My new lathe

The first woodworking mentor I ever had is a former luthier who now works as a manager for a woodworking consumer products company.  He still gives me tips on techniques, joinery, and how to use the wide range of products available to furniture makers today.

He was also kind enough to give me a lathe he had lying around.  The lathe is, of course, a unique tool that does things no other tool can do.  Namely, a lathe spins a workpiece, allowing you to shape the work by holding a sturdy knife up to the spinning piece.  It's a lot like how you would cut a decorative groove into a clay pot, spinning on the throwing wheel.

But a decent lathe

DIY Tool Upgrade: adding a 3 h.p. Baldor motor to the Delta 14" Band Saw

My Delta 14" band saw is one of (probably) hundreds of thousands of similar 14" band saws around the U.S. and the world.  The Delta 14" is perhaps the most common starter band saw of the past few decades.  Mine was a gift from a friend, whose father had put the old 14" in the garage after replacing it with a bigger, more powerful saw.  Many woodworkers graduate from their 14" band saw once they get serious about cutting through really tough, thick pieces of wood, such as when re-sawing, which is the process of slicing thin sheets of stock from the face of a thicker board.

Re-sawing allows you to make your own veneers and book-matched panels, which are so much more visually appealing than non book-matched panels, it's worth