Would you consider a miter gauge fence a jig? It is if it’s designed to make an operation on the table saw safer, faster, or more accurate. Think about it. The small face on most of the miter gauges supplied by table saw manufacturers just don’t have enough surface to provide solid support for the workpiece. 

Now you could just add a piece of scrap to extend the miter gauge and solve the problem. But my dad always told me that if you’re going to do something, you might as well do it right. So I made one that’s adjustable. This way, I’d have a fence that would provide good support right up to the cut at different angles.

Can’t attend the seminars in person? Then check out our seminar podcasts at WoodworkingOnline.com. 

Yeah, we know it’s almost February. But we’ve finally got all the kinks worked out for posting a FREE SHOP CALENDAR in PDF format that you can download and print. It’s a handsome calendar with quality photos of old tools from the early issues of ShopNotes magazine. We’ll be posting a new calendar every quarter on our blog at WoodworkingOnline. (This helps keep the file size down for easy downloads.)

We think you’ll be proud to hang this in your shop. And it’s handsome enough to hang in your office or kitchen. So tell all your woodworking buddies about this cool download.

It seems like all the good furniture-making classes and schools are in the New England area. So it’s hard for us midwesterners to have access to respected woodworking instructors from the better-known schools. But this February 23 and 24 (Friday evening and Saturday), Phil Lowe will be in Des Moines. This is a great opportunity for woodworkers in the Des Moines area. This event is sponsored by the Des Moines Woodworkers Association and will be held at the Woodsmith Store. During Saturday’s session, he will show you how to design and build a pedestal table. Now, whether or not you’re into traditional-style furniture, this is a great opportunity to learn and interact with a true craftsman at work.

Phil Lowe has been involved with woodworking since 1968 and is the author of many articles in Fine Woodworking Magazine. He is featured in the Time Life series on woodworking and in videos with The Taunton Press on Carve a Ball and Claw Foot, Making a Sheraton Bed and most recently, Measuring Furniture for Reproduction. His teaching experience includes ten years (1975 -1985) as an instructor at Boston’s North Bennett Street School, where he was positioned as department head for the latter five.

Since 1985 Phil has operated a furniture making and restoration shop in Beverly, MA, producing work for the private sector and museums throughout North America. In 1997 Phil started The Furniture Institute of Massachusetts which offers hands-on classes in all facets of traditional furniture making. Phil has been a visiting instructor and demonstrator at various schools and woodworking organizations throughout the United States and Canada.

The presentation on Friday, February 23rd is from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Phil will use a slide show to introduce you to his experience and philosophy of building and restoring fine furniture in his Boston workshop. The Friday evening presentation is FREE and open to the public.

The presentation on Saturday, February 24th is form 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Phil will demonstrate how to plan a piece of furniture, design appropriate joinery, and construct the piece using a combination of power and hand tools. Tickets are required in advance for the Saturday presentation. A catered Lunch is included. There is limited ticket availability.

The cost for Saturday’s seminar is $50 for members of the Des Moines Woodworkers Association and $60 for non-members. You can download an application here.

Boy, there’s nothing more frustrating than making a table saw cut on a finished piece and finding it to be a half degree off from 90 degrees! Or, that your blade is burning its way through the wood (when you know you just brought it back from the sharpener). All you get is another piece of wood for the kindling pile. And at the cost of cherry today… (don’t get me going!).

Craig Ruegsegger, senior editor for Woodsmith, ShopNotes, and Workbench magazines and head of August Home Publishing’s video group, will be at the Woodsmith Store this Thursday, Jan. 25th, to present a seminar on "Setting Up Your Table Saw for Perfect Cuts." I just visited with Craig and he says he’s "going to get into the bowels of the machine." (Okay, this should be interesting!) He did tell me he is going to try to show you up close (and personal) on our 42" plasma screen monitors how to tune up your saw.

Of course, every saw is a little bit different, but I think you will learn the basics on how to clean up your saw, adjust the tilt mechanisms, check the arbor for runout, check blade alignment and tilt stops, align the motor and pulleys, level the table, and of course, set the miter gauge, the rip fence and the guard.

This is all important stuff. Can he get through it all in an hour? Come and see!  

As an aside: Joel was out of town this week and I quickly realized "you never know what you’ve got til it’s gone!" He usually does a great job of pulling together all of the articles for the handout and then setting up some more information as a free download here on www.WoodworkingSeminars.com. I’m a lot more "computer-challenged." I could get the articles together for the handout but trying to patch together the other ones in a special format for downloading off a web page — Forget it!

Not to mention the fact that Brandi, our administrative assistant who usually runs off the handouts on our copy machine, was also out this week. So, here’s the deal. This week, ALL the articles will be in the handout. It makes for a lot of information (and me spending a lot of time monitoring the copy machine and 3-hole punch). There won’t be any additional downloads.

Though I may be "computer-challenged," fortunately I’m not "table saw-challenged." I don’t know about you, but I’m sure I can still pick up a few tips this Thursday night. I’m looking forward to seeing you there!

P.S. If you haven’t already purchased a season ticket, don’t forget this is a great way of saving money! If you use all of the "SawBuck$ Coupons" that come with a season ticket, the seminars can be as low as $1.58 each. 

P.P.S. Chris Snider from the Des Moines Register’s "Juice" newspaper made it to last week’s seminar and posted his report (complete with photos!). It’s good, take a look at it.   

-Doug  

Now that the holiday’s have come and gone, the Woodsmith Woodworking video podcasts are set to return. A lot of time and effort are put into the seminars (held weekly from September through May, at the Woodsmith Store in Des Moines, Iowa) and we hope the podcast versions of the seminars are useful to as many of you as possible.

This week’s video podcast has Craig Ruegsegger, senior editor of Woodsmith, ShopNotes , and Workbench magazines showing everyone at least 10 good reasons why woodworkers and DIY’ers alike could benefit from picking up anyone of our magazines. To watch the podcast, visit WoodworkingOnline, or click here: 10 of Our All-Time Favorite Woodworking Tips.

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

Most of us wouldn’t need much help in setting up a shop if we had unlimited space, time and money. But what if all three are at a premium? The solution could be as simple as maximizing your space using the "minimalist" approach as proposed by Jim Downing, senior design editor for Workbench magazine. Back in October of 2006, Workbench featured Jim’s plans for a fully functional shop that could be set up in only 50 square feet! (That’s about a 5′ x 10′ space for those of us who are dimensionally challenged.)

It’s hard to say what Jim will come up with that’s new and exciting this time. You can find out by attending our first seminar of the 2007 Winter season at the Woodsmith Store in Des Moines, IA.

Note: Can’t attend the seminars in person? Then you’ll want to check out our seminar podcasts at WoodworkingOnline.com.  

Jim Hockins; Paint and Finish Manager, The Woodsmith Store

Kelle Collins; Interior, Decorative and Faux Finish Painting by Kelle Collins

Jessica Lang Gerhart; Interior Designer, Brushstrokes Decorative Painting