A new cat-egory of woodworking!

Issue 22, April 2022

Hi ,

After all these years of producing woodworking content on Woodworking for Mere Mortals and The Weekend Woodworker, I decided it was time for a change. I’m so excited to announce an all-new venture I’m sure all of you will love. It’s called…

~ Felines for Mere Mortals ~

In this course, you’ll learn:

✔ How to live with creatures who may or may not tolerate you.
✔ How to love the smell of cat food in the morning.
✔ 75 new ways to call your cat that will receive zero response.
✔ How to make sure your cat kicks as much kitty litter out of the box as possible.
✔ When to open the door and close it. And open it. And close it. And open it. And close it.
✔ How to ensure the expensive toys you buy will never be played with.
✔ How your cat can help you transform your furniture style into “shabby chic”.
✔ What to do with the food your cat absolutely loved…until you bought a whole case of it.
✔ When it’s time to admit defeat and completely relinquish control of your household.

But wait!

✔ Act now, and we’ll enroll you in our exclusive Box-of-the-Month club. We’ll send you a cute themed box that you can fold into a castle, a barn, or a fort and decorate however you like! After assembly, simply toss it into the recycle bin and give Kitty the box it was shipped in.

“I made you this little pedestal with three glass bottles to place on top. Each bottle holds sawdust from three projects I made by joining your online courses. Thanks for introducing me to woodworking.”

Thanks a lot, John. I’ll keep this in a place of honor on my window sill.
(BTW, the RIO is the “Really, I’m Organized” storage unit from The Weekend Workshop along with the lumber storage rack. The BMW is the Basic Mobile Workbench from The Weekend Woodworker. If you haven’t made one yet, free plans are available here.)

Have a great month!

Steve

P.S. Remember a couple of issues back when we talked about the use of epoxy in woodworking? So last week on The Woodworking Talk Show podcast, I hosted a debate between Cam Anderson of Blacktail Studio and Jason Hibbs of Bourbon Moth Woodworking. I say debate, but these two guys are friends even though they have completely opposite opinions when it comes to epoxy river tables. (Hey, we could all learn something from that.)

It turned out to be a very fun episode you don’t want to miss. Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you listen to podcasts. While you’re there, check out recent episodes with Neil Patrick Harris, Jimmy Diresta, Keith Johnson, Laura Kampf, and Sam Raimondi!

About a month ago I received an email from Greg, a member of the Woodworking for Mere Mortals community, that I want to share with you today.

Like many of you, Greg found my channel about two years ago and started woodworking. His love of the hobby led him to quit his "boring desk job" and move across California to find a full-time job as a woodworker and become a carpenter's apprentice. Quite a leap of faith!

Here is an excerpt from his letter outlining how things panned out for him:

...Now I work as a carpenter building doors and windows for multi-million dollar custom homes. In my spare time though, I work in my garage that I converted into a mobile shop. I even built your Basic Mobile Workbench from the Weekend Woodworker course and am planning to install drawers and cabinets as an exercise. I plan to make more shop essentials and jigs to fully mobilize my little garage shop.

In closing, I'd like to say thank you so much for inspiring me to pursue woodworking as both a hobby and a career and for encouraging new woodworkers to join in this hobby. Keep up your great work and I look forward to your upcoming projects.

Spring is here! One of the most popular trends in recent years is raising backyard chickens. Of course, if you want to give this a shot, you’ll need a chicken coop. (Especially if the neighborhood cats haven’t enrolled in Felines for Mere Mortals.) Here are two fantastic coops from community members.

On the left is Carlos R.'s beautiful chicken villa, and on the right is Paul C.'s Swedish-style house, complete with storage in the basement and space for straw and feed in the attic. Great work!