Beginning Character Carving, Saturday May 12

This beginning class will jumpstart all the skills you'll to carve small 3-dimensional figurines. Caricature carving is a load of fun and provides a lot of latitude for creativity. Instructor Jim LeClaire will guide you through a step-by-step focus for carving characters so you can successfully bring forth a figurine from a block of wood by the end of the class.

Beginning Character Carving

Highland's Upcoming Woodworking Class Schedule in Atlanta

Many classes fill up quickly, so please register now to make sure we hold a spot for you.

May 12   Beginning Character Carving
May 12   Antiques Show and Tell
May 16   Table Saw Orientation
May 18-20   Relief Carving
May 22-23   Build a Bookcase
May 26   Basic Bowl Turning
May 30   Taming the Skew
May 31   Timber Framing
June 3   Natural Edge Bowl Turning
June 13   Coloring with Wood
June 2   Beginning Turning
June 5   Hand Planes
June 6   French Polish Workshop
June 9   Introduction to Chip Carving
June 9   Antiques Show and Tell
June 10   Basic Bowl Turning
June 12   Make a Picture Frame
June 16   Cabinets and Built-Ins
June 22-23   Creative Furniture Design
June 25   Build a Base Cabinet
June 30-July 1   Marquetry in Depth

Classes Suitable for Teens

View Slideshows of Classes

Save $80 to $300 on these terrific values while limited sale quantities last:

Show Your Stuff!

We invite you to SEND US PHOTOS
of your favorite woodworking projects along with captions and a brief history of your woodworking. (Email photos at 800x600 resolution.) Receive a $50 store gift card if we show your stuff in a future issue.

This month we are featuring jewelry boxes by 18-year old Tyler Stokes, an aspiring woodworker.

CLICK HERE to take a closer look
at Tyler's impressive craftsmanship:

Show Us Your Wood Carving!

For this column exclusively devoted to woodcarving, we invite you to SEND US PHOTOS of your favorite woodcarving projects along with captions and a brief history of your woodcarving. (Email photos at 800x600 resolution.) Receive a $50 store gift card if we show your carving work in a future issue!

This month we are featuring Richard Cheek's diverse carvings, including a very lifelike hand!

CLICK HERE to take a closer look at the piece Richard's wife is
"not fond of"!

Do you have a great idea for staying alert and helping to avoid injuries in your workshop? If so, we want to hear about it! . Receive a $25 store gift card if we feature your tip in a future issue.

This month we hear from Jeanne Kent about how she learned to improve her safety awareness around the rotary tools she uses in her woodworking.

CLICK HERE to check out Jeanne's safety tip!

NEW Festool Domino XL SUPER-SIZED Joiner

Festool's Domino joinery system has already revolutionized mortise and tenon joinery. Now the new Domino XL has super-sized it as well! Check out this amazing new tool:

New Downloadable Project Plan: Scooter

Here's a new downloadable project plan for a children's plaything designed by Kevin McGuire, author of the popular book " The All-New Woodworking For Kids ". This classic old-fashioned scooter is a kid's second-best friend!

Place your order online and after it has been processed by our staff, you will receive an email with a link to download your plan set in PDF form. Check back next month for another great new downloadable plan from Kevin!

CLICK HERE for more info:

Save with our Rocker SUPER BUNDLE

First you build the rocker. Then you sculpt it into a piece of functional art. These 2 DVDs and plan set give you all you need to know to build the chair and help you master the sculpting process.

Find out more:

Charles Brock has singled out the specific tools he uses when building his chairs and listed them in one place for easy selection by woodworkers undertaking this challenging project. Check Out the Tools of the Trade:

The Highland Woodturner

Wood turning is the fastest growing part of the woodworking community. To give it the attention it deserves, we've started a new publication devoted entirely to woodturning.

Take a look at the most recent issue!

Show Your Shop!

For this popular monthly column, we invite you to SEND US PHOTOS of your woodworking shop along with captions and a brief history and description of your woodworking. (Email photos at 800x600 resolution.) Receive a $50 store gift card if we show your shop in a future issue.

Featured this month is Matthew Curry's workshop in Bainbridge Island, WA.
CLICK HERE for a look inside:

Our May Lie-Nielsen
Tools of the Month:
Scraping Planes

After last month's post on free-hand scrapers, we thought it might be useful to follow up with an article about the scraping planes, where the scraper rides in a plane body. Both the 212i and the #85 excel at retaining a flat surface, but each one has unique features that make it stand apart.

Read Lee's blog post about the Lie-Nielsen #212i & #85 to find out more:

Take a closer look at the Lie Nielsen #85 Cabinetmaker's Scraper and the Small Cast Ductile Iron Scraping Plane :

Festool CT Boom Arm Set

Off To The (Discount) Store For Woodworking Supplies

Put On Your Woodworking Shoes

Dados With A Festool Router and Guiderail

Miter Saw Workstation Update

This month, Steven Johnson, the Down to Earth Woodworker, offers some thoughts on his new Festool CT Boom Arm Set (and how much he likes it!) as well as a quick tip on using a Festool router and guide rail to make dados. But we aren't all serious here, as Steven offers some handy advice for getting the most out of your next trip to the big box discount store as well as his recommendations for woodworking shoes and how this industry should advance.

CLICK HERE to learn about Steven's new shoe idea, "The Underhill Underfoots", and much more!

Set of 6 Narex Bevel Edge Chisels with Magnetic Tool Holder, only $49.99

These award-winning chisels are among our most popular. Set of 6 includes magnetic tool holder. Named "Best Value" by FWW magazine.

CLICK HERE for more info:

Making Wood Tools
with John Wilson

Veteran toolmaker and teacher John Wilson brings us what may be both the most beautiful book of the year as well as the most useful. Interesting stories, innovative designs, and detailed plans introduce you to the age-old art of making for yourself the tools you use in your shop for working wood. 275 photos and 50 drawings. CLICK HERE for more info:

$14.99 Digital Caliper

For our digitally inclined woodworkers, we are pleased to offer a 6" polycarbonate fractional Digital Caliper that displays 128ths of an inch, as well as decimals and millimeters on a 1/2" high easy-to-read LCD screen.

CLICK HERE for more info:

SALE on Hofmann & Hammer Workbenches

Three models of our ever-popular Hofmann & Hammer premium German workbenches are now on sale. Choose the model that fits your shop and budget. CLICK HERE for more info:

Ask the Staff

Question:   My bandsaw can be operated at more than one speed. Which is the best speed for cutting wood and should I change speeds for certain wood cutting tasks and using different blades?

Check out the answer HERE:

E-mail us with your woodworking questions. If yours is selected for publication, we'll send you a free Highland Woodworking hat.

Finishing Wood
with Alan Noel

Satin Finishes

Since the early 70s satin finishes have been widely used in manufacturing for a variety of reasons - the main one being to hide the fact that "wood and wood products" like MDF, particle board and paper thin veneers were being used instead of the more expensive solid core substrates and thicker veneers.

Here are SIX TIPS to help you with your satin finishes:

Masterpiece Wood Finish, New 3-part oil/wax finish

Masterpiece Wood Finish is a new oil/wax system designed by a chairmaker to enhance the beauty of wood for interior furniture. This system takes the guesswork out of selecting a great finish for the fine woodworking projects in which you've invested so many hours of work. Check out this great new wood finishing solution:

Chairmaker Brian Boggs to be featured in the May episode of The Highland Woodworker , our brand new FREE web TV show

Watch The Highland Woodworker

This new episode spotlights master planemaker Ron Brese, who could not find plane perfection until he made his own. Find out how chairmaker Brian Boggs uses everything from a shave horse to an adult erector set (see photo) to build beautiful seating in our Moment with a Master. Bert the Wood Expert tells us where cherry gets its character. Our Tool Box segment demonstrates a tool you should carve out a place for in your tool box, and much more.

Hand Planes:
Unlocking the Mystery

Like many other woodworkers I decided early on I would be a "Normite" and bow to the superior precision of power tools. Hand tools seemed just too imprecise and hard to master. But somewhere along the way, I developed affection for hand planes and began to unlock the mysteries of their use. Now, their secrets solved, they are a regular part of my woodworking practice. They can be for you too.

CLICK HERE to unlock the mystery of hand planes!

Video Product Tour:
SawStop Contractor Saw

The SawStop 10" Contractor Saw is the safest contractor saw on the market, and we are pleased to now be able to offer and ship it to our customers nationwide within the 48 contiguous United States.

CLICK HERE to see the video:

CLICK HERE to see a video demo on how to assemble a new SawStop Contractor Saw:

NEW Rikon 14" Professional Bandsaw

Rikon's engineers have outdone themselves with their new heavy duty 14" Professional Bandsaw. Offering a huge 14" resaw capacity, large table, robust fence, built-in LED light, and a choice of powerful motors (2.5 HP or 3.0 HP). We are due to receive our first shipment later this month. Pre-order now for earliest delivery.

CLICK HERE for more info:

Quick Action Clamp SALE
Only $9.99 - $14.99 each

Not only do these lightweight clamps make excellent one-handed pump action clamps for positioning, glue-up and repair, in no time flat they convert into spreaders for joint disassembly or for leveling jacks in cabinet installations. Rated at 330 lbs. of force.
CLICK HERE for more info:

NEW Narex Premium
Bevel Edge Chisels

Narex's new premium bevel edged chisels are of exceptional quality. The blades are fine-grained, nicely tempered chrome-manganese steel in the slimmer cross section that joiners prefer. They take and hold a beautiful edge without brittleness.

CLICK HERE for more info:

Now save $40 on our Earlex HV5500 Sprayer package deal

Earlex has juiced up the turbine motor on its ever-popular HV5000 Spray Station, creating its higher-performance successor, the Earlex HV5500 Spray Station.

CLICK HERE for more info

CLICK HERE to watch a video product tour of the Earlex HV5500

Knew Concepts Woodworker's Fretsaw

Ingeniously designed to be both light and strong as well as simple to adjust and use, this extremely popular new premium fretsaw makes it easier than ever to remove waste when cutting dovetails.

What makes it special?

Rikon 70-050VS VARIABLE SPEED Mini-Lathe, only $249.99

This is a great deal on a variable speed mini-lathe. Speed is easily adjusted within each of 3 variable speed ranges (300-700 rpm, 700-1500 rpm, and 1500-3350 rpm) simply by turning a knob. Sale quantity limited.

CLICK HERE for more info:

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How to submit an article to Wood News

Order a Highland Gift Card

Map to our Atlanta store

WOOD SLICER Testimonial

Just got my new Wood Slicer blade, set it up and "O-My-God" what a difference. My old blade had 11/16" drift in 8 inches. This one, I set it up straight and it resaws straight. Thank you very much. Really enjoyable. Cuts like going through butter. I've never had a blade cut so good. Ever.

— Ron Klingler

Get Yourself a Wood Slicer:

CLICK HERE to watch a video tour of the Wood Slicer: