Highland Woodworking Wood News Online, No. 88, December 2012 Welcome to Highland Woodworking - Fine Tools & Education Learn more about Highland Woodworking View our current woodworking classes and seminars Woodworking articles and solutions Subscribe to Wood News
Class: Turn a Peppermill, December 9, 2012

Here's a chance to create a wonderful, handcrafted gift!
Freshly ground pepper always tastes better, especially if it comes from a pepper grinder you make yourself. Now, you can learn how to make your own peppermill on the lathe.

Turn a Peppermill Class, Dec. 9


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.

Dec 6  Timber Framing
Dec 8  Beginning Turning
Dec 8  Scott Antique Show Secrets
Dec 9  Turn a Peppermill
Dec 11  Hand Tool Sharpening
Dec 12  Finishing the Finish
Dec 13  Milling and Jointing Lumber
Dec 15  Hand Cut Dovetails
Dec 19  French Polish Workshop
Jan 5  Hand Cut Dovetails
Jan 6  Tablesaw Basics
Jan 8  Hand Planes
Jan 9  Sharpening for Turners
Jan 12  Beginning Turning
Jan 13  Turn a Peppermill
Jan 15  Hand Tool Sharpening
Jan 16  Finishing the Finish
Jan 17  Old Fashion Mortise and Tenon
Jan 19  Basic Bowl Turning
Jan 20  Turning Form
Jan 23  French Polish Workshop
Jan 30  Wood Coloring Basics

Classes Suitable for Teens

View Slideshows of Classes


NEW Knew Concept Saws

Lee Marshall has expanded his line of innovative premium saws to include a new 6-1/2" Coping Saw as well as the new Titanium Birdcage Fretsaw which comes in 3 sizes. Still extremely popular are his original 5" and 8" premium aluminum fretsaws. Incredibly stiff and strong, all these saws have featherweight balance for the utmost control.

CLICK HERE for more info:


SawStop PCS Tablesaw SawStop Tablesaw
An easy way to make your shop SAFER


Great Prices on 3 Rikon Bandsaw Models at Highland Woodworking

Save on these terrific values while limited sale quantities last:



Great Prices on
Rikon Planers

CLICK HERE for more info:


Show Your Stuff!

woodworking tools

woodworking tools

This month we are featuring rocking horses made by two different woodworkers - Kenneth Sternberg of Mauldin, NC and Jack Masten of North Creek, NY.

CLICK HERE to take a closer look at Kenneth's rocking horses:


and CLICK HERE to see more of Jack's rocking horses:


Show Us Your Wood Carving!
woodworking tools

Greg Little has always been fascinated with sculpting and carving solid wood furniture, keepsake and jewelry boxes. This month we are featuring some of his beautiful jewelry boxes, each one made from a single continuous board.

CLICK HERE to take a closer look at these meticulously carved pieces:


James Randolph discovered recently in his shop that overconfidence can be a dangerous enemy of the power tool-user.

CLICK HERE to read his story:


This Month on
The Highland Blog


Hammers I Have Known and Loved by Terry Chapman

When I am on a job site in a supervisory role and not doing a lot of actual work, I carry a small trim hammer. The little hammer makes me the butt of many jokes as some people call it a girlie hammer or think it is just a toy. I can assure you it is not a toy and it will flat move a nail. Something about the size of the fight in the dog.

How many hammers do you have in your shop? Read more about Terry's collection on the Highland Blog:


New Downloadable Project Plan:
Rockin' Elephant

Kevin McGuire, author of the popular book " The All-New Woodworking For Kids " provides a new project plan in each issue of Wood News.

An heirloom, vintage-inspired balance toy for young children, the Rockin' Elephant is just in time for holiday gifting!

Order your plan online by adding it to your shopping cart. 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:


NEW BOOK: Grandpa's Workshop

Beautifully illustrated, this is a perfect gift for your child, grandchild or any other young person whose creativity and interest in woodworking you would like to inspire.

CLICK HERE for more info:


The Versatile Pattern Maker's Vise

What CAN'T this vise do? This may be the most versatile stock control device you've ever imagined.

CLICK HERE for more info:

Watch a video demo:



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 newest issue:

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

Check Out the Tools of the Trade:

 Inside This Issue
Finishing My Stout Work Bench
Show Stopper: My Turned Bottle Stopper
My Woodworking Bucket List
Show Us Your Shop
The Down to Earth Woodworker
Q&A: Building a Cowcatcher
Show Us Your Stuff: Kenneth Sternberg
Show Us Your Stuff: Jack Masten
Show Us Your Carving
FINISHING: Steaming Mars
SAFETY: Be Confident, not Overconfident

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 credit if we show your shop in a future issue.
Show Us Your Shop!
This month we are featuring Jeff Street's Livonia, MI shop, a 'dream building' in his backyard that allowed him to move his workshop, along with all the dust and noise, out of his basement.

CLICK HERE for a look inside:


Save on select woodworking books

CLICK HERE for more info:


Our December Lie-Nielsen
Tool of the Month:

The Dowel Plate

This simple, old-fashioned tool lets you make your own dowels in any kind of wood you please, in 7 common and useful sizes. Operation is quite simple: split, whittle or shave a dowel or tenon blank to rough size, then drive it through the target hole in the dowel plate to produce an accurately dimensioned dowel. Also available in metric.

Read Lee Laird's blog post about the Lie-Nielsen Dowel Plate to learn more:

Take a closer look at the Lie-Nielsen Dowel Plate:

Watch a video product tour to see how the Dowel Plate works:


By Steven D. Johnson,
Racine, Wisconsin

Holiday Season Time-Saving Tips

The Language of Numbers

More on the Beard/Mask Interface

A Dusty Yuletide Tale

In his December column, The Down to Earth Woodworker offers a host of time-saving tips to use in your shop right now, which couldn't come at a better time for most of us! Steve also reflects on 'the language of numbers' and implores our community of typically very-precise woodworkers to use that precision in our language. And then things get a little dusty in the Down to Earth workshop, as Steve addresses the beard-in-the-dusty-workshop conundrum further and tells the tale of his dustiest-day-ever.

Short on time this holiday season? If so CLICK HERE to check out Steve's time-saving tips:


woodworking tools

Finishing my Stout Work Bench

By John Bonin
Upland, CA

I just recently finished my stout work bench and began the carcase to hold four large drawers underneath. I wanted to make the drawer fronts fancy, so I went and bought a 8 foot 4x4 Redwood stick with a great looking end grain pattern.

CLICK HERE to see how John came up with this great design:


My Woodworking Bucket List

By Howard Van Valzah
Roscoe, IL

woodworking tools This year I was finally able to cross a trip to the International Woodworking Fair off of my bucket list. Do you have such a list? If not, perhaps now is the time to think about making one before it is too late. I'll show you my list which I have partially completed, and maybe it will provide some ideas for your list and you can suggest some things to me that I have overlooked.

CLICK HERE to see Howard's Woodworking Bucket List:


Ask the Staff

Question:   I would like to make wooden trains as holiday gifts. My woodworking skills are limited and I can't figure out how I can make the cow catcher for the front on the train engine as I envision it: two 30 degree angles coming into a point. Can you give me any suggestions?

Check out the answer HERE:


Finishing Wood
with Alan Noel
wood finishing
Steaming Mars

During the coarse of building a project it is very hard to avoid those pesky dents and dings along the way. These have to be addressed before the finishing process can begin or else you will just find these flaws staring back at you.

Here are ELEVEN tips for removing a mar from your project before you start finishing:

Families Love our Kid's Woodworking Tool Kit

Our very popular Woodworking Tool Kit for Kids is a great way to introduce kids to the joys of woodworking. These are real tools that really work, and the 2 instructional books show how to build more than 50 useful projects. Makes a great Christmas present!

What's in the kid's tool kit?





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Browse our woodworking tips

How to submit an article to Wood News

Order a Highland Gift Card

Map to our Atlanta store


More Featured Products
• Amana 60t Crosscut Blade
• Earlex 5500HV Spray Station
• Festool XL DF 700 Joiner
• Lenox Carbide Bandsaw Blades
• Masterpiece Wood Finish
• Quick-Action Bar Clamps


Exquisite Lie-Nielsen Bronze 101 Block Plane Makes a Great Gift

This extremely beautiful and conveniently pocket-sized block plane will find uses on practically any project. It's the ideal stocking stuffer for any woodworker who loves and appreciates fine tools.

CLICK HERE for more info:

Watch the 101 Plane Product Tour

Check out our many other woodworking videos on our Youtube Channel


Woodworkers Dial Caliper

One of our all-time best-selling tools, our stainless steel woodworker's dial caliper is calibrated in fractions the way woodworkers are accustomed to measuring thicknesses. An excellent gift, it includes a protective case.

CLICK HERE for more info:


Kreg Precision Benchtop Router Table

CLICK HERE for more info:


New LOWER PRICES on our splendid Auto-Adjust Toggle Clamps by Bessey

Toggle clamps are the true bread and butter of jig creation. Bessey has reinvented the toggle clamp to accelerate the jigging process by instantly adjusting to the thickness of a workpiece. We invite you to try one of our sampler packs , one each of all three models, or two each of the popular horizontal models.

CLICK HERE for more info:


Bessey VARIABLE-ANGLE Strap Clamp

Several innovative features of Bessey's new design make using a strap clamp far easier and more versatile than ever before.

CLICK HERE for more info:


Bessey K Body Clamps now at a POPULAR PRICE

Bessey's new REVO Jr. K Body parallel clamps make it far more affordable to benefit from K Body's high performance design in your workshop.

CLICK for more info:


Rikon 10" Bandsaw

This is an excellent value in a compact bandsaw, great as your first bandsaw bought on a budget, or as a second bandsaw that allows you to avoid constantly swapping blades on your main bandsaw.


Workbench SALE

New shipments have just arrived. Now's the time to invest in a quality workbench for your shop.

CLICK HERE for more info:


The 4th episode of The Highland Woodworker Web TV features a tour of Woodworking in America and a visit to Craig Nutt's Tennessee shop.

CLICK HERE for the episode:


The Show Stopper

woodworking tools By Dick Rank
Atlanta, GA

For some time now, a number of talented woodworkers have been 'turning out' a variety of beautiful bottle stoppers. I decided that I would improve on the stopper design, produce a number of them, and then give these brilliantly-designed stoppers to all of my friends and family as Christmas gifts.

CLICK HERE to find out if Dick's brilliant design was a success:


WOOD SLICER Testimonial

Well my 5/8" resaw bandsaw blade finally broke after three or four years, and it was time to try your Wood Slicer bandsaw blade. As you already know it does everything that you said and more. Everything I saw with it comes out the same, perfect. One light pass through the planer or drum sander is all that's needed to make it smooth. And it is so smooth that on some things it could pass without sanding. It takes less power and is very quiet. Keep up the good work!

— Robert P.

Get Yourself a Wood Slicer:

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

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