WSC Designs

This Week in the Shop: Ceramic 3-D Printing via Shapeways.com

In the late 1800’s and into the early 1900’s, a number of furniture makers, craftsman and artisans reacted against the massive mechanization and industrialization of (their) modern world to create a type of furniture called Arts & Crafts, Craftsman or Mission style furniture. Gustav Stickley in New York, the Roycroft community and others created furniture, which to my eyes, can’t be beat by anything that’s ready-to-assemble.

While I find my heart and soul called by Mr. Morris’s chair, other artisans were getting in on the action. With so much intellectual rebellion running about, some energy had to flow into pottery, right? I’m not a big pot fan (yep, that reads differently than it did in my head) but I do appreciate the art tiles. I just had to find a way to make one without using actual clay. I don’t have the sculpting skills, tools, a kiln or materials for such work.

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So how did I do it? I used some of the latest and most innovative prototyping methods known to man.

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Community Watch: Build a Bench Is Complete!

Of the three or so classes I’ve taught at TX/RX Labs and the twenty to thirty projects I’ve taught at work, the simple bench project remains my favorite. It is an intermediate level project which can be reached by absolute beginners, it’s cheap to build (approximately $15 w/ finish) and it lends itself to multiple machines (tablesaw, bandsaw, drill press) and hand tools.

I present the latest and greatest class yet:

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Special thanks to Pratt for building extra supports for himself and everyone else, shout out to Sean for the intense questions, my teaching assistants, and everyone else in the class. Sure made my weekend.

Community Watch: Build a Bench this Memorial Day Weekend!

Are you in the Houston area? Ever wanted to get started woodworking? Maybe you just enjoy benches as much as I do?

Join me for the Wood Workshop at TX/RX Labs on Sat. & Sun. May 25th & 26th (5/25 & 5/26) from 9am-5pm.

: The Finished Bench

I will be walking you through how to build the simple bench project, start to finish. As TX/RX so elegantly put it:

Build a simple bench using both hand tools and power tools. A perfect intro to woodworking, we will cover basic tool usage both hand and power along with learning the basics of crafting with wood. All participants will complete a handsome rustic bench as part of the class, theirs to take home upon completion.

You’ll become familiar with the bandsaw, powered miter saw and all the hand tools stuffed away in the tool chest. I’ll run you through stain, varnish and paint as finishes for pine. If you take your time, I’m hoping yours will outshine mine.

Make it safe & keep the rubber side down.

Community Watch: Intro to Woodworking Tools

Last Saturday I had the chance to introduce ten students to woodworking tools – great bunch! If you are interested in learning how to use power tools and are in the Houston area, why don’t you sign up for a class over at TX/RX Labs?

Intro to Woodworking Tools behind the tablesaws. 110 fingers.

Join me for a second class in June!

Make it safe & keep the rubberside down this weekend.

Tool Primer: How To Finish Your Woodworking Project: Sanding

In the next two Tool Primer articles, I will discuss my process for finishing a woodworking project. The finishing process is the difference between a good woodworking project and a heirloom piece of furniture. When I want to really knock a project out of the park, I focus much of my energy on choosing and creating a proper finish.

So here’s my advice: sand it well and thin it as well.
In this article, I’ll focus on sanding. More after the jump!
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Community Watch: Intro To Woodworking Tools

For those readers who are looking to get into woodworking and live in the Houston area, consider joining me for Intro to Woodworking Tools on Saturday, April 13, 9am to 12pm at TX/RX Labs.

I will be focusing on safety procedures for a number of common hand power tools, the table saw, router, oscillating sander, miter saw and others. Check out the link above for more information!

Community Watch: Art Car Registration is Open

Every year, I celebrate a my student’s success (and my survival) with 250,000 of my closest friends. How do I do that? I take a van filled with students and covered in wood butterflies downtown for a little ride.

A little ride in the Houston Art Car Parade.

If you are a Houstonian maker, teacher, artist, mover or shaker, you need to fire up the welders, put on the mechanic’s gloves, break out the oil paints and get creative. It’s Art Car season!

Entries are open now!

Make it safe and keep the rubber-side down.

Tool Primer: How to Select & Use Jigsaws

Some tools do only one thing well. Some tools do a lot of things well if you know how to use them. The jigsaw (or sabersaw), in my opinion, is unique in the pantheon of modern woodworking tools as it does nearly everything with equal parts of ineptness and frustration. So why keep it around? It’s the only portable tool that cuts curves. And that makes it invaluable in the shop when the project calls for it.

Community Watch: Sustainable Living Fest of Houston, TX

This weekend I got the opportunity to enjoy a some beautiful weather & check out Houston’s Sustainable Living Fest held at Market Square Park. Houston might be the epicenter of the oil & gas industry, but it has a wonderful green and sustainable environmental underground. There’s a lot of cross-pollination too. For example, the Galveston Bay Foundation raises salt marsh grass in donated space inside a NRG power plant. The City of Houston has a number of big corporations headquartered here and its also funds the Houston ReUse Warehouse.

Lots of companies, non-profits and government agencies were represented yesterday. Hope to see you there next year!

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Make it safe & keep the rubberside down this weekend.

This Week in the Shop: The Tool Stand

If you give a woodworker a table saw, he realizes new vistas awakening in his craft. If you give him a table saw, he’d like a sweet router table. If he makes that router table, he’d need a bench to store his other bench-top tools. If he has a stand for his bench-top tools, he’d want storage for their accessories…..

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