Virtual Private Lessons Now Available

I'm now offering virtual private lessons online, subject to schedule availability.

I had done some experimentation with lessons over Skype in the past. Now with the pandemic, we've all upgraded our communication setups, and the online tools have gotten much better. So it's even more practical and viable.

See Hand Tool Instruction for full details.

Resuming Private Hand Tool Woodworking Lessons Summer 2021

I'm happy to announce that I'll be resuming private lessons for hand tool woodworking this summer in my basement workshop in Ayer, MA. The anticipated start will be late June, 2021.

By that time, it will have been at least 2 weeks after my second coronavirus vaccination. I require that all participants have completed their round of vaccinations at least 2 weeks prior to any lessons. For everyone's protection, I'll be adding a portable HEPA air filter unit capable of cycling workshop air several times an hour.

Private lessons mean you get to choose what to spend time on, and at what pace and schedule. I have a standard curriculum of eight 3-hour sessions, but you can pick and choose what things to spend more or less time on, and how much time you want to spend per class.

You can bring your own tools, or use any of mine. I can provide inexpensive practice materials, or you can provide your own.

See Hand Tool Instruction for full details.

Remembering Phil Lowe

Quintessential Phil: a welcoming smile and the ever-present pencil tucked behind his ear at the December, 2011 Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event at FIM in Beverly, MA.

I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing in January of Philip C. Lowe. Phil was an icon and a master of the woodworking craft.

I never took an actual class from him, but I consider him one of my primary teachers. I had read his articles and reprints in books and magazines for years before I got the chance to meet him.

That came at the May, 2011 meeting of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM), of which Phil was a member and Cartouche Award recipient. The meeting was held at his Furniture Institute of Massachusetts (FIM).

I was very nervous and shy about meeting one of my heroes, but he was instantly friendly and disarming. That's what comes through in everyone's description of Phil. Not only did he love the craft, he loved sharing it with others and passing it on.

Over the next 8 years I had the privilege of attending several SAPFM meetings and demonstrations at FIM, as well as participating in a number of the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Events held there.

Phil was what I call a "shut up and watch" guy, as in, shut up and watch what he's doing, because every move is a lesson in skill and efficiency. He was amazingly fast at handwork, the evidence of 50 years of experience. I learned a great deal that way.

He was incredibly generous with his time and knowledge. Nothing illustrates that more than the time I showed him one of the video clips from the then-Popular Woodworking University "Intro To Hand Tools" online course I was putting together.

Phil was obviously in business to earn a living teaching woodworking, and here I was a mere hobbyist showing him the online class I was offering.

It didn't bother him a bit. He watched with an appraising eye, then said, "That's good. You should also show this, and that," as we discussed some additional things to present. The consummate teacher and mentor.

That's the Phil Lowe I will always remember. Nothing but supportive. I continue to feel privileged to be one of the custodians of the knowledge he passed on to us, which I will continue pass on to others.

One of my treasured lessons from Phil.

There are some wonderful remembrances of Phil at the North Bennett St. School, where he was a student, then instructor, then department head, before heading off on his own to found FIM; and at Fine Woodworking and here, where he was a contributor for over 30 years.

Review: 52 Boxes In 52 Weeks, By Matt Kenney

52 Boxes In 52 Weeks, The Taunton Press, $24.95, 224pp, May, 2018

Full disclosure: I was given a copy of this book by the publisher for review.

This is a wonderful design book by Fine Woodworking senior editor Matt Kenney. It's the result of a challenge he set for himself to practice his design skills: design and build a small box every week for a year.

The boxes are largely simple in construction, using a limited set of techniques, since the construction process was not the main point of the exercise. Instead, he explores a wide range of shape, proportion, materials, and decoration.

The idea is that like any other skill, practicing design allows you to refine it, analyzing what you like or don't like about each iteration. That also broadens your perspective as you explore the limits to a wider degree than you might otherwise.

The end result is a collection of boxes with different appeal to different tastes. Reproducing these boxes would make great gifts. They are beautiful, with a clean, spare design.

But more to the point, Matt wants to encourage you to explore your own design space. This was his result, his personal aesthetic. Yours may be different.

Design Principles

He follows several design principles, outlined in the introductory chapter.

First is proportion. He says this is critical. Good proportions result in intuitive beauty. Poor proportions can turn even the finest project clunky.

Second is simplicity. These are not heavily adorned. He limits them to just a few distinguishing design elements.

Third, he ensures that all elements are in proportion to the scale of the box.

Fourth, he develops the details, thinking about every little one from the joinery to the widths of rabbets and the amount of shadow line and reveal.

Fifth, he chooses the wood carefully, including its grain and imperfections. Every little knot or wave in the grain is meant to be where it ended up. Design is intentional, not accidental. Wood is a natural medium with natural variation. The design challenge here is to make use of that variation.

He further utilizes the grain by making it continuous all the way around each box. That provides a natural flow and continuity rather than a jarring transition. Achieving continuous grain is one of the few technical descriptions in the book.

Sixth, he adds a small degree of color. He uses milk paint to add to the natural wood color, sometimes harmonizing with it, sometimes contrasting.

The book itself follows this. The various page elements adorning the text and photos pick up the color flash of each project.

Finally, he softens the inside with a carefully fitted piece of fabric. The proportion of the pattern and the color must complement the scale of the box and the color of the wood.

These provide the parameters for the variation in design.

Techniques

In general the construction techniques are simple, but a brief chapter on box-making techniques details the following:

• Resawing to achieve continuous grain.
• Crosscutting and mitering.
• Lids that don't need hinges.
• Stable bottoms with various decorations.
• Finishing with shellac and milk paint.

Several of the box projects include specific techniques such as wedge-shaped sides, drilling out round interiors, fitting lifting strips around a lid, and making pulls, feet, and bases. The most detailed one shows the steps for making kumiko, a Japanese decorative lattice.

One thing to note is that these are mostly small boxes in thin stock, so the work requires precision. I had the pleasure of watching Matt work on several of these when we happened to be demonstrating at the same Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Events. Watching him fit the joints and dividers, carefully shaving them on a small shooting board, was fascinating.

Building boxes like this will not only improve your design skills, it will improve your fine hand skills.

The Boxes

The remainder of the book shows several pages on each box individually. Matt describes what went into the design and what he was trying to explore with it, then describes how he constructed it.

This portion of the book opens with a two-page spread showing all the boxes. It's especially nice to let your eyes range around this layout to compare the variations. Different things will jump out at you.

There are flat boxes, wide boxes, short boxes, tall boxes, divided boxes, stacked boxes, and boxes with drawers. Each features just a couple of design elements of color and fittings.

My favorites were the divided boxes. I like compartments. I guess they appeal to my sense of organization.

It's interesting to come back to this spread after having read through all the box projects individually. That changes what jumps out at you.


One of my favorites, a flat divided box made primarily of cherry, with a green milk-painted lid in the center.

As Matt notes, the idea of the milk paint and fabric may put some people off at first, but seeing them used with the other design elements, all in careful restraint, is convincing.

I would never think of hiding cherry under paint, yet the warmth of the wood and the green milk paint in the photo above complement each other nicely, contrasting with the dark kingwood pulls. The result invites you to lift the lids and see what they contain. It's just beautiful.

These projects all have a delicate, graceful elegance. Some may appeal more to you than others, but they would all make wonderful gifts. The book is an excellent starting point for exploring and refining your own design aesthetic.

Review: Woodworking With Hand Tools

Woodworking With Hand Tools: Tools, Techniques and Projects, The Taunton Press, $24.95, 240pp, April, 2018

Full disclosure: I was given a copy of this book by the publisher for review.

This is another gorgeous book. It's an anthology of 33 hand tool articles collected from the past 10 years of Fine Woodworking magazine, by the following authors:

• Christian Becksvoort
• Brian Boggs
• Tom Calisto
• Dan Faia
• John Reed Fox
• Chris Gochnour
• Garrett Hack
• Andrew Hunter
• Matt Kenney
• Philip C. Lowe
• Tim Manney
• Jeff Miller
• Norman Pirollo
• Timothy Rousseau
• Matthew Teague
• Vic Tesolin
• Bob Van Dyke

They all do excellent work. Phil Lowe and Garrett Hack in particular are a couple of my woodworking heroes, whom I've been following for years.

The book is divided into 3 parts, with excellent photography to capture the fine details. In addition to western style tools, there are several articles on Japanese tools. It's an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning or expanding hand tool woodworking skills.

In general, the articles cover the details of fine work after the parts have been roughed-out and dimensioned, although there is one article on rough stock preparation with Japanese tools that applies equally well to western tools.

Most of the authors use a combination of power and hand tools in their day to day work. They typically do the rough work of breaking down lumber and getting it close to final dimensions on machines, then shift over to hand tools for the final dimensioning and detail work.

Tools

Part One contains 14 articles on tools. In addition to a general article covering an essential hand tool kit, they cover squares, gauges, and calipers; and scrapers, specialty planes, chisels, and small handsaws. Three of the articles cover sharpening: card scrapers, cabinet scrapers, and using diamond sharpening stones.

Vic Tesolin's article "4 Planes for Joinery" is my favorite in this section. These specialty planes are invaluable for fine tuning precise joints.

Techniques

Part Two contains 12 articles on techniques. They cover general tool use techniques, stock preparation, fine fitting and cleanup, mortise and tenon and dovetail joinery, and custom moldings and scratch stocks.

My favorite in this section is Phil Lowe's "4 Chisel Tricks". This article changed the way I made tenons when I first read it in the magazine.

Projects

Part Three contains 7 articles on building tools and jigs used in hand tool work. They cover building custom handsaws and scrapers, specialty grooving planes, a cutting gauge, bench jigs for precision planing, a Japanese tool box, and a shaving horse.

In this section, my favorite is Norman Pirollo's article "4 Bench Jigs for Handplanes" (I guess the reason my favorites follow a theme of 4 is that they reflect versatility!). These jigs are critical to efficient and precise work. I always tell people the shooting board is the precision secret weapon for hand tool work.

While I've called out a few personal favorites, all of the methods shown in all the sections are excellent. They reflect their authors' long experience with the craft.


The layout is easy to read and follow. Here Phil Lowe explains how to sharpen and use a cabinet scraper.


Closeup photos capture details of the tools in use. Here Chris Gochnour shows how to tackle concave and convex curves with a spokeshave.

What's great about a book like this is that no matter how much you know, there's always something new to learn. It might be an entirely new way to tackle a task, or a subtle refinement of a method you already use.

These increase your versatility, allowing you to adapt to the situation when things aren't going as expected.

In my case, this book finally gave the best explanation I've seen for why to burnish a card scraper on its flat faces, and the result of that step. I joke that I collect scraper sharpening methods the way other people collect baseball cards. This was a refinement of my current method, and it worked wonderfully when I tried it.

There were several other instances like that where just one or two photos were sufficient to add to my repertoire. Each increment in technique like that improves my capability.

The key to making these skills work is to practice them. In fact, the first article on techniques covers a set of skill-building exercises.

It's useful to take the methods outlined in all the articles and first try them on some softer wood that won't fight you so much, then try them on the harder woods you plan on using for actual projects.

This book is an excellent compendium, covering a broad range of techniques.

We're very lucky in New England to have a rich concentration of these excellent instructors. Through membership in the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) and participation in Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Events and open houses, I've had the privilege of meeting and watching 6 of the 17 authors, particularly Phil Lowe. I've incorporated a number of their techniques into my work.

As a bonus, here's a video of Phil showing the cabinet scraper sharpening method in his article. I recorded this for him at one of his SAPFM demonstrations.

Review: How To Whittle, By Josh Nava

How To Whittle, The Taunton Press, $19.95, 144pp, March, 2018

Full disclosure: I was given a copy of this book by the publisher for review.

This is a gorgeous book. It features 25 projects that are a mix of functional and decorative items, carrying on a centuries-old tradition.

Josh Nava is a hand carver in Nashville, TN, and is the co-founder of Suburban Pallet, which specializes in hand-crafted goods made from repurposed timber.

Whittling may bring to mind sitting around the campfire or on the porch, carving on some fallen twigs with a pocketknife to pass the time. The end result may be a memento to keep or just go into the fire.

The items in this book are of a more permanent nature. This is what I know as treen or treenware, treen meaning "of the tree". Treen was common when everyday household items were carved from wood.

The book starts with a 20-page chapter on techniques, covering choosing wood, tools, sharpening, safety, knifework, preparing blanks, and finishing.

The projects are covered in 112 pages, 3-5 pages each. It ends with a page on resources, and an index.

One of the points Nava makes is that whittling is a very accessible craft. It requires few tools, and the work is done in green wood, using mostly found material.

The results are beautiful and practical, useful for decades. Whittled items show a distinctive faceting that lends a rustic elegance and reveals their handmade provenance. These are personal. Meanwhile, making them teaches you properties of wood, elements of design, and hand skills.

"Green woodworking" means using freshly cut or fallen wood that hasn't yet been processed or dried. I'm familiar with it from the books of Drew Langsner, as well as demonstrations by his protege, Peter Follansbee, and the work of Robin Wood.

Nava does a wonderful job of distilling this into a concise, easy to follow book. The projects provide enough coverage to give you a wide range of capabilities.

This book will have you scouring the neighborhood and countryside for fallen trees and branches. Wind storms will mean good harvest days. Here in New England, there's ALWAYS someone who has something down.

It's a good way to use urban timber, so you might want to check with tree services and municipal maintenance departments for material.

Tools

The tool list is short:

• Knives: used for medium and fine shaping. These are somewhat specialized, particularly the hook knife. They're not common pocketknives.
• Small hatchets and hand axes: used to prepare blanks (that is, preparing tree trunk sections or branches to the rough blanks that will be shaped into objects) and for rough shaping.
• Folding saw: sufficient for most harvesting.

You can find the knives, hatchets (including some very fine ones) and saws online, with a variety of commercial and custom products available.

Remember that this is for green wood, possibly some fairly large branches, so a longer saw with coarse teeth is best; he recommends 10-14".

Robin Wood covers some information on where to obtain knives and axes. While it is somewhat dated, you have the benefit of experienced opinion.

As with any tools, investing in quality items will avoid heartache later, so beware of buying the cheapest based on price alone.

Techniques

The skill list is similarly short. For knifework, Nava goes through five cuts that he uses throughout the projects. To prepare blanks, he outlines five general steps.

Projects

Nava opens each project with a page showing a photo of the finished item and a list of materials and tools.

This was my favorite item. Look at the gorgeous faceting of that fork.

He covers each project in a series of steps over the next several pages, using clear captioned photos. The writing is very easy to follow. The whole process has a wonderfully relaxed, organic feel to it.


The layout is easy to read and follow.

Whether you use the item yourself, give it as a gift, or sell it, the user will always be reminded of the person who made it. That's the personal connection in such handcrafts.

One thing I like about this is that you can use almost any wood. That means if there's a cherished old tree at a family house that you remember growing up, if some of it comes down, you can turn it into something that the family can continue to use for decades.

It's also a completely portable style of woodworking that offers great satisfaction. A small canvas bag of tools can go with you anywhere, and you can leave behind works of art and function.

If you sell your work, this is something you can do at fairs and craft shows. With your wares displayed for sale in front of you, you can be working on more the whole time. Then it's production and demonstration as well as commerce.

This also offers an opportunity to engage an audience and pass on the craft. You can let people try the tools after a quick lesson on safety and technique if you're comfortable doing that.

This is a wonderful book that will give you hours of enjoyment.

Psst: Don't tell my wife, but I ordered the set of Mora knives, the Marbles camp axe, and the 14" Silky Bigboy 2000 with extra large teeth that I linked above. This looks like fun!

Limor Fried Is My New Hero

Meet Limor Fried, founder of Adafruit.

I'm cross-posting this to both my woodworking blog www.CloseGrain.com and my software engineering blog FlinkAndBlink.blogspot.com (under the LearnToCode label), because even though there's no woodworking in it, this is all about building stuff, so it bridges the worlds. It's the maker ethos.

If you're interested in learning to code, and building the stuff that you're coding on, this is for you. This is all about working on embedded systems, from the hobby level to the professional.

I admit to instant and total nerd-crush. Limor Fried, who goes by the name Ladyada online (for Lady Ada Lovelace, The First Programmer) is the founder of Adafruit.

Adafruit is a small electronics manufacturing company in Manhattan, NY, that focuses on teaching electronics to makers of all ages. You can read about them here.

Electronics is another of those hobbies that I wanted to pursue as a teenager, but never could due to lack of funds. Fortunately I've advanced beyond that impecunious stage of life, and seeing this has fired instant obsession (hence the shopping list below!).

I'm familiar with that feeling of obsession settling on my shoulders. It propelled me into hand tool woodworking, turning into a book. It propelled me into violinmaking. It propelled me into boatbuilding.

Each time, the pattern is the same. I buy a bunch of books, watch a bunch of videos, dig through a bunch of blogs and forums, then buy a bunch of tools and start playing. Last year it propelled me into small engine repair and oxy-acetylene welding after I found Taryl Dactyl (yes, blog posts will be forthcoming).

Now, in my copious free time (that's a joke, son), I'll finally be realizing that dream to get my hands dirty with electronics.

I owe this to Matt Pandina, whom we recently hired at work. It quickly turned out that Matt is a maker and likes sharing information. He has some nice stuff on Google Groups under the moniker artcfox (in fact, one of his articles was coincidentally the answer to the embedded systems programming problem I use when interviewing candidates!).

He made a comment about how Adafruit is doing manufacturing in Manhattan, and I asked, "Who's Adafruit?". That was all it took. Thanks, Matt!

I was tickled to read Fried's favorite quote in the Entrepreneur Magazine article about her:

“We are what we celebrate.” —entrepreneur and inventor Dean Kamen.

Kamen is one of my other heroes. She whose hero is my hero is my hero!

I managed to score his autograph at the 2015 MassMEDIC conference. I was at the 2015 Embedded Systems Conference (ESC Boston), which was being held concurrently at the Boston Convention Center.


When I saw Kamen listed as keynote speaker, I scooted down early and got a chance to talk to him and tell him I wanted to work for him (he probably gets a lot of stalker geeks like that!). Came close the following year, but logistics didn't work out.

Electronics Learning Resources

On the business side, Adafruit sells kits, parts, tools, and books. That's pretty cool (along with being able to pull off a manufacturing operation in Manhattan). But what's truly spectacular about them is their online learning resources.

Fried is a big proponent of open source, sharing the knowledge. So the Adafruit website is chock full of information. There's also an extensive YouTube channel.

You'll also finds lots of cross-pollination with others in the maker community. There are magazines, blogs, and videos by the score, by independent makers like Matt, and by larger organizations.

I've just barely begun to scratch the surface. This is great, because I know how to program embedded systems, but I don't know much about the components that go into them and connect to them. It's the combination of hardware and software that really makes something work.

Pretty much everything I know about digital electronics I owe to Forrest P. Mims 35 years ago. Now, after that brief hiatus, I can take the next step.

Basic Electronics Lab Skills


Step into Collin's lab!

Among the resources is a series of very accessible quick guides and videos by Collin Cunningham. Of particular interest to the electronics beginner such as myself is this set of basic electronics lab skills (you can scan through all these for quick grok of the big picture by setting the speed in the YouTube window settings (the gear icon) to 2x, then come back and watch at normal speed for a second pass):

• Soldering and Desoldering: how to solder components together properly, and how to pull them apart for salvage and rework.
• Surface Mount Soldering: how to solder surface-mount components.
• Multimeters: how to use a meter for basic measurements.
• Oscilloscopes: how to use an oscilloscope for advanced measurements and waveforms.
• Hand Tools: the basic hand tools used for assembling and disassembling electronics.
• Schematics: how to read schematics (no, they're not Greek!).
• Breadboards and Perfboards: how to combine the parts on a schematic into a functioning circuit.
• Ohm's Law: understanding the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance.

Once you have these skills, you are unleashed. Just like hand tool woodworking, it takes a little investment in tools and equipment, and a little time practicing with them.

These form the basis of the shopping list below. And of course they lead to lots of other interesting videos, like Collin's videos on the basics of various components:

• Batteries: the basics of using batteries to supply DC power to projects.
• Solar Cells: using solar cells to keep the batteries charged.
• Power Supplies: using an AC power supply to supply DC power to projects.
• Pulse Width Modulation: using a PWM converter to change DC input voltage to lower effective DC voltage, or as a simple digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
• Switches: understanding the different types of switches for manually controlling projects. 
• The Transistor
• The Capacitor
• The Diode
• The Inductor
• The Resistor
• The LED
• The Integrated Circuit (IC)
• The Arduino

There are also a number of other introductory Adafruit written guides by various contributors (as well as oceans of more specialized and advanced guides, check them out!):

• Adafruit Guide To Excellent Soldering
• Multimeters
• Wires and Connections
• All About Batteries
• Power Supplies
• All About LEDs

Shopping List

These are the tools, equipment, supplies, and books to do the work. With the exception of the oscilloscope, these are all links to the Adafruit shopping pages. Prices as of April 8, 2018.

Tools and equipment:

• Hakko FX-888D Digital Soldering Iron, $109.95
• Hakko Soldering Tip: T18-D24 Screwdriver, $7.95
• Hakko Soldering Tip: T18-C2 Hoof, $7.95
• Hakko Soldering Tip: T18-S4 Fine SMD, $9.95
• Panavise Multi-Purpose Work Center, $99.95
• Third Hand Pana Hand Workstation Add-On, $54.95
• Helping Third Hand Magnifier W/Magnifying Glass, $6.00
• Flush diagonal cutters, $7.25
• Simple pliers, $3.00
• Hakko Professsional Quality 20-30 AWG Wire Strippers, $14.95
• Adafruit Pocket Screwdriver, $1.50
• Precision screwdriver set (6 pieces), $7.95
• Precision Torx Screwdriver Set (6 pieces), $6.95
• 65 Piece Ratchet Screwdriver and Tool Bit Set, $29.95
• iFixit Essential Electronics Toolkit, $19.95
• Super Scissors, $14.95
• Solar Digital Calipers, $14.95
• Fine tip straight tweezers - ESD safe, $3.95
• Fine tip curved tweezers - ESD safe, $3.95
• ESD-Safe PCB Cleaning Brush, $2.95
• Solder sucker, $5.00
• Professional IC Extraction Tool, $14.95
• Full sized breadboard, $5.95
• Breadboarding wire bundle, $4.95
• Small Alligator Clip Test Lead (set of 12), $3.95
• 2.1mm DC Barrel Jack to Alligator Clips, $1.95
• In-line power switch for 2.1mm barrel jack, $2.50
• 5V 2A (2000mA) switching power supply, $7.95
• 9 VDC 1000mA regulated switching power adapter, $6.95
• Extech EX330 12-function autoranging multimeter, $59.95
• Rigol DS1054Z Digital Oscilloscope - Bandwidth: 50 Mhz, Channels: 4, $349.00 (this is an Amazon link, since the 4 channel scope is less than the Adafruit 2 channel Rigol. Sorry, Limor!)

Consumable supplies:

• Bakelite Universal Perfboard Plates - Pack of 10, $4.95
• Hook-up Wire Spool Set - 22AWG Solid Core - 10 x 25ft, $27.50
• Hook-up Wire Spool Set - 22AWG Stranded-Core - 10 x 25ft, $27.50
• Mini Solder spool - 60/40 lead rosin-core solder 0.031" diameter - 100g, $7.95
• Solder Wire - 60/40 Rosin Core - 0.5mm/0.02" diameter - 50 grams, $5.95
• Solder Wire - RoHS Lead Free - 0.5mm/.02" diameter - 50g, $11.95
• Solder Wire - SAC305 RoHS Lead Free - 0.5mm/.02" diameter - 50g, $14.95
• Chip Quik SMD Removal Kit, $16.00
• Chip Quik SMD Removal Kit with Lead-Free Alloy, $17.00
• Solder wick - 3S 5ft., $3.00
• Heat Shrink Pack (24 pieces), $4.95
• Multi-Colored Heat Shrink Pack (30 pieces), $4.95
• Breadboard-friendly 2.1mm DC barrel jack, $0.95
• Adafruit Parts Pal, $19.95

Books:

• Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M. Mims III, $19.95 (remember him?)
• Practical Electronics for Inventors, Fourth Edition, by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk, $40.00
• Make: Electronics (Charles Platt) - 2nd Edition, $34.95
• Hacking Electronics by Simon Monk, $29.95
• Learn Electronics with Arduino - by Jody Culkin and Eric Hagan, $24.95
• Python for Microcontrollers: Getting Started with MicroPython by Donald Norris, $19.95
• Programming the Raspberry Pi: Getting Started with Python - 2nd Edition by Simon Monk, $15.00

Finally, here are some additional random useful items that they don't carry, all via Amazon:

• StarTech.com 24x27.5-Inch Desktop Anti-Static Mat, $17.44. Anti-static mats are important for ESD safety, to avoid damaging sensitive components. Use this larger one as you primary work surface.
• Velleman AS4 Anti-Static Mat with Ground Cable - Desktop static dissipative mat - 11.8" x 22", $11.18. Smaller secondary mat for second work area.
• Rosewill ESD Anti-Static Wrist Strap Components, $5.99, one per mat.
• 3M Scotch #35 Electrical Tape Value Pack (5 colors), $10.10, because how can you build electrical stuff without electrical tape, color coded?
• Scotch Super 33+ Vinyl Electrical Tape (black), $3.98
• Sharpie Fine Point Asst Colors (8 colors), $6.30, for color coded marking.
• Permatex 80050 Clear RTV Silicone Adhesive Sealant, 3 oz, $11.18. RTV is a universal technician's friend. Gobs of it serve as adhesive, sealers, hole plugs, gaskets, wire holders, vibration dampers, etc. There are a number of different formulations.

Total cost: $1269 for everything (I ordered 2 spools leaded solder and 1 leaded Chip Quik, no lead-free items, 10 DC barrel jacks, and all the screwdriver/tool sets, since you never know which tips and shanks will fit, and some cases need special access tools to open), with free shipping from both Adafruit and Amazon. Plus they threw in a free half-size breadboard and a Circuit Playground Express.

Back in my teenage days, $10 was a major expenditure, and $100 was simply inconcievable. This is starting to add up to some real money, but it will leave you armed with the tools, knowledge, and skills sufficient to launch a career.

The really nice thing is that Adafruit provides a curated list of things to choose from, so you're getting the benefit of their experience and recommendations, all guided by that maker ethos. That was a big plus for me.


Bridging three centuries of maker technology.

Once I've gone through some of the books, I'll pick out a selection of microcontrollers to play with.

You can read about my first use of these tools, since I needed them almost immediately.

Veterans Program Update

The class covers the use of tools like these: handsaws, handplanes, and chisels.

Updated December 19, 2020: Thank you to the people who have participated in this and who have helped spread the word on it. The pandemic of course means that I can't offer this currently, but I had decided to stop before that, due to lack of interest.

I'm very pleased to announce that my free hand tool woodworking class for veterans and active duty personnel is now part of Ayer Shirley Regional School District Community Education, and will be conducted at the ASR High School in Ayer, MA.

For details on registration, see the ASRSD Community Education classes page and page through to the Hobbies section. The class is Woodworking For Veterans, 7:30PM to 9:30PM for 12 Wednesdays from March 21 to June 13 (no class during April school vacation week). Space is limited to 4 people per 12-week session. All tools and materials provided.

For details on the what and the why of the class, see my original description of the JOTMOST program.

A big thank you to Dennis McGillicuddy, Vietnam veteran, for putting in the time and effort to find a public venue for the class. Thanks also to Pat Russell, Community Education coordinator, and Steve Tulli, technology teacher at ASR High School for making his room available.

Acknowledgements And References

The new woodworking books are here, the new woodworking books are here! 20 copies fresh from the publisher.

I like to give credit where credit is due. These are the acknowledgements and references for the information in my book, Hand Tool Basics.

I'm a self-taught woodworker. That really means I had many teachers, the many live demonstrators and authors of books, videos, and magazine, online forum, mailing list, and website articles who have provided useful information.

Use the information I provide as a starting point. There's plenty more than what I cover; woodworking is a global activity with centuries of history, creating an infinite variety of techniques. I hope that I'll give you the skills and knowledge to be able to assess and incorporate any new information you find.

In general, the tools and methods I show in the book follow American and English woodworking styles. Continental European and Asian styles share many of the same techniques, but there are some differences in the tools. Where information is available, I strive to show historically accurate methods. In general it's safe to assume everything I show has at least 100 years of history. Some things have 2 or 3 hundred. Dovetails date back to the ancient Egyptians.

We are but the custodians of knowledge, passing it on to the next generation.

Acknowledgements

Below is the list of my teachers, in roughly chronological order. These are my primary references. They offer a range of perspectives that don't always agree with each other but still manage to get the job done, showing that it's worthwhile to look at the variety of techniques available.

If you'd like further information on any of the topics I cover in the book, I highly recommend seeking out their work, or even better, a chance to spend time with them in classes or demos. It's always good to have an opportunity to watch someone closeup and drink in the details. Just one new detail about an otherwise familiar technique can make it worthwhile.

My memberships in the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) and the Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers (GNHW), as well as the Lie-Nielsen Open Houses and Hand Tool Events, have given me a number of opportunities to meet and watch some of them.

Don Weber: Don's cover story in the April, 2004 issue of Popular Woodworking is what set me off down this path. He built a table from a log using nothing but hand tools. I was absolutely enthralled. It took me a few years of fumbling around to gain traction, until I started following…

Christopher Schwarz: As the editor of Popular Woodworking, it was Chris' articles on hand tools that put me on the road to success, in particular his articles on sharpening and planing. His books and videos form the core of my woodworking library. He went on to found Lost Art Press, where he continues to publish excellent books and videos on hand tool woodworking. He changed my woodworking forever, and gave me the knowledge to start appreciating other teachers, like…

Roy Underhill: When I first saw Roy's PBS show The Woodwright's Shop, long before I knew anything about hand tools, I thought this guy was bouncing off the walls like a superball shot from a cannon. But once I started learning, I realized every episode was crammed with a breathtaking amount of pure gold. His books and DVDs are another core component of my library. While I'll never be the showman he is and be able to do a half-hour video in one take, I've taken a number of cues from his show in my instructional format.

Philip C. Lowe: I've been following Phil's articles for as long as I have Chris Schwarz's. He's what I call a museum-class woodworker, because when museums need to restore or reproduce a finely detailed period furniture piece, he's at the top of the list. He ran the furniture-making program at Boston's North Bennet St. School for 5 years before starting his own Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, and is the winner of the SAPFM 2005 Cartouche Award. I got to know him when he gave a series of live demonstrations to SAPFM members on building several magnificent furniture pieces.

Michael Dunbar: Mike ran the Windsor Institute in New Hampshire, where he taught chairmaking. He's published a number of articles in Popular Woodworking. He takes a very no-nonsense attitude, as exemplified by his "Sensible Sharpening" method of sandpaper on flat substrate. His repeated frustration at having students show up to classes with basic tools they didn't know how to sharpen or use was what led me to start teaching. My goal was to provide that basic knowledge so people could get on with the more advanced topics of the specialized classes offered by others.

Charles H. Hayward: One of Chris Schwarz's heroes, Hayward was editor and "one-man publishing phenomenon" of The Woodworker from 1936 to 1966. He wrote a number of practical books that are simply spectacular. Anything you can find by him, don't hesitate, just get it! In fact, Chris has since anthologized several volumes of his writings from The Woodworker.

Robert Wearing: Wearing, another of Schwarz's heroes and an acquaintance of Hayward in Hayward's later years, wrote an excellent book that has been re-released by Lost Art Press. This was the source of the three classes of saw cuts terminology.

Bernard E. Jones: Jones wrote two encyclopedic books in the 1910's-20's which have been reprinted several times, one of which is now available from Popular Woodworking.

Garrett Hack: Garrett is a professional woodworker and author in Vermont. I've always loved his designs. He's a master of unique stylistic details done with hand tools.

Jim Kingshott: Kingshott was a British woodworker who put out several outstanding books and videos in the 1990's. He's like your favorite uncle. But of course, Bob's your uncle!

Adam Cherubini: Adam's "Arts And Mysteries" column in Popular Woodworking was a huge influence on my work. With his emphasis on 18th-century work, he showed me I could do everything by hand starting from the raw lumber, and taught me how to use wooden handplanes.

Patrick Leach: Patrick is one of the Internet's premier antique tool sellers, with everything from $20 user planes to $10,000 collector's items. He's partly responsible for the unusually large number of chisels you see on my tool wall; his house is dangerously close to mine. But he's also the definitive reference for information on antique Stanley tools. His website www.Supertool.com is encyclopedic, covering the entire line from the late 1800's through the first half of the 20th century.

Pete Taran: Like Patrick, Pete is another encyclopedic source of antique tool information, this time on saws at www.VintageSaw.com.

Erik Von Sneidern: And like Pete, Erik is another antique saw specialist, focusing exclusively on Disston saws at his Disstonian Institute, www.DisstonionInstitute.com.

Aldren A. Watson: Watson was a professional woodworker, author, and illustrator in Vermont.

Lie-Nielsen Staff: YouTube videos from founder Thomas Lie-Nielsen and demonstrators like Deneb Pulchalski, along with live demonstrations at their Hand Tool Events, cover a great deal about how to use and maintain their tools. I think this educational component is an important part of the company's success, completing the connection with their customers.

Alan Breed: Al is another museum-class woodworker. He's the guy high-end auction houses call when they want a reproduction of an antique that's on the block for millions of dollars, so the sellers will have something to fill the empty spot. He runs the The Breed School in New Hampshire, and is the winner of the SAPFM 2012 Cartouche Award. For a number of years, he's been incredibly generous sharing his time and knowledge in a series of live demonstrations to the GNHW Period Furniture Group on building period pieces.

Paul Sellers: Paul is a British woodworker who put out an excellent book and DVD series. He used to run New Legacy School of Woodworking in Penrhyn Castle, North Wales, possibly one of the coolest school venues around. He's another very no-nonsense guy, attempting to demystify the craft and bring it to the masses without complicated methods.

Christian Becksvoort: Christian is a professional woodworker and magazine author in Maine who specializes in hand tool work.

Peter Galbert: Peter is a professional chair maker in Massachusetts. He's also an inventor, creating several very useful tools and versions of existing tools. He was the one who showed me how to get the most out of a wooden spokeshave, and watching his YouTube videos resulted in a huge improvement in my turning skills on the lathe.

References

Some of these may be difficult to find because they're out of print. But they may be available used or as reprints.

Books (including a few useful references from authors not listed above)

Bickford, Matthew Sheldon

Mouldings In Practice, 2012

Blackburn, Graham

Jigs & Fixtures For The Hand Tool Woodworker, 2014

Fine Woodworking

Working With Handplanes, 2005

Hampton, C.W., and Clifford, E.

Planecraft: Hand Planing By Modern Methods, 1934

Hayward, Charles H.

Cabinet Making For Beginners, 1948 (several editions)

The Junior Woodworker, 1952 (don't let the title fool you, it's for any beginner!)

Woodwork Joints, Revised Edition, 1979

Hoadley, R. Bruce

Understanding Wood, 2000

Hock, Ron

The Perfect Edge: The Ultimate Guide To Sharpening For Woodworkers, 2009

Jones, Bernard E.

The Complete Woodworker, 1920?

The Practical Woodworker, 1920? (reissued as a 4-volume set)

Kingshott, Jim

The Workshop, 1993

Sharpening: The Complete Guide, 1994

A Woodworker's Guide To Joints, 1998

Krenov, James

The Fine Art Of Cabinetmaking, 1977

Laughton, Ralph

Success With Joints, 2005

Popular Woodworking

Hand Tool essentials, 2007

Rae, Andy

Choosing & Using Hand Tools, 2002

Schwarz, Christopher

Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use, 2007

The Joiner And Cabinet Maker, 2009 (with Joel Moskowitz, update of 1839 anonymous original)

Handplane Essentials, 2009

Sellers, Paul

Working Wood, 2011 (also available as a set with 7 DVD's listed below)

Underhill, Roy

The Woodwright's Shop: A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft, 1981

The Woodwright's Companion: Exploring Traditional Woodcraft, 1983

The Woodwright's Work Book: Further Explorations in Traditional Woodcraft, 1986

The Woodwright's Eclectic Workshop, 1991

The Woodwright's Apprentice: 20 Favorite Projects From The Woodwright's Shop, 1996

The Woodwright's Guide: Working Wood with Wedge & Edge, 2008

Watson, Aldren A.

Hand Tools: Their Ways And Workings, 1982

Wearing, Robert

The Essential Woodworker, 2010

Whelan, John M.

The Wooden Plane: Its History, Form, And Function, 1993

Videos

Kingshott, Jim

Bench Planes, 1996

Special Planes, 1996

Mortise & Tenon, 1996

Dovetails, 1996

Schwarz, Christopher

Coarse Medium & Fine, 2005

Building Furniture With Hand Planes, 2007

Handplane Basics: A Better Way To Use Bench Planes, 2009

Sellers, Paul (available as a set with his book above)

Working Wood: Woodworking Essentials 1 and 2, 2011

Working Wood: Master Sharpening, 2011

Working Wood: Master European Workbenches, 2011

Working Wood: Master Housing Dadoes, 2011

Working Wood: Master Mortise & Tenons, 2011

Working Wood: Master Dovetails, 2011

Underhill, Roy

The Woodwright's Shop, Seasons 1-31 (and counting, starting in 1980)

Online Forums

These are an excellent way to join with like-minded people to learn and discuss hand tools, their use, and how to deal with problems. In fact, as my skills developed, it was seeing the questions posted on these from beginners struggling through the same learning curve I had climbed that motivated me to put together a video course and book.

Some forums are extremely active. Participation is global, with people coming from all different cultural backgrounds.

I found these to be a great asset in my learning. Just be prepared for a wide range of information, often conflicting! You'll have to learn to sort through it. That's where I came up with the concept for my "Fistfights And Fundamentals" segments.

These are moderated forums to ensure that everyone stays on their good behavior, but discussions can get heated and feelings can get hurt. Read their policies and spend some time lurking (Internet-speak for reading without responding) before you join in. Don't take things personally, and don't make things personal. Be polite. Remember that different people have different experience, training, and opinions.

There are others besides these, in English and many other languages, as well as Facebook groups such as Unplugged Woodworkers.

www.SawmillCreek.com (US) - Neanderthal Haven forum.

www.WoodNet.com (US) - Woodworking Hand Tools forum.

www.LumberJocks.com (US) - Hand Tools forum.

www.UKWorkshop.co.uk (UK) - Hand Tools forum.

www.WoodworkUK.co.uk (UK) - Hand Tools forum.

www.WoodworkForums.com (Australia) - Hand Tools - Unpowered forum.

Thank You To The MBTA!

Finally, I'd like to thank the MBTA. Other than the shop work and photography, I did nearly all the work for this book and the original video series while riding the Commuter Rail. Yes, I wrote a book on the train! I did all the video editing, photo selection, and writing on my Mac laptop an hour each way to and from work in Boston.

Thank you to all the folks who took care of my commute and gave me a safe, warm place where I could focus on woodworking!

Hand Tool Basics Book Available For Order

Book cover, showing the plane till in my basement workshop.

If you'd like a copy of my book, Hand Tool Basics, published by Popular Woodworking Books, it's now available online at ShopWoodworking.com.

It's available in both hardcopy and e-book formats. It's a direct companion to my video series, Intro to Hand Tools (more information on the series, including the free Part 1 and sample lesson, is at Intro To Hand Tools Downloadable Videos).

Whether you want to augment your power tool woodworking with some hand skills or you want to do everything with hand tools, whether you have a big shop or just a tiny space, this is for you.

The images in the book are taken from the digital video I recorded for the series, and its organization and content match the series. The book is therefore a matching visual reference for hand tool woodworking, with some 1400 captioned photos.

Why have a book version identical to the video series? Several reasons:

• Some people prefer learning from videos. Some people prefer learning from books.
• It's nice to have both so you can sit back and watch the videos, then have the book with you on the workbench as you follow the steps for a procedure.
• The dynamic images in the video allow you to watch the tools in motion, while the static images in the book freeze the action so you can take your time examining details. These complementary views help you get the whole picture.

You can see my acknowledgements and references here. These are the people who gave me the knowledge.

Here are the full Contents and Index pages so you can see what's covered. As always, I like to show multiple ways of doing things, so you can tackle any situation based on the tools you have available, your personal preferences, and your current skill level.







Here are a few sample pages representative of the layout and level of detail in the book.


From Chapter 1: The Tools, showing a selection of the tools covered.


From Chapter 5: Mortise and Tenon Joinery, showing some of the fistfights and fundamentals.


From Chapter 6: Dovetail Joinery, showing some of the steps laying out and sawing a tails-first through-dovetail.

Feel free to email me at sdbranam@gmail.com if you have any questions about anything in the book. One of the challenges is getting just the right explanation that conveys the information to all readers regardless of their experience and skill level, and sometimes that fails.

Announcing Publication Date

Book cover, showing the plane till in my basement workshop.

I'm very excited to announce the publication date for my book, Hand Tool Basics, from Popular Woodworking Books: January 12, 2018!

It will be available for pre-order at ShopwoodWorking.com in mid-November. The price will be $34.99. As a bonus, I'll also be posting SketchUp images here of some of the jigs in the book.

The book is a direct companion to my video series, Intro to Hand Tools (more information on the series, including the free Part 1 and sample lesson, is at Intro To Hand Tools Downloadable Videos).

The images are taken from the digital video I recorded for the series. The organization and content of the book match the series. The book is therefore a visual reference, with some 1400 captioned photos.

Why produce a book version identical to the video series? Several reasons:

• Some people prefer learning from videos. Some people prefer learning from books.
• It's nice to have both so you can sit back and watch the videos, then have the book with you on the workbench as you follow the steps for a procedure.
• The dynamic images in the video allow you to watch the tools in motion, while the static images in the book allow you to take your time examining details like how to hold a tool. 

A big thank you to the editing and layout team at Popular Woodworking! They did an outstanding job with the written and photographic material I supplied.

The images here are screen shots from the author review document, so the image quality is reduced from the final copy, but they show what to expect.

Here are the full Contents and Index pages so you can see what's covered. As always, I like to show multiple ways of doing things, so you can tackle any situation based on the tools you have available, your personal preferences, and your current skill level.







Here are some sample pages representative of the layout and level of detail in the book.


From Chapter 1: The Tools, showing a selection of the tools covered.


From Chapter 5: Mortise and Tenon Joinery, showing some of the fistfights and fundamentals.


From Chapter 6: Dovetail Joinery, showing some of the steps laying out and sawing a tails-first through-dovetail.

Once it's out, feel free to email me at sdbranam@gmail.com if you have any questions about anything you see. One of the challenges in a book is getting just the right explanation that conveys the information to all readers regardless of their experience and skill level, and sometimes that fails.

Taking The Next Step Toward Boatbuilding

The house in East Boothbay.

Life has been busy, busy, busy lately. Hence the lack of posts here.

My book draft is now in the hands of the team at Popular Woodworking Books, with some 1400 captioned photos.

My shop time has been occupied teaching individual classes. That's produced good material for some upcoming technique blog posts.

I've started reading through my stack of boatbuilding books. That'll take a while, but Greg Rossel's excellent Building Small Boats has been a great first step, detailing the sequence of operations.

A Place To Build Boats

The next step in the journey is the other big thing occupying my time, a place to build boats. That place is in East Boothbay, Maine, where my mother-in-law has now bought a house. She'll live there in the warm months, then with us in the cold months. Meanwhile, we'll spend weekends and vacations there. Eventually, we'll retire there permanently.

The two main criteria for the house were that it be near water, and that it have a space for my woodworking, specifically large enough for small boatbuilding. We had previously owned a house near the Damariscotta River in Boothbay, Maine, so we were familiar with East Boothbay. That was our general search region. It's spectacularly beautiful, as you can see from this image search.

The house she bought meets the criteria wonderfully. Built in the mid-to-late 1800's, it sits directly across the street from the historic shipyard waterfront of East Boothbay, on the bend of the Damariscotta a couple miles upriver from open ocean.

They've been building ships and boats there since the 1700's. Two small yards are still active, Hodgdon Yachts, America's oldest boat builder, building high-end sailing and motor yachts, and Washburn & Doughty, building commercial tugs and fireboats. 

Hodgdon Yachts is on the site of the former Goudy and Stevens yard, where Louis Sauzedde (www.TipsFromAShipwright.com) worked on the replica of the yacht America as a teenager in the late '60's.

In between those yards is a public boat ramp and a separate kayak ramp. There's another public boat onto Linekin Bay less than a mile away. Ocean Point Marina, where we used to keep our old boat, is 50 yards upriver, on the other side of the mouth to the tidal millpond.

So near water, check. About 100 yards from house to ramp. The river is visible past the Washburn & Doughty buildings. Their launchings are always an event.

The workspace is behind the house, a small barn with loft and one-car garage. It's perfect. There's a big sliding door in the wall that opens to an ideal spot for a small boat construction frame, leaving plenty of space on the side for workbenches and general woodworking. The loft upstairs is perfect for, well, lofting! And sailmaking.

Rear view of the house showing the barn.

At some point this will become Close Grain North, where I'll teach private classes in hand tool woodworking, violin-making, and boatbuilding. Of course, I have to learn how to do those latter two myself first. See one, do one, teach one.

There are many other small boatbuilders in the area, as well as riggers and sailmakers. The shop of Nathaniel Wilson, master sailmaker, whose work graces the USS Constitution, among many other historic ships, is a couple houses upriver from the marina. That's only a quarter mile walk from the house.

I picked up this great poster for Nathaniel Wilson at the Maine Boatbuilders Show in Portland in March.

The whole area is just steeped in it, with 300 years of history. I even met a lady who's a former instructor at the WoodenBoat School and staff editor at WoodenBoat Magazine. For an aspiring boatbuilder, you couldn't ask for anything more.

I continue to learn about other schools in the area. In Bristol, on the other side of the river, there's the Carpenter's Boat Shop. Then just down the road from that there's the Maine Coast Craft School.

The latter school is particularly interesting because founders Kenneth and Angela Kortemeier have taken over the torch from Drew and Louise Langsner's Country Workshops in North Carolina now that they have retired. Kenneth was an intern at Country Workshops in the 90's (Peter Follansbee is another Country Workshops alum).

Boothbay Region Historical Society

When we first found the house, I was curious about the history of the barn. I was aware of the long history of boat and shipbuilding in the area, so I wondered if it might have been used as a workshop by someone building small workboats for the bigger ships.

I contacted the Boothbay Region Historical Society, and over the course of a few emails, historian Barbara Rumsey very graciously gave me some information.

The real-estate listing said the house was from the 1880's, but based on tax records, she felt it could have been built in the late 1860's. She also felt the barn was probably a small livestock barn, since it was common at the time for families to have a few animals.

I visited the Society, where Barbara showed me how to go through their copies of the old tax collector's books. That was fascinating. The book for each year was a hand-written account of every resident and their taxable property, roughly alphabetical by last name.

People were taxed on their land, buildings, and various types of livestock. There was even a heading for musical instruments over $15 (a significant sum in the 1880's). Anyone who had an ox was very popular; they were like the guy with a truck you could hire to help haul stuff.

What she had found was that the house's street address appeared in the book for 1882, listed under the name Alvin Goudy and occupied by his mother. That gave me a starting point.

Working back through earlier records, I found Alvin Goudy's name first listed for that location in 1867. Working forward to see if taxes increased due to property improvements (for instance, adding the barn), there didn't appear to a major change. So it's possible the house and barn have been there since 1867.

What I wasn't able to determine was what Alvin did for a living. Presumably he was of the same Goudys as Goudy & Stevens shipyard. Lacking any other evidence, it seems likely the barn was indeed used for livestock.

After we closed on the house, I stopped by the Society again to say hi, and found Barbara talking to another gentleman. She said he was one of my neighbors in East Boothbay, Nat Wilson. I said, "The sailmaker!"

Indeed it was. I told him sailmaking was another thing I needed to learn, and I would love to visit his shop. He invited me to stop by any time. The mind boggles. What more could an aspiring boatbuilder ask?

Hobie Tandem Island

Since building even a small boat is 100 to 200 hours of work, it'll be a year or two at hobbyist pace before I have something ready to put in the water. In the meantime, I'm happy to enjoy some rotomolded plastic fun.

So under the heading of YOLO, I bought a Hobie Tandem Island, which is an amazing trimaran sit-on-top tandem sailing sea kayak. It has pedal-powered Mirage drives. The pedals power fins that move sideways, inspired by penguin fins; they're even reversible so you can backup as well as go forwards. You can paddle, pedal, or sail!

This thing is a marvel of mechanical engineering. The modular assemblies go together quickly and easily for use, and detach just as easily for breakdown. As a tandem, it's large, 18' long; as a trimaran, it's heavy, 240 lbs. fully rigged.

But those outriggers (called "amas") make it incredibly stable, able to handle any kind of conditions, even out to open ocean. That's perfect for the Maine coastal river estuaries. It has molded-in fishing rod holders, and Hobie says it's even suitable for bluewater trolling. I've never been a fisherman, but this I can get behind!

How To Transport A Hobie Tandem Island, New In Box

We spent a small fortune on Thule pickup truck bed and roof racks to transport the boat from Sebago Sailing And Watercraft in Raymond, ME. But with a boat that long, I wanted a good secure support to avoid damaging it or the truck. And now we have a very versatile hauling setup.

The boat was in two packages. The main hull was wrapped in a long bubblewrap bag. The amas and all other parts were in a cardboard box about 14' long. Both fit side by side on the racks. Captain Mike, a tall fellow (who also has a timberframing business), helped us load it up. His wife Maura had been my contact for buying it.

The boat loaded on my wife's F150 pickup truck. Mounted to the bed is a Thule XSporter Pro rack. On the roof is a pair of Thule AeroBlade bars. I secured the packages to the racks with 25' lengths of half-inch climbing webbing fore and aft.

To unload the boat on our own, I used a retired climbing rope and a pair of carabiners to rig a 2-to-1 haul system from the upper door of the barn. My wife, Cat, belayed the rope to sway the front end of the box down off the rack while I stood on my toes and lifted off the other end. That allowed her to lower away easily. Then we repeated that with the main hull.


Cat belays the box.


Belaying the main hull.

I unpackaged everything and laid it out, then followed the instructions on assembly. It didn't take long. The boat is made to break down for transport with minimum fuss. I had also bought a heavy-duty two-wheel dolly that included a cradle for the amas.


The boat fully assembled with sail unfurled. You've heard of sailing on the mooring? This is sailing on the driveway.

This boat also takes a spinnaker. That'll be next year after we've spent some time buzzing up and down the river and out the mouth.