Marketing Genius - An Energy Efficiency Post

Two weeks ago, my co-hort at work attended an energy efficiency marketing conference and came back with this among the many other great tidbits. The link is to Heatballs!! That's right folks...HEAT BALLS!!! You know you want 'em, you know you need 'em. Coming up in 2012 incandescent light bulbs over 60 watts will no longer be available for sale. The reason for the change is to put a limit on how inefficient a light bulb (lamp) can be. This is also the death of the fat tube T12 fluorescent lamps.

This company and the genius behind it decided to see how they could get around the new efficacy rules and I believe they will succeed. Hey, if the Eden Pure, which is a light bulb in a box can sell for hundreds of dollars, why not Heat Balls!?! They are, after all, 95% efficient. The 5% being lost in light!!

Timberwerks Studio: A Year In The Life Of:

Timberwerks Studio: A Year In The Life Of:: "For 2011 I'd like to invite you all in for a glimpse of what a year in the life of a furniture maker is really like....

This is a rare opportunity! Dale Osowski (DJO Furniture Maker) creates some beautiful pieces. That he is willing to share his experience and those around him with us, is a treat! Check out his post and his work.

Woodworkers Fighting Cancer - Shaker Table Build Part II

A few issues have come up during the rough dimensioning that have steered my design in a new direction. Originally, I planned to have the entire table made of the Cherry board from the first post, with a small Mahogany band running up the outside of all the legs and terminating to the Mahogany breadboard ends for the top. Either because I'm fairly new to this or just an oversight (probably both), I found I didn't have enough Cherry to also do the top.

I also found one of my legs had a check running much higher than I originally anticipated. Due to these challenges, I decided to rethink my approach. During Wednesday night's The Woodwhisper Guild meeting, I was able to bounce the idea off of Shannon Rogers of The Renaissance Woodworker, Rob Bois from The Bois Shop and Nabil, who is a prolific woodworker from The Woodwhisperer Chatroom. Thanks to their advice and encouragement, I've decided to go with this approach: From the floor up; Mahogany feet will be attached to the bottom of the Cherry legs to reach the length the legs need to be; I will still be banding the outside of all the legs up to the top of the piece; The top will now be veneered with the Canoe Birch on the bottom, a "breadboard" border of Mahogany and a "sunburst" cut from a piece of Osage I recently picked up at Jensen Hardwoods in Walla Walla, WA for the top.

Woodworkers Fighting Cancer - Shaker Table Build

I thought this would be a good time to start blogging again. Marc Spagnuolo of The Woodwhisperer recently challenged all of his TWW Guild members to join in a community build to raise money for cancer. Marc himself is donating $5 for every member that completes this month's build and he has also got several companies on board. In the short time that he has had a donation button on his podcast sight, he has raised over $1670 in cash.

While I was not really ready to start building anything and still getting the shop "just so", I thought this was a good reason to get off the pot, as it were. So, this will be my actual first piece of "fine" (hopefully) furniture. It's gonna be great that so many are building along. If I, or any of my fellow guild members get stuck, we all have each other for support. It is really a great community Marc and his wife Nicole have built.

About a month ago I picked up several pieces of very nice lumber at Jensen's Hardwoods in Walla Walla, WA. This is the piece I'm going to use for the build. I'm heading to Portland, OR mid-March and will pick up some mahogany for accents.

Wish me luck!! I certainly hope I don't just end up butchering this beautiful piece of cherry!!

Where did he go?

Hey everyone,

I thought it's about time I explain why the posts have fallen completely off. As you know, I had and still have a large list of things to accomplish here at "the ranch". In addition to that, because of my love for energy efficiency and the environment, I'm part of a group that is in the process of starting a non-profit education network. My job on the board is Secretary and a good portion of my free time is being spent disseminating information to the board and our members as we grow our network. By the way, the name of the network is the Mid Columbia Energy and Environmental Network (MCEEN). I'm thinking this endeavor is going to take the majority of my energies for the next several months, at least. We have a very affluent team to get the organization started. We plan on the network to be a "go to" place for information on all energy and environmental education, both residential and non-residential. Our event planner, Tracy Roberts who owns Tri-City Events, is helping put together a website, forum and blog for MCEEN. When it is up and running, be sure to check it out. It should prove to be a great resource for information.

Installing Laminate Flooring - A Quick Update

Hello all,

I thought I'd just do a quick post to let you know the floor is coming along. As I said in the last post, it is a bear! Now that Sylvia is home the work is going a little faster. We finished the master bedroom today and will tackle the guest bath and bedroom next weekend. I probably wont get to my office until the following weekend.

As far as the shop is concerned, while I was on vacation, I ordered my dust collection system from Oneida and a 12 inch jointer from Grizzly. I can't wait to get the floor down and address the winter accommodations for the dogs. Time has just flown by and there is no way I'm going to get everything I wanted to accomplish this fall done. Oh well, isn't that always the case? My plan at this point is to finish the flooring, build a set of condos for the dogs inside the garage and then go back and install all the trim in the house. After that, I finally will get to tackle the installation of the dust collection system and start tuning up machines. Once the machines are all tuned, then I get to build cabinets and work stations for the shop. I'm sure glad I like to work!!!

Installing Laminate Flooring - Slow Start

First of all, Dies ist für meinen besten Freund, meine Ehefrau Sylvia. Ich verpasse Dich! Ich liebe Dich! (Sorry for the, probably, horrible translation baby. I used an on-line translator.)


I have talked to Sylvia daily since she's been in Germany. She says Noah loves his little crane! This flooring is.....a pain in the behind. I've installed Armstrong and Pergo flooring and it was much easier. Of course, it was only 7mm compared with this Rhino floor that is 12mm. I am, although, very happy with the results. I still can't believe we picked this floor. It's labeled as Rustic Oak. If we had just been looking at names, we never would have picked this floor. Neither of us are fans of oak. Personally, I think it's been overdone in American homes. There are some applications that are artistic enough that the wood being oak doesn't bother me. Maybe someday, I'll ask my buddy Ken if he'd mind me giving you all a tour of his home. He has done beautiful work.

Today, I broke into the kitchen and now I have to pull the stove and dishwasher. As you can see I'll also have to backtrack to my office, the guest bath and guest bedroom, which are located off the short hallway you see. Here is the floor thus far.