Weekly Editorial
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OK … We Just Can’t Help Ourselves
As most of you have determined by now, for the last couple of days, these web pages have been occupied by the 2012 April Fool’s edition of the eZine. Humor is, of course, highly subjective, and some of you have higher standards than yours truly – and find our annual attempt at hilarity, well, a trial.
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Heating Up in the Shop
Last Sunday, it was as warm here in Minnesota as is the average high temperature for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico on March 18th. There are green things growing in my yard right now that should have a couple of feet of snow covering them. I might need to break out the lawn mower two months early! It’s just weird.
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What is Woodworking?
Have you ever stopped to consider the scope of what a person could mean when they say simply, “I am a woodworker”? Back in the day, when almost everything was made from wood, we had names for the people who made products in a variety of categories: cooper, wheelwright, luthier, bodger, woodcarver, patternmaker, carpenter (who seemed to build anything and everything), and there were many more.
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Gramps Comes Through!
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was on a mission to get my very first project done for my, at that point in time, soon-to-be-born grandchild. The project was a youth-sized dresser with some Art Deco design accents.
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Find Me in the Shop
Football season is (mercifully, for Vikings fans like yours truly) over for the year. Hunting season is likewise on hiatus. And while, in my neck of the woods, you can still fish right now, it means standing on top of the water and drilling holes — which is just not for me.
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Keep it Moving!
As you click through the pages of the eZine this time out, you may notice a theme of sorts. Wooden bicycles and carved motorcycles — transportation hits the woodshop. For me, transportation in the shop has a more plebeian orientation: I put everything I can in my shop on wheels.
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Starting Them With Style
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my impending grandparenthood. The day draws ever closer, and I have decided upon the first woodworking project to embark upon for the progeny of my progeny: I am building her a dresser.
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Sharing in Something Substantial
I’ve been fortunate in my professional life to have worked on some pretty cool things. My name is attached to “how-to” books that helped improve people’s homes and gardens. Woodworker’s Journal has won many awards while I have been on the masthead and I was an instrumental partner in developing this eZine – which was a successful and groundbreaking effort in so many ways. But this last summer and fall I was involved in creating a series of woodworking DVDs that I am exceptionally proud of.
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Building for the Future
Life has been compared to a series of seasons, with change, ironically, being the most significant constant. My personal experience agrees with this metaphor — with some seasons being richer than others. This winter I will enter into a new phase, that I am thinking will be a game changer.
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It’s Gut Check Time!
As I emerged from my tryptophan-induced coma — approximately last Saturday (yes, Turkey Day was an epic gastronomic success at the Johnstone home) — my woodworking energies were suddenly supercharged by a glance at the calendar. Did you know that Thanksgiving is only a month away from Christmas?
