We’re taking a two-week break during the holiday’s. Stop by WoodworkingOnline.com to see all seven Woodsmith Woodworking Seminar video podcasts. We’ll see you again in the new year. -Joel

The tickets are available for sale for the new 2007 season of the Woodsmith Woodworking Seminars. You can see the seminar schedule here: 2007 Winter and Fall Season Mailer. 

The schedule and tickets will be in the store no later than tomorrow (Saturday) December 23rd. As you can see on the schedule, we’re offering individual tickets as usual. We’re also offering a season pass for the Winter session, as well as a season pass for the spring session. What is different is that we’re also offering a special "Gold Pass" combining both the winter and spring sessions in one. Of course, you’ll get the best savings with the Gold Pass. Details are inside the mailer.

One more surprise. We’re also offering a series of six Saturday Faux Finishing and Painting seminars in 2007. The painting professionals at the store, along with some of Des Moines’ leading interior designers, faux finishing and painting experts will lead the seminars. If you’re updating your home and looking for some painting advice, you won’t want to miss any of them.  

Brian Simmons is back with his popular seminar — Bowl Turning: From Log to Bowl in Under an Hour.

Brian is getting so good at giving this seminar he could probably do it in his sleep. To watch the podcast, visit WoodworkingOnline.com, or click here: Bowl Turning.

Remember you can subscribe to the Woodsmith Seminar Video Podcasts using iTunes. Not interested in iTunes? Then you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the podcast portion only of our WoodworkingOnline blog, by clicking here: Podcast Feed.

Have you ever wanted to build your own kitchen, bath or quality shop cabinets? There are advantages beyond just saving money, of course. You have the satisfaction of doing them yourself, and you’ll get exactly what you want. And I look at the time in the wood shop building cabinets as a bonus.

This week’s seminar "Cabinetmaking 101: The Basics of Designing and Building Cabinets,"  should help you make the decision to get started if you’ve been sitting on the fence. During the seminar, Doug Hicks and I will describe the benefits of building your own cabinets, whether they’re face-frame or frameless models.

We’ll touch base on the basics of building the case, face frames, end frames and how to treat the exposed edges of frameless cabinets. You’ll even get some beneficial info on building doors, drawers, and shelves.

There are three one-page Blogger’s Special downloads this week:

Iron-on Edge Banding

Standard Dimensions for Kitchen Cabinets

Standard Dimensions for Bath Cabinets

Hope to see you there for the last woodworking seminar of 2006. The next seminar, "Setting Up a Home Shop," with Workbench magazine senior design editor, Jim Downing will be on Thursday, January 18th. The full schedule for the Winter and Spring seminars should be up soon. -Joel

How do you like the "new and improved" versions of the Woodsmith Video podcasts?

The response has been great. People are looking for this kind of thing and it’s very obvious from the comments that I’m getting that they’re jealous of everyone in central Iowa.

This week’s video podcast has Brian Nelson, managing editor of ShopNotes magazine talking about routers again. To watch the podcast, visit WoodworkingOnline, or click here: Router Fundamentals: Tips and Tricks 

Remember you can subscribe to the Woodsmith Seminar Video Podcasts using iTunes.

Here is the schedule for seminar video podcasts for the next several weeks. (Note: All schedule dates are approximate.)

Week of 12/11/06
#6 — Router Fundamentals: Tips and Tricks, Bryan Nelson, Managing Editor for ShopNotes magazine 

Week of 12/18/06
#7 — Bowl Turning: From Log to Bowl in Under an Hour, Brian Simmons, Master Woodturner and Assistant Manager for the Woodsmith Store 

Week of 12/25/06 — No Video Podcast

Week of  1/1/07 — No Video Podcast

Week of 1/8/07
#8 — 10 of Our All-Time Favorite Woodworking Tips, Craig Ruegsegger, Senior Editor and Videographer for Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and Workbench magazines

Week of 1/15/07
#9 — Cabinetmaking 101: The Basics of Designing and Building Cabinets, Doug Hicks, Executive Editor and Joel Hess, Associate Editor for Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and Workbench magazines 

The Winter and Spring Seminar schedule will be mailing around Christmas. The first seminar for the winter session is on Thursday, January 18th.

#1: Never wad up an oil-filled rag and throw it in the scrap pile.*

#2: Measure twice, cut once.

#3: When in doubt, don’t.

#4: Sneak up on the final cut.

#5: You can never have enough clamps.

#6: Always plane with the grain. (Cause the grain in Spain falls mainly on the plane?)

#7: Buy the very best equipment you can afford.

#8: Sharp blades and bits cause fewer accidents.

#9: A glass-smooth surface is better for glue-ups than one that’s been roughed up.

#10: Don’t take any wooden nickels! 

* Wadded up oily rags can create a lot of heat, sometimes causing them to spontaneously combust. If you went to the seminar at the Woodsmith Store, you know that Craig Ruegsegger’s 10th tip on his list of all-time favorites is to "Protect Your Investment." Download this article: "Shop Disasters" to read more about it.

"Setting here in the snow in Idaho, I am really envious of you guys in Des Moines."
Clyde from Idaho

"…I like the podcasts (vodcasts?) that you’ve created…"
Ken from Syracuse, New York

"I’m able to watch in person a lot of great tips that I normally would have to drive somewhere to see."
Grant from Atlanta

"They are well worth downloading…"
Terry from Australia!

These are just a few of the responses we’re getting from around the world to our seminar podcasts. And except for a few grumbles about slow downloads, all of them are extremely positive.

This week’s Woodsmith Seminar video podcast: "Things They Didn’t Teach You in Shop Class," will take you back to those blissful days of yesteryear…Shop Class circa 1964." To watch the seminar, click here.

Remember you can subscribe to the Woodsmith Seminar Video Podcasts using iTunes. 

Craig Ruegsegger

Doug Hicks and Joel Hess