Rob Johnstone

  • Woodworking Af-Fair

    Our State Fair is a great State Fair, it’s the greatest State Fair in the land….” I’m no Oscar Hammerstein, but I know a good song when I hear it, (and some might say, will perform it endlessly …) even if I’m not as keen on the whole State Fair experience as some other members of our staff. (Fellow Minnesotans, please leave your rotten tomatoes at home.)

  • Going Digital: The Summer Sequel

    About a month ago, I notified all of you about the very first ever, super-duper digital issue of the Woodworker’s Journal print magazine. Many of you clicked over, checked it out, and told us what you thought.

  • Electronic Letdown?

    We did it, our first fully digital edition of the Woodworker’s Journal is online and doing well. We received a bunch of feedback about the issue, both positive and negative, that we are taking quite seriously. Many folks were thrilled with the concept of being able to access their favorite magazine on the web 24/7. They liked the live hot-links, the video, the ease of navigation and other features too numerous to mention. Others thought the digital version was “fuzzy.” (If that happened to you, your hook-up to the Internet is a bit too slow for our magazine right now.)

  • Double Digital Event!

    As a member of the eZine faithful, I like to give you a heads-up when we at Woodworker’s Journal are about to undertake a cool new web-based adventure.

  • Good Stuff!

    If you’ve been reading for a while, you likely know that I learned woodworking at my dad and uncle’s knees. Back in the day (which day, I’ll leave you to guess…), there was no one out there offering us a cushy, already-put-together program to start a woodworking furniture business

  • Save a Little to Spend a Little

    In the current print version of the Woodworker’s Journal, I asked my editorial readers how they are responding to the current discouraging economic news … specifically, how they were responding as woodworkers. As a group, we are known to be thrifty. To say we woodworkers are proud of our ability to squeeze the most out of a dollar would be a significant understatement. Something akin to saying: politicians like to talk, or winters can be nippy here in Minnesota.

  • Show Us What You’ve Got

    Woodworkers by nature are humble folks. Why? Well, one reason is that building things out of wood tends to humble you. For instance, in a totally hypothetical example, like when you bring a coffee table into your house that looked fine in the shop, but resembled an aircraft carrier when you put it in your living room.

  • Foolish, Foolish Me

    As is usually the case, last week’s April Fool’s edition of the eZine garnered both praise and condemnation from our readers. This year’s effort met with fewer complaints — perhaps due to the fact that sophomoric behavior is gaining acceptability … or perhaps because some folks have simply given up on us. In any event, most people seemed tickled by our attempts at humor. Several even said that they had been waiting in anticipation of the annual event.

  • Cross-hobby Production

    In anticipation of our Minnesota lakes thawing out, I am getting ready to turn a bunch of fishing lures. As the winter has progressed, one of the ways I have combated cabin fever is designing new and fantastic handmade fishing lures (mostly just in my mind). Making these lures allows me to participate in two of my pastimes at the same time – how cool is that! I am sure that I am not alone in this goal of using my skills (such as they are) to support more than one hobby at a time. I have long known that woodworkers use their skill to improve their home and to build stuff for those that they love. But do you use your woodworking to enhance your other interests?

  • Power to the – um, Woodshop!

    Our long Northern winter is hanging on with the tenacity of a terrier worrying a bone. And as it happens, March here in Minnesota – although it is our last real snow month – can gather our heaviest snowfall amounts. For that reason, cabin fever can become epidemic, even as the days grow longer and the sun gets stronger. What is the solution to that odd annual mixture of anxiety and depression?