July 2009    Issue #25

Well, we are now in the second half of the year. Hard to believe, isn't it! Time flies, just like - well, wood shavings! And have we had the wood flying. When I compared our stats with those of last year I saw that we have posted almost 10,000 projects in the last twelve months. That's ten thousand projects in just one year!! (Isn't my math great?) My goodness, we have been busy.

This month, the wood will be flying again, as many of our members get busy creating a garden bench for our very exciting Summer Awards event. If you have been disappointed in the past because you do not think you have a chance of winning, you might want to take a second look this year! For our 2009 Summer Awards there are several prizes available to honour the Award Recipients. (Check out the Awards Section for more information). And don't forget that it is our members who vote for the winning entries. Make sure you keep track of your favourites!

Whether you are building a garden bench, turning a bowl, renovating a deck, or doing some other woodworking project - happy woodworking everyone and be sure to enjoy July - it won't be here for long!

~Debbie

LumberJocks Woodworking Awards -
         Summer 2009
Once again it is time to honour our outstanding woodworkers! This time around, there is not one, not two, not three, but ten prizes! Yes, indeed, we will be acknowledging the top ten entries, voted on by the members of our site. Check out Martin's blog for the complete details.

• LumberJock Garden Bench – Whether you live in an apartment or on a grand estate a garden bench is the perfect place to sit, relax, and savour life’s gifts.
  Create the ideal bench for your outside environment and join our Summer Awards! Be sure to describe why you selected the design and show us the finished product in its new home.

Thank you to all of our sponsors for their generous support!
Sponsors: Eagle America, Fine Woodworking, Custom Branding Iron, Skil, Major League Woodworking , Steussy Creations, Lee Valley and Passion for Wood.

NOTE: There are already SEVEN entries!!!
Remember that the deadline for entries is July 31st at 3 PM Central Time!!!!

What a thrill it is to actually meet a fellow LumberJock! Perhaps you can join the upcoming event in New England or maybe organize an event in your own area!

Upcoming Events

• New England - (September Event) Host: PurpLev

Also In This Past Month

• Alvarado LJ's get together
  

10,000 Member and Beyond!

• Have you passed along your LJ eMag to a non-LumberJock, yet? Click here to forward this issue to a friend!

30 Projects in 30 Days

Last year, Scottb took on a personal challenge of building thirty projects in thirty days. This year it happened again and other LumberJocks joined in the challenge. You can follow their achievements from the sidelines OR you can join in and begin your own 30 day challenge. (The next "official" challenge begins November 1st).

• Scottb
• Darryl
• Russel

How Does Your Shop Rate?
Congratulations to Bill on having his shop honoured not once but twice! Bill's story is similar to many of us -- it started out with one little project and next thing you know, the tools begin to accumulate. I wonder what is next on Bill's list of purchases? ...

... Perhaps it is a router! Just like clamps, one can never have too many. Isn't that right, A1Jim? If you think you only need one router, you might want to think again. Check out Jim's posting about his shop.

Art Box Tutorial
Last month, Andy made a generous offer to write a tutorial on making one of his beautiful art boxes. If there was enough interest he would write the step-by-step process in his blogs. Well, the response was amazing and the tutorial has begun. He is currently showing us how to make the lid. Are you keeping up? How is your box looking? What adaptions have you made in your artistic creation? Show us what stage your box is at and share with us the skills you have learned, the challenges you have met, and the beauty you are creating!

What can take a project "over the top" and get lots of oohs and aaahs? There are many features that can be added to a woodworking project that takes it from beautiful to extraordinary. Adding inlay is one example of artistic enhancements.

What is "inlay"? Placing material such as different woods, shells, metal, or gems into grooves cut, or naturally found, in your wood is called inlaying. The options are limited only by your imagination! (And perhaps a little bit of physics. I'm sure there are some materials that are just not conducive to this process. I just don't know what they might be!)

The How: Once your artistic juices are flowing, how do you undertake the inlaying process? Check out The Wood Whisperer's tutorial, posted here, and Sawdustonmyshoulder's, here , for descriptions of how to do "wood in wood" inlay. This will give you a good understanding what is involved. If you are considering gem stones or something similar, Cindy shares the "how to" used in inlaying turquoise in this blog. Other helpful hints can be found in the abundant blogs tagged with "inlay", as well as forum topics.

The Why: From beautiful to extraordinary? You be the judge! 

The Challenge: Have you tried your hand at inlay work? Or is there a type of material that you have wanted to try using but haven't, yet? Well what better time to give it a try than now? Big or small, wood or metal - it doesn't matter. Try your hand at some inlay work and show us your results! You might even want to add a little to the garden bench you are building for our Summer Awards!

Have fun inlaying, everyone!

Once again our online shop has had lots of tips and project plans shared. Check out these treasures!

Building Tips Box Bottoms Crown Molding: Making Your Own Double Curve Jig Drawers - Sliding Greene & Green Elements Humidity and Wood Jatoba Tips Veneer - Gluing without clamps Business Tips Home Sales Pricing Your Work Finishing Dyeing Turned Pieces Dyeing Process Edge Banding Glue Lift Sanding - Wet Sanding Shine, Shine, Shine Spray Shellac Stain - Matching Existing Staining Maple Joinery Dado Joints Dowels -- make your own Miter Joints Taping: Building Columns Spline Joints Tenons Miscellaneous Black Spots on wood -- what is it? Kolrosing Projects Bed: Arts & Craft Panel Boat: Traditional Wooden Bookmarks Box - Art Box (as posted in June's eMag) Boy Scouts: Cub Cart Bracelet: Box Joint Style Bread Cooling Racks Chair Spindles Chairs: Conference Room Crib - to toybox Cupboard: Step-back Desk: Serpentine Bow Front Dorm Room Drill press Table Drying Racks for logs End Table Filing Cabinet Garden Gate: Copper Patina Kitchen Island Lazy Larry Mailbox Post Mandolin Medicine Cabinet Platter Play Kitchen Rings Sanding Blocks Shop Spiral Lazy Susan Table - Extentable Table - Jellyfish Design Table - Office Toolbox TV Stand Unknown Wood - project unfolds Workbench Woven Board Shop Space Apartment, Condos, and other non-traditional shop areas Shop Organization Shelving - Under Garage Door Tools & Equipment Plane Rehab Splitters and Riving Knives Site Tips Photo Editing of Your Project Pix   Looking for something specific? Use our "tags" tool and check out previous eMag issues!

Sample LJ Projects

Look at us!

• We are 10,814 woodworkers making 478,334 comments on 18,249 projects, 9,068 blogs, 779 reviews and 8,756 forum topics.

How Have We Grown?

• 2008: 4,789 members; 232,511 comments; 8,330 projects, 4,956 blogs, 379 reviews, and 3,759 forum topics
  
• 2007: 1094 members; 1783 projects; 596 forum topics; 1333 blog entries

HomeRefurbers.com Necessity is the mother of invention -- and when in need you do what you have to do! When HomeRefurber, Eddy, saw a need in his home, he took on this bathroom project. And didn't it turn out beautifully??!
GardenTenders.com Take a little stump... add a little whimsy... plant some flowers... and voila - a beautiful little garden spot to enjoy! That's just what our GT Member, Mario, did in this project posting.

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* more activity means more advertising potential
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How To Help

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