Don’t Wait!

One way I stave off the mid-winter doldrums is to turn some bowls I’ve had drying since last spring or summer. This past weekend, I trudged out to the shed where I keep my bowl inventory to pick a good candidate. What I discovered out there shocked me a little bit. You see, when I turn a green bowl, I write the date on the rim, and I was surprised at the number of bowls that have been sitting, waiting in the shadows for longer than I realized. I have some that are dated pre-pandemic! Now, 2020 wasn’t that long ago, really. But it does remind my mid-50s mind that time is fleeting. I’m not panicking about that or heading for a mid-life crisis in 2024 (I hope not, anyway!). But it’s at least worth taking stock of what I’ve done and, more importantly, what I still want or need to do.

So, I’ll offer you a gentle nudge. If there’s something in your woodworking life you’ve been putting off for a while (or maybe you had forgotten about), don’t wait too long. Take that veneering class. Upgrade to that bigger bandsaw. Start drafting plans for the hope chest you need to build for a wedding this summer. Before you’re left standing in your own shed wondering, where has all the time gone?

Chris Marshall, Woodworker’s Journal

Slab Flattening with a Jig

Dan Cary tests out Rockler’s slab flattening jigs and demonstrates how they help make large rough-edge slabs ready for your next project.

The Basics of Workholding

Dennis Belcher explains the different types of workholders for lathes used in woodturning and discusses how they are used.

Rippling Water Shelf

Concentric circles — created with a circle-cutting jig — echo water’s ripple effect on this painted wall shelf.

Building a Delaware Chair

A technique made for tricksters: reverse inlay makes it appear that the thinner, light-colored strips are inlaid into a walnut column — but, in reality, it’s the reverse.

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