Great Strides at White Water Shaker Village

The woodworkers who are restoring the White Water Shaker Village are making significant progress – just in time for the Woodworking in America tour of the village on Oct. 3.

Newly built and authentic windows are going in on the first floor of the Meeting House, which completely changes the appearance of the historic structure, both outside and in. The windows are walnut, just like the originals, and are being built using donations from the public (our magazine has sponsored construction of one of the windows).

Inside the meeting house, the restored wainscot is also changing the feeling of the entire first floor. All in all, the structure is beginning to feel a lot like the Shaker Meeting House at Pleasant Hill, which I visited last week. The open space. The nice woodwork. The windows that look out over a pastoral scene.

This fall, we'll be offering a guided tour of the White Water Shaker Village (which is not open to the public) for attendees of our Woodworking in America conference. We've chartered a bus to take about 50 attendees up to the village on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 3. The additional cost will be $15 – just enough to cover the bus rental.

While at the village, you'll get a guided tour of many of the structures curated by the Friends of White Water Shaker Village, a non-profit group that is devoted to restoring the village outside Cincinnati and opening it to the public. The volunteers are incredibly knowledgeable about Shaker life, construction and furniture – they've taught us a lot during the last year.

If you are attending Woodworking in America and are interested in the tour of White Water, be sure to sign up for it when you register for the conference. Registration for Woodworking in America opens in early May at woodworkinginamerica.com. Space will be limited on this tour. If demand is strong we might charter a second bus, but two buses will be the maximum number of people we can manage on the grounds.

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. To read more about the White Water village, visit the organization's web site, or read this free online story I wrote or watch this video tour of the village shot by Drew DePenning.

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Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Our Office

Quick – it is time to make up a quick excuse to your boss to arrange a sham business trip to Cincinnati on June 4-5. On those two days we are going to open wide the doors of our office and shop and host a Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event.

(If you need ideas for how to trick your boss into traveling here, let me know. We have a wide variety of businesses here. Just say "Procter & Gamble," "Kroger" and "Macy's.")

 Like the event last year, this one will be large. In addition to the Lie-Nielsen folks (including Thomas Lie-Nielsen himself), we'll have John Economaki here from Bridge City Toolworks, Kevin Drake from Glen-Drake Toolworks and Andrew Lunn from Eccentric Toolworks. Oh, and how could I forget the most awesome part: members of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) are giving demonstrations on a wide variety of skills the entire two days.

Last year the SAPFM members demonstrated inlay, carving, design, moulding planes and lots of other stuff.

This year we are doing a couple things a little different. The show will be on Friday (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; no Sunday hours). But the Friday show is going to go later into the evening. We'll have some dinner food for sale. And I'll be presenting a seminar at 7 p.m. on workbenches. I'll be showing my new Roubo workbench plus some very cool workholding devices you haven't seen yet.

Then, at 8 p.m. we'll be having a big roundtable question-and-answer session with all the toolmakers. Expect some sparks to fly. Perhaps some leg wrestling and other feats of strength. If you attended last year's program, you know that things get out of hand when you throw all these people in a room.

Oh, one more thing: All of this is free. Just show up at our offices at 4700 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236 on either (or both) days.

And by the way, lots of attendees brought their families along last year. Cincinnati is a fun town for a weekend getaway. Later in the week I'll post some of my favorite things to do here and places to eat (do you like goetta? You will).

For more information, visit the Lie-Nielsen web site.

— Christopher Schwarz

Other Good Hand Tool Resources

•  John Economaki's crazy blog at Bridge City (bridgecitytools.com/blog)

• "Handplane Essentials" by Christopher Schwarz

• Andrew Lunn's blog at Eccentric Toolworks (eccentrictoolworks.blogspot.com)

• "The Complete Illustrated Guide to Sharpening" (Taunton) by Thomas Lie-Nielsen

Read detailed wood lathe reviews at Wood Lathes Online

Wood Lathe Buyer's Guide

Wood Lathe Buyer's Guide Advice on what to look for when buying a wood lathe. Whether you're looking for a starter lathe or a tool that will last you 50 years, this article provides some suggestions on what to look for.

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Care of Wood Lathe Tools Well maintained wood lathe tools are very important in wood turning. This article provides tips on how to care for your tools and keep them sharp and in good condition.

About Wood Lathe Tools

About Wood Lathe Tools This article is all about what wood lathe tools should be used for different phases of a wood turning project. It explains the functions of roughing gouges, skew chisels and other tools.

More Wood Lathes for Sale

I recently came across a new site that is listing a bunch of new wood lathes for sale. I strongly suggest you check them out, they have a lot of good deals, and provide a lot of information on the lathes they're listing. A lot of sites are simply people making a big list of products and expecting you to dig through them to find the information you need, but this site lays it all out for you.

They list the bestselling wood lathes for sale, which is very helpful since in general they sell well because they are very good tools and nice deals. I recommend taking a look at that post if you're interested in a wood lathe, you'll probably find something you like, and if not there is a more complete listing available.

Wood turning has always been a great hobby of mine, but it can be difficult finding tools, and equipment. For whatever reason it seems like there are not a lot of places to shop online and the selection is not always great. However if you're careful and with a little effort there are some really good prices out there. A lot of the wood lathes for sale are offered at pretty significant discounts online compared to retail stores.

It's definitely very important to have the right tools for the job when it comes to woodworking, and wood turning is especially demanding on your equipment. Buying the right stuff will go a log way towards making sure you produce quality work, whatever your reasons are.

The most important choice you have to make is which wood lathe to buy. What size you need, what features are most important, how much do you want to spend. These are all questions that you should be asking yourself before you get started. Everyones requirements are a little bit different and it's important to know what yours are before you make a large purchase.

Make sure to read all the reviews you can find, and if at all possible try and test out a lathe before you hand over your money.

Good luck!