Some Great Things Happening!

Workin’ My Butt Off!

Guys – I kid you not, I have a full plate and I am getting up early and working late everyday. But it is very exciting as there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes.

Clamp Storage SytemThe economy must be getting better because I am getting calls and jobs like I normally should. It actually started early this year which was a mystery to me but a welcome one.

I have added 9 more detail photos and information to the Shop page. I know it is all about the details so you will have to be sure and check it out. In the future I will assemble a nice shop tour but that won’t happen for a while because of my work load at this time.

Going to the Artwalk…

I was asked to participate in the Billings Artwalk in May, that was very exciting. I already had a pretty full work load so I am not sure that I will be able to make anything new, I will just take what I currently have and put together a nice presentation. Only a handful of people in Billings have seen the pieces that I have in my house, that Rita and I live with everyday.

The Billings Artwalk is a great social event and Rita and I love to attend. Many towns have them and they are either referred to as artwalks, gallery hops, or gallery crawls. All the galleries and the art museum stay open late and have free wine and snacks (that brings the people for sure) to get the public exposed to the local art scene.

It is not a juried show, but I thought it was neat that someone invited me to show because they viewed me as an artist. It will be some good exposure locally to change people’s mind of what furniture can be or what woodworking can produce. Woodworking suffers an image problem as a handy hobby instead of being another form of artistic expression, or being able to marry an artistic form with the function of an everyday item.

Shhh… Business Secrets

I should make a point here about the importance of this as a business or creative person. Attending your local artwalk, even as a viewer, is a great thing to do. It is a good social mixer, you will make lots of connections to other creative people, and you have the potential to make business connections. It makes a great date night with the wife and is just an all-around fun time.

Got Something Big Here!

In the shop with Scott MorrisonI will leave you with this today as I need to head back out to the shop.

I was able to get with Scott Morrison and do a video interview. Scott is a great craftsman that actually makes a living from building Sam Maloof inspired furniture. Be sure to check out his site to see all of the projects that he creates daily.

When we started out, I told Scott “Oh I suppose it will only be a 20 minute chat I don’t plan on getting into an hour long interview.”

Well, Scott and I talked for an hour and ten minutes and he shares some great information. He talks about his background, his business, shop, and his wife’s role in supporting the business. He also shares what his relationship to Sam Maloof was like.

One thing just led to another. I didn’t have a specific list of questions, but I had outlined some topics to be sure and cover so it was a spontaneous Q & A session.

I have a lot of footage to go through and I am sure that I will be releasing it in segments every week or so. Scott was very generous with time and information. It is just a pretty normal conversation in the shop and I wanted to bring you along.

Scott’s a truly great guy. He is another craftsman that lives the motto “Share the Love~Share the Knowledge.”

That’s all for now so I will leave you with this teaser and a shop tour video that Scott just released this morning.

Share the Love ~ Share the Knowledge

Don't Hold It All In ~ Click Here To Leave A Comment!

A New Addition to The ACW Site

Shop Posted to ACW!

I am excited to announce that I posted my workshop photos here at the ACW. The page has a format that I have never used before and I just figured it out today. I will be doing an updated, more complete, and comprehensive tour in the future, but I just had to get this posted for now.

Shop LayoutI added a shop drawing that I made with Grizzly's shop designer program. This will help orient viewers to the overall layout as they look at the photos.

You will find the shop listed in the navigation bar at the top of the page. When you visit the shop page, be sure to click on the image to enlarge it so you can see more detail.

I hope you enjoy the shop photos for now, I added some descriptions to help everyone understand some of the details involved with things in the shop.

Grizzly's shop designer program is easy to use and free! You can use it to help layout your shop in scale. There is a full library of tools and objects to choose from that are scaled to size, that way you can work out the most efficient plan  on the computer. Be sure to check it out here.

Your friend in the shop, Todd A. Clippinger

Share the Love~Share the Knowledge

A Shop Tip And A New Instructional DVD

Shop Tip

Clamps protected with heavy plastic during glue-up.Doing glue-ups can leave a frustrating mess of adhesive on your clamps. I have seen many suggestions of applying wax or tape to the surface of the clamps, or using wax paper to separate and protect the clamps from the glue. All of these work to varying degrees and I have tried them, but today I will share my favorite method for protecting clamps from glue.6 mil heavy plastic.

I like to use a heavy plastic sheeting often called visqueen. It is a construction grade plastic that usually about 6 mils thick. The benefit of this is that it is incredibly durable and so the plastic is reusable. Wax paper may be reused once or twice, but it will not even come close to lasting like this stuff. My plastic pieces have been in service for about 4 years now and are in great shape. 

Bending the plastic easily releases the glue.The heavy plastic only needs to be shaken or bent to release the glue. Sometimes I shake the pieces outside or I run them across the edge of my workbench and wipe the glue off with my hand, depositing it straight into the trash can. Then they are ready to go again.Running plastic over end of bench releases dried glue.

I don't try to cut pieces exactly to the size of the glue-up. I just have a series of strips that I lay over my clamps and they overlap as necessary to fit the size of the project. This creates an expandable and adjustable system of clamp protection that can be used for any project instead of being dedicated to only one.

Using the plastic in this manner works best for panel glue-ups, but not so much with a glue-up such as a cabinet carcass. On something like that tape may be the best answer. In my shop I just do so many panel glue-ups of various sizes that I use these on a frequent basis.

New Plans & DVD From Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison has just released another instructional DVD and set of plans for a the Ultimate Shop Stool. It is a beautifully designed piece of sculptural furniture that includes a footrest and drop leaf desk that can be mounted on the right or left. The DVD and full size templates are a great value at $29.99. I can tell you from designing furniture myself that templates are worth their weight in gold.

You can check out all the various plans that Scott offers at FineWoodworker.com. He is creating quite a library of pieces to choose from so check back with him regularly to see what he has to offer. His videos are of good quality with clear video and audio. He is a great teacher and is good at laying out the information in a comprehensive format. It feels like Scott is giving you a personal lesson in shop, they are well worth checking out.Instruction DVD's from Scott Morrison.

You can check out the review I did on his other videos "Building an Elegant Rocking Chair" and "Building A Contemporary Bar Stool."

That is all I have for now and so I will leave you with Scott's intro video to his Ultimate Shop Stool. He also has a few more videos that can be seen at his YouTube Channel.

Your friend in the shop, Todd A. Clippinger.

Share the Love~Share the Knowledge

Don't Hold It All In~Click Here To Leave a Comment!