Our live holiday extravaganza was a blast as usual. Of course, my new system for picking winners turned out to be a flop but we managed to get the job done. Little Mateo makes his first internet appearance and Nicole even takes a moment to say hi. Of course I can’t forget to mention all the awesome giveaways we had. Over 20 in fact!
The video was originally over an hour and it was recorded from a crappy live feed. I did my best to clean it up and edit it down into a digestible chunk.

Special thanks to:

MicroJig
The Hand Tool School
Lost Art Press
Southdale Supply
Infinity Tools
Tumblewood Creations
Acanthus Workshop

For me, sharpening is purely a utilitarian task. Therefore it needs to be both easy and fast. I would much rather spend a little more money on a product that will help me reach those goals than to save a few bucks and wind up making things more difficult for myself. After all, the easier/faster it is to put an edge on your tool, the more likely you are to do it. Unfortunately, many folks tend to over-complicate sharpening and look at it as a skill to be mastered. In my opinion, sharpening is the woodworking equivalent of filling my car with gas. Do it right and the car goes. Do it wrong and I’m going no where. Perfecting my ability to swipe the debit card and insert the nozzle with style and flare doesn’t really change the fact that all I’m doing is filling my tank with gas. The primary goal is to get you back to work with as sharp of an edge as is required for your work. Hopefully this video will give you a few tips that show you how easy sharpening can be, with the right tools.

We’ll talk about water stones, Shapton Stones, the Veritas MKII jig, DMT plates, free-hand sharpening, scary sharp, and a few other topics from the chat room questions. Please enjoy this live presentation. And as always, I have no control over the commercials that show up in this embedded video.

Special thanks to Shannon from The Hand Tool School for helping me field questions in the chat room!

Recommended Products:

Just a good old chat session! Nothing formal so the topics range from Nicole’s pregnancy, my shop, Sac’s feature in Wood Magazine, and a bunch of other stuff.

As always with these live video embeds, we have no control over the commercial that plays in front of the video.

Technical notes: Press the small play button under the video otherwise you’ll be pushed to Ustream. Also, I have no control over the commercial that plays in front of the video. Ustream is a free service and they force ads into the videos to cover their costs. And finally, you’ll notice the audio clips quite frequently. That’s what happens when you do a surprise demo using a cheap webcam.

Oil-based finishes are typically the first type of finish we confront as woodworkers, be it straight oil or a can polyurethane. Although they are all derived from oil, these finishes can vary widely in terms of application method, durability, and maintenance. The key to understanding these finishes is to understand their ingredients. With that foundation in your tool belt, you can start looking at ingredients lists instead of brand names and labels, and you’ll know exactly what to expect from the finish. Since this is a live session, we have a bunch of viewer questions in the video as well.

Topics include:

• What is oil?
• What is varnish?
• What is the relationship between varnish and polyurethane?
• The relative durability of oils, varnishes, and oil/varnish blends.
• How to see past marketing jargon.
• Why I like Arm-R-Seal.

Products discussed in the video:

• General Finishes Arm-R-Seal
• Rockler’s Tung Oil
• Timbermate Wood Filler
• Tru-Oil

This video is from a live demo I did on Wed. Nov 19th, 2008. The topic was staining blotchy woods. After the demo, I’ve included a portion of the Q&A from the chat room. Thanks to everyone who participated!

This is an excerpt from the live Demo Night that took place 7/23/08. The topic was creating Greene & Greene style joint for the Gadget Station project. Its a long video, but lots of details were covered and numerous questions were thrown out by the chat room. This was our best turnout yet with 180+ viewers! This isn’t exactly as fun as the live experience but its a close second for those who couldn’t make it. Enjoy!

So if you missed Demo Night last night, you missed A LOT! I started by discussing polyurethane durability and glue shelf life and showed some interesting examples of both. I then gave a little feature review of the Festool Kapex. And finally, I showed off the sweet lumber I just received for the upcoming Gadget Station. I then got into a discussion about mail order lumber and the company I have been working with lately, Bell Forest Products. And this is just a small sample of the session that ran about 2 hours and hosted nearly 100 people.

And please excuse the camera work. I pretty much did the best I could by myself. You should notice much improved video and audio though, so that’s a good thing. If you want to attend future Demo Nights, just check the Calendar periodically for updates.

This is a long clip from our new website feature, Demo Night. The topic was sharpening options. This live, interactive demo took place on our Wood Whisperer Live page. Everyone seemed to enjoy the new format and it looks like we will make this a regular feature. Check our Woodworker’s Calendar for upcoming demos. Obviously the audio and video are not up to the normal show quality, but this is the best we can do. Enjoy!

During the filming of our last podcast I decided to do a quick finishing Q&A with the chat room. I was able to get it all on tape and that’s exactly what this is. Random questions and quick answers. Enjoy.