Mick Stidever recorded his journeys around the UK and the World in his book 'Ramblings of a Grandad'. This time he records his journey with his hobby of woodcarving. From scratch he faithfully records his endeavours with every carving he tackles, from a simple relief to a portrait bust of his Paralympic swimmer daughter Jane. A total of 47 carvings are presented in all. In this diary he recounts his emotions; his highs and his lows as he endeavours to achieve the best possible result with each and every carving. At times he succeeds; at other times he falls short but continually he strives to learn more about the craft. It records a thoroughly enjoyable journey, not solely related to the carving but to the people he met along the way and the many doors it opened to new experiences. This diary should provide encouragement, interest and a good read for anyone starting or participating in the craft of woodcarving. The book is a good and fascinating read and will inspire any carver to widen their horizons and appreciation of woodcarving. Michael Painter A.R.B.S

Woodworking Tips, something we can all woodworks can use

Mick Stidever continues his journey recounting his adventures with the craft of Woodcarving. Within this second volume he presents a further fourteen carvings from a Sea Eagle to a Self Portrait with many in between. He continues to recount his emotions; his highs and lows as he endeavours to achieve the best possible result with each and every carving. At times he succeeds; at other times he falls short but continually he strives to learn more about the craft. Whether he is seen to be improving his skills remains with the reader but for him the journey was thoroughly enjoyable, once again opening many doors to other related experiences along the way. This particular volume of A Diary of a Woodcarver provides the reader with greater detail of each project than previously so that others may, if they so wish, tackle similar carvings. This diary should provide again encouragement, interest and a good read for anyone with a love for the craft of woodcarving. The book is a good and fascinating read and will inspire any carver to widen their horizons and appreciation of woodcarving. Michael Painter A.R.B.S

A 'How To' guide showing detailed plans and the construction sequence to make a lightweight and durable humane animal trap, large enough to catch cats and large rats. The design can easily be scaled down for mice and scaled up for dogs. The trap is made from just one 8' x 2' (2440mm x 607mm) sheet of 1/4" (6mm) plywood, 24' (7.2m) of 3/4" battens and some screw fixings. At November 2013 prices, one trap can be made for less than $15 ( 15)

This instructional document is to help the novice or semi-experienced carpenter to create their own fort for their children or even pets. This fort was specifically designed in a certain manner. It is called a Rustic Fort because it has uneven hoarding like a Civil War fort or Dark Ages fort. The picture on the front cover is the fort that was designed for this plan. Some modifications were made to simplify this plan for the novice. However the original was designed to be a solitary 6x6x10 fort but an additional sections with rampart was designed afterward. This is obviously optional. It will be easy to add these portions later if you want, rather than build the entire project at once. These instructions are a guide to build a six foot square fort that is roughly ten feet tall. It has a ladder leading into the back side. The housing area is four feet from the ground and the roof is four feet from the deck. The underground area is four feet from ground. The backside is designed to be open where as the sides have hoarding.

A. William Benitez has owned and operated one-person businesses for over thirty years. He owned woodworking businesses in Tampa, FL and Austin, TX for over 20 years. In this book he shares all his years of experience in the woodworking business to help you avoid the common small business mistakes that keep woodworkers from making a profit. For those just beginning, this book contains a helpful Getting Started chapter. For others who are already operating a woodworking business and may be struggling to profit from their skills, there are six additional chapters filled with detailed information, a preface, an introduction, a glossary, and a personal notes section that will help you with every step toward profitability Woodworking Business 101: A Basic Business Guide For Woodworkers serves as an excellent beginning with the basics of the woodworking business and including all other aspects of the business of woodworking such as licenses, local and federal taxes, best ways to deal with suppliers, setting up bank accounts both checking and savings, using and accepting credit cards, the critically important aspects of contracting for work, the difficulties of accounting including unique, much easier methods, and the less than pleasant task of dealing with the IRS. Woodworking Business 101: A Basic Business Guide For Woodworkers helps you to develop methods to get customers but more importantly it shows you the best ways to keep customers after that first job. In spite of its importance, keeping customers is often overlooked leading to a long term loss of income. This book covers how to set up a functional shop taking full advantage of the space you may have available and the best ways to get the tools you need to build the projects you sell. Then it shows you how to carefully estimate the cost of materials and labor and set your job prices to ensure that you make a fair profit on every job. This will help you maintain your cash flow and ensure long term success. The final section called Personal Notes includes just a few hints and tips Bill has gleaned over the past few years to give you even more help in operating your business successfully

Working with wood can be very restful. When you're measuring and sawing and nailing it's easy to forget all the problems that seemed so large to you just a short while ago. I've purposely chosen projects that: A. DON'T take a lot of woodworking skill, B. DON'T take fancy woodworking tools, C. DON'T take a lot of time, D. DO stand a good chance of making you a hero in her eyes. SO...you see my strategy here? Keep it simple, keep it fun, and have a great chance at making you look REAL GOOD No sage woodworking advice here. Just go out and have a good time for an hour or two on a weekend and make us all proud

Master turning tools, and make new tools for yourself...you'll save money and build your skills at the lathe. Here are 21 practical, skill-building technical articles for woodturners of all skill levels-expert, shop-tested insight and advice from the pages of American Woodturner, journal of the American Association of Woodturners. Turning tools are expensive but the good news is, you can make most of them for yourself. That's because once you have learned how to sharpen turning tools, you've also acquired the skill and technology you need to make them for yourself. There's a knack to using every kind of turning tool, a set of skills and moves to cut the wood the way you want. This book shares a wealth of hard-won tool-using information developed by contemporary wood turners. This book will show you how to: Save money and build skill by making your own turning tools from rods and bars of tool steel. If you know how to sharpen, you already know how to do it Use the spindle roughing gouge for both roughing down and detailing Make and use every kind of flat-bar tool, including skews, round-nose scrapers, and negative-rake scrapers Make a set of cove tools from round steel rod, and use them to cut perfect coves What steels to use and why, and how to recognize good steel in salvage and scrap How to grind, harden and temper steel tools How to make a point tool for detailing, a thin-kerf parting tool, a plug-and-inlay tool, and micro tools for small work Why many bowl-turners prefer the side-ground gouge How to make and use a traditional hook tool Why carbide-tipped tools have taken the turning world by storm and much more.

Everyone loves a beautiful wooden bowl... Bowls are the heart of woodturning today Here are 14 skill-building and horizon-expanding articles for woodturners of all skill levels-expert, shop-tested insight and advice from the pages of American Woodturner, journal of the American Association of Woodturners. What you can learn from this book: How to mount turning blanks on the lathe How to manage the wood-drying process Expert safety tips covering all aspects of bowl turning A systematic view of bowl turning covering all the steps- including how to market your finished work How to turn unusual wood such as burls How to manage the bowl bottom How to add a decorative rim of a complementary wood species A clever method for making a hollow form without special tools- by turning two matching bowls and gluing them rim to rim How to design, turn and decorate wooden platters for every purpose Since 1986, American Woodturner has been the leading journal for practical and reliable information written by woodturners for their fellow woodturners. Making and Using Turning Tools, which has been extracted from this authoritative resource, is available as a 64-page printed book or as a digital e-book readable on all your electronic devices.