Too hot for woodworking? Find your own 1970s chill

Hi ,

August is a month of melancholy. When I was a kid, our summer holiday trips were usually over by now and the new school season was looming dangerously close. Ads for back-to-school sales tore at my soul a little and the endless possibilities of adventure that June offered were long gone. As a latchkey kid in the 1970s, I fell into an August routine of watching morning game shows on TV while eating Count Chocula, listening to my Kiss records, riding my bike to the community pool in the late morning, and marking time by hanging out with a revolving cast of neighborhood kids until dusk. Nothing really happened, and I kinda miss that.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that August is the only month (at least in the U.S.) without a holiday and it’s the hottest month of the year. There are no gifts to buy, decorating to do, or family gatherings to plan. It’s a month to reset. We should give ourselves permission to just hang out during the dog days of summer.

A lot of people tell me their shops are just Too Damn Hot to work in right now, and are feeling unproductive. When did we come up with this mania to be productive all the time anyway? By no means do I support a sedentary lifestyle, but we need to embrace a little downtime in order to recharge and be more effective in productive activities such as woodworking.

You might recall one of my New Year’s resolutions was to read a book every month: an actual dead tree, analog book with pages and everything. Well, in the seven months since that declaration, I’ve managed to read five books. Not bad. I’m enjoying the pace. I especially enjoyed Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner, and At The Edge Of The Haight by Katherine Seligman.

If you’re not the type to sit and read a novel, I suggest cooling off in an air-conditioned used book store (or even Goodwill) and picking up a vintage woodworking book. The ones from The 70s and early 80s are especially fun. A growing number of people are collecting these along with old woodworking magazines.

It’s interesting how minimal the (hand-drawn, of course) building plans were. In some cases, all you got was a half-page exploded view. It seems you were expected to fill in a lot of gaps. Maybe that was part of the ethos: “It wouldn’t be DIY if we handfed you every little step!” Hardly what qualifies as woodworking plans by today’s standards. As an aside, if you’ve ever wondered what’s in those “16,000 Plans” scams still infesting the internet, a large portion of them are simply poor-quality scans of these 50-year-old diagrams from extinct publications that ain’t going to sue for copyright violations.

In the introduction note for my recent nightstand plans, I wanted to address the fact that unless your bed is up against a wall, you’ll most likely want to build two (add your own joke about one-night stands). This raised the question, if you’re going to build two of something, should you build one completely, then build the second one, or build them both simultaneously? As hobbyists, most of what we build are one-off projects. That spice rack you’re making is probably the first one, and after you’re done, it’s unlikely you’ll be making another anytime soon. For a lot of us, that’s part of the appeal of woodworking; every project is a fresh new challenge.

If you’ve ever made a batch of something—say charcuterie boards for Christmas gifts (I’m looking at you, Howard)—you’ll know that the first one is more or less a test subject. You work out the kinks and improve the process for subsequent pieces. The second one is always better.

Last month, I made a pair of Adirondack chairs using a one-at-a-time method. It was the right choice for that project because I really needed to sit in the chair and have other people test it to see how it felt and if the size was adequate. I learned that it was perfect for my wife, but felt a little cramped for my body. So I made a larger version on the second go-around (plans include both sizes, BTW). The drawback is that they don’t match. For some people, that might be a dealbreaker.

The thing is, a pair of nightstands should ideally match (maybe not, though, there’s no law), and this project has a few areas that might prove tricky: gluing up the panels, making the legs, and cutting out the shelf corner notches.

You could certainly make one in its entirety to work out all the kinks and understand any pitfalls, but I think you’re more likely to have a closer matching pair if you build them simultaneously. One will still end up being better because you’ll improve each individual procedure as you do it the second time.

Also, run tests. It’s always a good idea to have a little extra lumber on hand for testing those rabbet cuts, or seeing if you really like the look of that edge profile on a drawer face. Almost every time I make a tapered leg for a table, I cut a burner leg to see if I like the shape. For any areas you think might pose special challenges, it’s much better to make an extra piece than to ruin a workpiece and have to recut it. Anytime you have to reset a stop block, rip fence, or whatever, you introduce potential inconsistencies.

But honestly, making a project in its entirety and then remaking it just isn’t quite as fun. I’m already thinking about my next project.

—Steve

P.S.: Here’s an interesting article I ran across about the early days of woodworking (pre-YouTube). Apparently, scientists think early humans were woodwork experts. I’ll still bet you anything that they had heated arguments about the best way to sharpen their spears.

MICROJIG GRR-RIPPER 2GO

Did you know I began working with Microjig all the way back in 2011? It’s crazy seeing how far they’ve come and how many fingers they’ve kept safe with the GRR-RIPPER since then.

Recently, they launched the new GRR-RIPPER 2GO, their first color-coded push block. It’s smaller than the regular GRR-RIPPER, and super handy for lots of cuts. There’s no set-up involved and it’s completely assembled right out of the box. It’s fast, grab-and-go safety for the saw with that same grippy green stuff I love. Here’s a fun video I made about the GRR-RIPPER 2GO and its features.

Good news for those of us who fondly remember watching Norm Abram back in the day; finally, there’s an official New Yankee Workshop YouTube channel streaming complete episodes! So far, it looks like the first six seasons are online… hopefully, all 21(!) seasons will eventually be uploaded.

By today’s YouTube standards, you may find the episodes a little slow, but it’s amazing how much they managed to pack into 25 minutes—tons of great woodworking tips, techniques and advice. Beautiful furniture, all made with inexpensive power tools, very few hand tools, and no CNCs... Or epoxy lol. Now if we could just get Roy Underhill!

“I love your newsletter and especially your youtube channel. You have a real knack for selecting interesting but approachable projects. Your sense of humor is delightful as well. Even your sponsored content is fun to watch. Keep doing what you are doing to educate and entertain us!

I wanted to share my most recent project with you. It is a pantry for my kitchen. Oak is a lot harder than the pine I’m used to working with so it definitely forced me to level up my skills to get a perfect fit. It took me months to make, mostly because I chose to make the panels from glued-up strips of 1/4-inch boards rather than just using plywood. I realize now that plywood would have been good enough and would have saved me dozens of hours of resawing, gluing, and sanding but I still enjoyed the shop time and am very pleased with the end result.”

—Rob D.

I’m so happy you’re enjoying TWW. Love the design on the tabletop. It reminds me of Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat! —Steve

*****

“I just wanted to send you a note of thanks for all you do with Woodworking For Mere Mortals and your help on my own woodworking journey.

I first stumbled across your YouTube channel in 2021 when I was thinking of buying a miter saw for some projects around the house and was wanting to learn more about them before buying one. When I found your channel I enjoyed the way you presented topics and how fun you made woodworking sound. After watching a lot of your videos and quite a bit of dithering, I finally took the plunge and bought the Weekend Woodworker course. I really enjoyed the first few projects but by the time I got to the paper tray I was starting to get a bit fed up, not of the course but of what a disorganized mess my garage was! There were bits of wood everywhere, the light was rubbish and I was constantly tripping over my miter saw. To me, this meant only one thing: sign up for the Weekend Workshop!

It took me a year and a half but I finally completed the Weekend Woodworker and all the Weekend Workshop courses apart from the BMW+, which I don’t have room for, and wall mounted lumber rack, which I don’t think I need since I can store wood above my garage.

Despite some mistakes and frustrations, I loved working through both courses. The projects are great fun and your teaching style is perfectly suited for a novice like me. While I have not really done any projects apart from the ones from your course and a couple of your non-course shop projects, signing up for TWW has given me the confidence to take on new projects and try new techniques I have found from watching other YouTubers. Without TWW, I don’t think I would be mixing shellac or building router sleds to smooth down oak slabs!

Of the course projects, I especially enjoyed the Catalina wall cabinet which is a beautiful piece, the dropdown work center which is a great base for working in the shop, and the home hardware store which is just a fun build.

Thank you for all you do to help make woodworking accessible to people like me who might otherwise not have the belief in themselves to give woodworking a shot and create beautiful and useful things.

Many thanks.”

—John N.

Thanks, John. I really appreciate hearing that! I like to think that my job is to simply give people a nudge to get started. — Steve

And, in the It’s-Adirondack-Chair-Season Department:

“Thank you for getting me started with woodworking. It’s been a couple of years now since I took your basic course and ever since then, I keep making different things (whenever time permits, of course). When I saw your last email it made me smile, and I am sharing my latest project with you. Also, I will be signing up for another more advanced course in the future. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the summer.

Thank you again.”

—Darko M.

*****

“Have enjoyed your newsletter and YouTube content now for a few years and also joined one of your workshops and never looked back.

I made some Adirondack chairs last year; they certainly have been a talking point with lots of visitors who instantly comment that the chairs look really uncomfortable, but then take a seat and don’t want to leave!

I guess living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, these chairs are not very common but are definitely worth making. Already had to make a few more for friends and family.

Thanks again for the inspiration and keep the content coming.”

—Alex