Featured Classes
French Polish Workshop with Alan Noel
Wednesday, Jan. 17
6pm-9pm
Class Size: 16
Tuition: $60
Demo/Seminar
Item# 991487
Using the Skew with Skill & Confidence with Hal Simmons
Sunday, Jan. 21
9am to 5pm
Class Size: 8
Tuition: $95
Hands On Workshop
Item# 991515
Making Toys That Teach with Tony Suess
Saturday, Jan. 27
9am-4pm
Class Size: 15
Tuition: $75
Demo/Seminar
Item# 991491
Alan Noel's Finishing Corner
Another Year Fades Away
The holidays for me means getting the table leaves out of the closet and the chairs from the bedrooms to accommodate the parties and the many visitors during the holiday season. Since things are being moved about, I take time to inspect the color and overall condition of my furnishings.
The warm bright sun we all seek will also, with time, fade and degrade everything in its path including art, fabrics and carpets. Finishes will also fail sooner, rather than later from expansion and contraction due to direct sunlight.
However, there are a few moves we can make and now would be a good time to take a few steps to care for our prized possessions, to keep our colors from fading from the sun and to slow down the deterioration of wood finishes.
Kathleen Kruse: A Chip Off the Ol' Block
by Doug Hall
Kathleen Kruse was recently awarded Second Place in the Highland Woodworking Scratch Awl Turning Contest. We had not planned on awarding a Second Place prize, but due to the large number of votes Kathleen's entry received, we felt she deserved recognition.
Doug Hall spoke to Kathleen and learned that when it comes to woodworking, her careful work and her attention to detail, she owes a great deal to her dad.
Read Doug's interview with Kathleen Kruse
Ask the Staff
E-mail us at woodnews@highlandwoodworking.com with your woodworking or finishing questions. Selected questions will be answered in future issues. If your question is selected for publication, we'll send you a free Highland Hardware hat.
Question: I am making a pasta board for my nephew who is an up-and-coming chef. What do you recommend in the way of a finish? Apparently pasta boards and cutting boards should have a fairly "open grain" finish, rather than a hard surface film like a varnish or polyurethane finish.
Employee Contribution
The History of Work is a Human Story: Highland Woodworking's Antique Tools
by Chris Black
If you've ever visited our showroom in Atlanta, you've probably noticed the antique woodworking tools on display around the store. You'll see backsaws, carpenter's saws, braces, spokeshaves, gauges, drawknives, squares and of course planes of every kind. These tools are part of a larger collection started by our now retired owner, Chris Bagby. Chris acquired these wonderful tools over many years and kept them at Highland Woodworking. Occasionally we'd bring some of them out for display, but the vast majority has been kept in storage for close to 20 years. We recently rediscovered the collection in our attic during some house cleaning. Finding these tools was like uncovering buried treasure, at least to us woodworkers. We couldn't help but think of all the stories these well-worn jewels had to tell.
Read The History of Work is a Human Story
View images of Highland Woodworking's antique tools
COMING SOON!
Highland Woodworking's "Featured Fluke"!
fluke (flōōk), n.: an accidental advantage; a stroke of good luck.
This year Highland Woodworking brings you an exciting new opportunity to save on select items! At least once a month, at www.highlandwoodworking.com, we will offer a "Featured Fluke", a special buy on a featured item. The Featured Fluke will only be available online, and there will only be a limited quantity available. The Fluke will be listed only until it is sold out, and once it is sold out, it will no longer be available. No rainchecks or backorders will be offered.
To keep you on your toes, we will not announce on what day the Featured Fluke will be listed, so you'll have to check our website to see! We also will not reveal how many of the Fluke are available, so you'll have to act fast if you want one!
We will tell you this much, however: The Featured Fluke will always be listed during the week (Monday-Friday), and it will be posted on the homepage of our website at 10:00AM EST on the chosen day.
Don't miss the first Featured Fluke, coming sometime this month to www.highlandwoodworking.com!
New Year's Greetings from Our Owner
Dear Woodworker,
As we approach our 30th year serving woodworkers, we at Highland Woodworking would like to thank you for your incredible support.
Years ago, the people who work here created a Vision Statement for our enterprise:
"Highland Woodworking is a Learning Community that fosters the Joy of Craftsmanship and a Passion for Excellence."
Whether it is seeking advice from the many woodworking experts on our staff, taking part in our workshops and seminars, or just browsing the huge resource of useful information contained in our excellent catalog, website and store, your participation and enthusiasm is what has made the work meaningful and worthwhile for us.
We welcome your presence in our Learning Community, and we especially welcome your visits, be they by phone, mail, the Internet or in person.
Best wishes for the coming year.
Sincerely,
Chris Bagby, Owner & Founder
Highland Woodworking, Inc.
NEW!
E.T. Roberts & Lee Handsaws!
For years we've searched for professional quality, western-style carpenter's saws. You know, the kind Disston, Stanley and Sandvik used to make. All we wanted were well-shaped wooden handles, brass buttons, taper ground blades, a choice of rip or crosscut teeth and decent steel; too much to ask apparently.
Well, guess what we found in the U.K.? E.T. Roberts & Lee has been manufacturing really first-rate handsaws in England since 1908. Their Dorchester series is their premium line. Not only do they make carpenter's saws, but wonderful joinery saws as well. All E.T. Roberts & Lee Dorchester saws come with American black walnut handles, solid brass hardware, high-grade steel blades and plastic tooth protectors.
See Highland Woodworking's Selection of Roberts & Lee Saws
Giveaway Winner to be Announced Soon!
The winner of the Highland Woodworking New Kind of Power Tool Giveaway will be announced within the next couple of weeks. Visit www.highlandwoodworking.com on or about January 29, 2007 to see who the lucky winner is!