John English

As outsourced parts keep getting better and often less expensive, a woodshop really needs to know whether it’s more profitable to buy components, or still make them in-house.

One of the most interesting trends in the coatings industry is the way in which robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming traditional application technologies.

While customers don’t always understand the quality of a shop’s joinery, they invariably rub a hand across the finish.

Measuring accurately is a cornerstone of our trade, and the means to do so has evolved quite a bit over the past few years.

The new year might be a bumpy one, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad one. 2019 is just around the corner, and woodshops gearing up for it have more to think about this year than most.

This is a big category, and a woodworker often has to wade through a lot of peripheral information before zoning in on an appropriate piece of equipment.

Having one machine complete several tasks is more of a European than an American notion.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that there are 163,500 professional woodworkers in America, and as of May 2017 their average pay is $30,850 a year.

Over the years, the word ‘left’ has become somewhat synonymous with liberal politics.

It can be hard for a woodshop to keep current with bits and blades.

Rising out of the ashes of war, Ikea spent the second half of the 20th century developing ways to flat-pack furniture.

A few years ago, I was asked to make felloes for a wagon wheel.

It’s one of the most visible and tactile signs of a good job.

Nanyang Technological University in Singapore is a research-intensive public campus with 33,000 students in its pre- and post-graduate classes.

By now, most woodworkers are quite familiar with the phrase “Industry 4.0”, which describes the current and fourth industrial revolution.

If you didn’t catch it at AWFS last summer, Benz Inc., (benztooling.com) introduced a couple of adjustable angle head systems at the show.

Whether it’s drawer slides, pulls, corbels, aluminum doors, moldings or lighting, there’s a world of possibility out there for casework designers.

While many woodshops use prefinished hardwood veneered panels to cut down on construction time, there has been resistance among others to jump aboard because of a belief that the coating will scratch in transit or use, and also because of an impression that the choices are limited to a clear UV on natural veneer.

Remember back in shop class when joinery used to mean lap, butt, mortise or dovetail? Well, times have changed.

Woodshops that produce flooring are usually among the first to notice new consumer appetites.

Battery advances and a new generation of brushless motors are combining to make life on the jobsite a whole lot easier, and more productive.

Finishes are mostly fluid, and so is the nature of the cabinet and furniture coatings industry.

There’s a lot happening with the tools that we use for finish sanding. These include rotary, orbital, belt and inline sanders, and all of them are seeing significant technological changes. Not least of these is the power source.

Blade technology is moving right along, and it’s not just tungsten compounds or plate geometry that’s evolving. Profiles are also benefiting from Industry 4.0 technologies.

In December, three companies with CNC connections got together and presented a productivity workshop in California.

It sounds so simple – turn on a vacuum and suck up the dust. But there is so much more to effective dust control in a woodshop. And it begins with the question: Why bother?

The market keeps expanding as manufacturers focus on safety, cordless options, software and new designs.

Sign making is definitely one route that a woodshop can take to turn an idle CNC router into a profitable investment. Pretty much any model can carve signs in wood, foam or plastic, and the major physical limit is usually just the size of the machine’s work area.

The only way to spot a trend is to search for its trail. By looking back, we can often guess the way forward. We can never know definitively where it will lead, but perhaps it’s enough to just enjoy the ride, and perhaps even influence the direction a little.

Finish carpenters and cabinet installers have had a routine for decades that is slowly being erased. They have backed a truck up to the shop door in the morning, rolled a ‘portable’ compressor outside, and then lifted it onto the tailgate.

Everybody in construction knows that framing lumber prices are up more than 20 percent over a year ago, and the rebuilding effort after California’s fires and some major hurricanes will only strengthen that market over the next year.

It’s hard to believe, but hand sanders have been around for more than 90 years. The first one, which looked remarkably like a modern belt sander, was invented in 1926 by Art Emmons at the Porter-Cable factory in Syracuse, N.Y. Before his ‘Take About Sander’, according to the company, “workers

Securing sheet stock on a CNC bed is a large part of the machining process. Clamps, jigs and vacuums hold the material steady while the spindle moves. But when it comes to turning parts on a CNC, everything changes. That’s because the work is no longer stationary: the wood moves too.

A recent article (Oct. 2) by Tim McKeough in The New York Times (“Putting a designer’s polish on Ikea products”) describes how a supplier used off-the-shelf Ikea boxes and custom designer doors to create a small but very stylish New York kitchen – for $1,600 without the doors.

There are more than 40 brands of finish nailers on the market, and most manufacturers offer several models.

Physical size seems to be less of a consideration than budget, at least when smaller shops begin shopping for a CNC router.

Looking at the Dow Jones Industrial Average, one might think that the U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders and we’re in for some great times.

Buying prefinished panels can be a real time saver and offer a number of other advantages

With an abundance of options, the time is right to explore cutting, engraving and marking with lasers

Cost, availability and in-house expertise are playing larger roles in choosing a work-holding system

While it’s the most effective way to achieve a perfect surface, sanding is also the most challenging to manage

Choosing the correct adhesive can be a challenge, but it doesn't have to be