Well, it's been a fun time, but the Northern Woods Exhibition has finally come to a close...

With 60 mortises awaiting, I'm now in the process of making 30 floating tenons. The black walnut off-cuts I've selected will work fine...

When you have a lot of mortises to cut, it helps to have the right tool for the job. These end mills are just the ticket...

The twenty-ninth annual Northern Woods Exhibition, sponsored by the Minnesota Woodworkers Guild, is just around the corner. That's why you see all this white paint in my studio...

As I began stacking up these desk brackets, my imagination began to see gold! But, alas, it's merely brass. Although, with the price of copper these days, brass is nothing to sneeze at. Perhaps in my next life I'll make brackets out of gold...

The 350 square feet of space in my studio gives few options for managing multiple projects, but as I wait between stages of milling the black walnut parts for the desk, I must keep busy! The desk is still my top priority, but the parts for the desk stand need some extra time acclimating to the shop, so it's now time to break out this beautiful red elm...

Wow, I just wrapped up my second of two hand cut dovetailing demos. What an awesome time! The idea for this came from the Minnesota Woodworkers Guild. I was honored with a request from the guild to conduct a class/demo in my shop. What the guild set out to do was to encourage more sharing/education between guild members. So, I put together a demo for hand cutting dovetails. Two other guild members did similar sessions on different topics in February, so it feels like we are off to a good start. For me, the experience was totally worth it. For the two sessions, a total of eleven woodworkers were in my shop. Everyone had a keen interest, and lots and lots of questions...

Two months have passed since I last wrote about the desk project. The black walnut planks for the desktop have been equilibrating to the shop atmosphere. The client has had an opportunity to see the planks in person, and all systems are go as I begin to shape the wood. I used a jig saw to cut the desktop planks to rough length...

While the black walnut wood for the desk project settles, I have an opportunity to help a client with the repair of a 1960s vintage lamp shade that's taken an unfortunate tumble. I'll also need to replace the shade fabric. The fabric is typical of this type of lamp in that it is bonded to a sheet of styrene that rests in a groove in the wooden frame. New wood to replace the damaged part at the top of the shade will need to be matched to the cherry wood in the shade's frame. This shade is part of a set of three. Fortunately the other two just need to have the aging fabric replaced...