or watering hole.

If you think you'll attend, please leave a comment below, or send me an email

(Note: I may not be able to attend this one, but letting me know you're going will let me put everyone who is going in touch for the meetup)

Beverage Containing Additions to the MWA CafePress Store

With camping season about to get into full swing I found myself in need of some additional water bottles in order to meet our Cub Scout camping & hiking supply requirements. Rather than just go out and by any, I decided to make some with Modern Woodworker's Association branding.

Now, when you find yourself in need of a delightfully refreshing beverage you can take with you, you can do so while supporting your online woodworking brethren.

Here are the new items:

Trek Water Bottle

Stainless Water Bottle

Kids Water Bottle

Thermos Bottle

As with our MWA shirts, we're listing them at in the store with no markup. What you pay is what CafePress charges us to make them.

Now, who's thirsty?

Shop Efficiency with Mike Pekovich

We concluded the recent Fine Woodworking Office and Shop tour with our hosts, Matt Kenney and Mike Pekovich providing us with shot demonstrations of how they stay efficient in the shop.

Professor Pekovich

Whereas Matt spoke mostly of hand tools and achieving an efficient flow and rhythm with bench appliances (read about his demonstration here), Mike’s demonstration included the use of a cabinet saw and custom ground blade and focused primarily on cutting dovetails.

Here are my (imperfect) notes on Mike’s demonstation:

• Get in the shop every day
• Thinking can and should be done outside the shop
• Figure out what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it outside the shop
• Work is for in the shop
• Dovetails
• Have a saw blade ground to the dovetails angle. This will cut and clean out the corners of tails beautifully and quickly.
• To square the tail board on the pin board for marking the pins, let your thumbs tell you when the two (2) boards are even with each other.
• Use a plane on it’s side or a scrap board to set the pin board’s height in the vise and to hold the far end of the tail board while marking.
• Saw with confidence.
• Gaps are more likely to occur when paring then when sawing.
• When you’re not confident you’ll cut straight
• Cheat in from the line
• Steer away from the line
• Sawing Pins
• Get setup in a stance, start sawing and let the saw go (in terms of steering, you still have to hold on).
• Keep your arm straight and tight to your body.
• Practice cutting all the way down to the spine of the saw.
• Make all the pin cuts in one direction, then change stance and make the cuts in the other direction.
• By cutting the tails first, the pins are able to absorb the slop.

Mikes test board for setting the angle of the saw and the custom ground blade.

Cutting tails o the table saw.

Set the pin board height and support the tail board with a plane on its side.
Align the tail board with your thumbs.

Cut all the pin cuts of one directions first, then change your stance
and then cut the other direction cuts.

See the full gallery here

Shop Efficiency with Matt Kenney

Matt behind the Fine Woodworking shop bench

As you may well know, dear readers, the Modern Woodworkers Association was recently treated to a tour of the Fine Woodworking offices and shop. At the close of the tour our hosts, Matt Kenney & Mike Pekovich provide us with demonstrations on how they stay efficient in the shop.

Matt’s demonstration was about how he uses three (3) bench appliances (a saw hook, planing stop & shooting board) to quickly efficiently breakdown small parts for the items he builds.


Matt’s points (as hastily written down by me):

• Go to the shop with a specific goal that can be accomplished in the time you have.

• Between big furniture projects, stay active with smaller projects. Smaller projects are quicker, cheaper and keep you in the shop.

• The most efficient and accurate way for final part milling, adjustment and dialing in is with the use of a saw hook, plane stop & shooting board.
• Keep all three (3) right next to each other on the bench for less movement and higher efficiency

• Preparing for finish before joinery will eliminate slop which results from planing the face after dovetailing.

Matt shows Steve Branam how is groove planes work.

See the full gallery here.

The Boston Chapter Inaugural Event - WoodExpo 2012

When woodworkers gather, fun ensues.

This past Saturday, the Boston chapter of the Modern Woodworkers Association held it's formal kick-off event to coincide with the WoodExpo2012 held at the Boston World Trade Center convention center, as part of the New England Home Show.

The Wood Expo showcased a few dozen furnituremakers of varying experience, from students from North Bennet Street School & self-taught business startups, to some of the best-know, well-respected artisans in the country.

Modern Woodworkers gathered inside the show to chat with the makers of all stripes, learn techniques, admire design, get to know one another, and generally talk about the passion we share.
After the show, we gathered at a local restaurant for dinner and drinks (16 of us, including visiting Long Island MWA chapter head Dyami Plotke and his wife, some of the presenters, including Chuck Bender and Tom McLaughlin, and some of the event's organizers: Scott Oja (@swedishiron), Justin DiPalma, Rick Waters, and Eli Cleveland, plus exhibitors from New Jersey, New York, and our own Boston members Rob Bois, Mike Morton, Mike McCoy, and me. (Sorry the photo is fuzzy, I was balanced on one foot on a wobbly chair hanging over the head of a mean-looking bouncer...oh yeah, did I mention, the place turns into a 20-something pick-up joint after 10 on Saturdays...who knew?)

Left to Right: Left Front Table: Eli Cleveland,  Justin DiPalma; Left Rear Table:  Mrs. Dyami Plotke, Mike Morton , Niels Cosman, Dyami Plotke; Right Rear Table: Mike McCoy, Rusty Burwell, Rob Bois; Right Front Table: Rick Waters, Tom McLaughlin, Chuck Bender, Scott Oja

As far as the Expo itself is concerned, I've written a perspective about it why YOU should be there on my own blog here.

Among the exhibitors, Modern Woodworkers were very well represented in Mike McCoy, Mike Morton, and Rob Bois:

Morton and Rob talk with master furnituremaker Glen Guarino

Morton Makes a Plane

Mike shows off his 'Sydney' lamp

Besides my personal objectives for the weekend (learning as much as I could absorb), my Modern Woodworkers goals (aside from having fun) were to hear about how social media and the internet is leveraged in the field today, from the masters, as well as the new generation of furnituremakers, and to invite as many of these talented people to the fold if they were interested in participating, sharing, networking, or just hanging out and talking wood with like-minded members.

I'm happy to say, on the latter, the Modern Woodworkers Association did very well, in that nearly every maker I spoke with expressed interest in knowing more about it, if not asked to be signed up on the spot.  I will be posting a separate entry to welcome these new members once I get the list updated, and many names will be recognizable  to many of you.

For the former goal, learning what place social networking and the internet play today, I'm afraid there is a drastic, perhaps generational divide.  Responses to one question posed to the first panel (Glen Guarino, Tom McLaughlin, Terry Moore, and Tommy Mac) clearly showed that while most were aware that these existed, they regretted not knowing enough about it to leverage the technology.  Even some of the younger makers have minimal web-presence beyond a website.  I'm happy to say, every one of these guys expressed genuine interest (to me) in learning how to make more of the technology in helping to grow the craft and to leverage it for their businesses and schools. Rob Bois was filming, as was the WoodExpo crew, so I'd expect footage of the panel discussion to be available in the near future.

L to R: Glen Guarino, Tom McLaughlin, Terry Moore and Tommy Mac answer questions in a panel discussion.

 I left motivated to design, build, network, collaborate, and with a bunch of great ideas for woodworking-related meetup events for the coming year, including museum visits, educational workshops, design critiques from fellow makers, school tours, workshop tours, and more.. (Note: your ideas are also highly sought and encouraged!).  Stay Tuned!

How did Rob think it went....um....strong?

Rob conquers his stool

Fine Modern Woodworking

The guys at Fine Woodworking are a nice bunch. How do I know? On February 17, 2012 I was lucky enough to be among a group of Modern Woodworkers to attend a private tour of the Fine Woodworking offices and shop. Unfortunately, space was limited so we weren’t able to publish detail of the tour before hand, but here’s my best recounting for everyone who wasn't able to attend. We're hoping to make events like this a more frequent occurrence, so hopefully everyone in the MWA will be able to attend one soon.

No, you sit first.

We began in the Fine Woodworking / Fine Homebuilding break room where, to the man, we were too polite to sit after the late arrivals (Me, Chris & Doug). In the break room Matt Kenney began by explaining the history of the magazine and a little about the great Taunton publishing empire that has grown up around it. Taunton is still a family run business, even 37 years after starting. They maintain a strict firewall between advertising and editorial staffs. Matt said he won’t even take a complaint from a manufacturer (that’s the advertising staff’s issue if manufacturer’s don’t like their reviews). Also, they are apparently named after the local Taunton Lake. Mike Pekovich then wrapped up the discussion of the corporate history and structure and we moved into the offices proper.

We squeezed into a narrow isle between cubicles and gazed at the magazine spread out on the wall. Matt & Mike then explained that once the articles are laid out and the draft of the magazine is assembled it is hung on the wall here for all to see. Everyone is then encouraged to look it over and over for mistakes, incongruities or other errors.

Make a list (or magazine) and check it twice.

They also discussed how articles are formed. I’m sure I’m not getting it all right due to my lack of notes, but the process involves editors pitching ideas to the entire staff, then going back to the authors to form the story. Finally the editors visit the author and take the photos. Due to space restrictions in the magazine, the articles tend to focus on the unique aspects of projects, rather then the fundamentals the projects are based on. They have regular, occasional articles on fundamentals to supplement the basics left out of project articles.

After the talk of how the magazine is built we moved onto the meat of the tour, the workshop.

Jointer/Planers to test and lumber racks against the wall.

Fine Woodworking has three (3) workshop areas. The first, and largest area is most often used for tool tests and photo shoots. At the time of our visit, it was still housing the Jointer / Planer combo machines that were tested for the April 2012 issue. This first area also houses both the magazine’s and staff’s lumber racks. As a staff member, you’re allowed use of the workshops for personal use and by all accounts all the staff does.

More power tools than fit in a standard photo.

The second room is the power tool room. This room has the tools you'd expect (a Saw Stop and an old Powermatic drill press). It also houses a 16” jointer and a monster Powermatic planer that probably weighs more than my truck. The power tool room doesn’t get as many photos, as they try to only show tools that most readers could own.

The third room is the hand tool room. This is a small room, with a bench in the center. The walls are lined with counters and tool racks. This room gets its share of photos and it was home to the demonstrations that Matt and Mike provided.

When they asked me what we’d like to have demonstrated, I immediately replied: “efficiency.” I never have enough shop time, and I’m sure most of you don’t either. The Fine Woodworking guys didn’t disappoint.

The key to efficient hand tool use in the shop is
to have another woodworker do the work.

Matt gave a great demonstration on how he used bench jigs; a plane stop, a saw hook and a shooting board, to work efficiently with small pieces on the boxes on small cabinets he like to make. Mike showed us a very cool method of making dovetails using a custom ground table saw blade to make the tails and repeated, accurate hand saw cuts to make the pins.

Hybrid dovetails begin at the table saw with a custom ground blade.

After the demonstration we all headed over to the main Taunton building down the road for lunch in the “T”. As we ate, Matt and Mike were great company (as they had been the whole time). We all talked of our shops, our projects and everything else woodworkers talk of.

L to R: Steve Branam, Nick Roulleau, Me, Morton, Michael McCoy, Doug Plotke
Chris Adkins, Jim Ashley & Freddie Ellis.

On behalf of everyone who attended, I need to thank Matt and Mike and express how much I’m hoping we get to hang out at Fine Woodworking Live. I know it’ll be a great event, because the guys at Fine Woodworking are a nice bunch.

Be safe, my friends.

Woodworking Is A Sport, Wear Your Team Jersey

Due to popular demand, MWA Jerseys have now been added to the Modern Woodworkers Association Cafepress.com store. Check them out wear your team colors.

Yes, you too can be this cool!

Wear your MWA

Big news. We've finally set up a Modern Woodworker's T-shirt site.

Check it out here: http://www.cafepress.com/modernwoodworkersassociation or at new button on the right of the page bar.

The shirts all feature the Modern Woodworkers Association logo on the front. We've come up with following styles:

• MWA Logo on the Front, Short Sleeved T-Shirt; $20.99
• MWA Logo on the Front, MWA QR code on the Back, Short Sleeved T-Shirt; $29.99
• MWA Logo on the Front, Fitted Women's T-Shirt; $21.99
• MWA Logo on the Front, Long Sleeved T-Shirt; $24.99
• MWA Logo on the Top, Fitted Wall Clock; $10.99

Cafepress is a little pricey, but we we've set up our storefront to sell the shirts at cost to keep the price as low as we can. We decided on Cafepress because it was a simple way for us to make shirts available to MWA members and fans without any of us having to front a big order and then handle payment from and shipping to individuals.

We'd ask you to please show your support and make MWA gatherings a sea of Modern T-Shirts.

About WoodEXPO--the #Woodchat Transcript 2/1/2012

A great group of #woodchat-ers met online to talk about WoodExpo 2012, and similar shows, featuring several of the event's organizers, @elicleveland, @furnitology, @splinteredboard, and @swedishiron.  Follow WoodExpo news on twitter with @WoodExpoUS. 

 Here is a link to the transcript of the chat for February 1, 2012

If you haven't already seen the earlier post about MWA's presence at WoodExpo, read more about it here!

                                                                                                                                                   

If you're not a part of woodchat yet, get yourself a twitter account and join us Wed Nights (9P EST/6P Pacific Time) in Tweetchat.

A couple of notes:

• This transcript reads top to bottom chronologically, and the times shown are GMT (+5hrs from Eastern Time).  
• For those waiting for #woodchat migration to Google+, it's coming with a users guide.  Start by adding woodchat to your circles.  More to follow on that. 
• Lastly, please visit this page and add your topic suggestions by filling out the poll at the bottom in the "other" box.  The more topics we have, the better #woodchat gets!

MWA-Boston at WoodExpo 2012

The Modern Woodworkers Association - Boston Area Chapter's inaugural meet-up will be held on Saturday February 25th at WOODEXPO 2012.

All Boston Area members, those visiting from elsewhere in the country, or those who want to know more about the group are invited to join us.

We will have a meeting room at the event, where we can meet, chat, learn more about the association, and more, and will also be treated to some good demos to see as a group.

The evening activities will also include dinner and drinks at a local restaurant to continue to talk wood, and get to know each other.

We are excited to have at least two MWA-Boston members exhibiting at the show, Rob Bois, and Michael Morton, so please come out and see their outstanding entries, and support their work.

For more information on the show here is the Wood Expo 2012 Information sheet

Subscribe to and stay tuned to this blog for details to follow.  You can also contact us to be added to the mailing list, follow me on twitter @mansfinefurn , follow #ModernWoodworkers hashtag, or just watch this blog.  Time and place will be announced as soon as we've finalized the plans.

If you know any area woodworkers who want to learn more about MWA, send them this link!