The marketing and adverising of a woodworking business is sometimes a difficult task for a new business start up. For the most part, people start a woodworking business because they know how to work with wood. They do not necessarily have the skills to market their product however.

Generally woodworking businesses operate on word of mouth advertising and other traditional media. If your services and skills adequate enough to satisfy a few customers, you will find that they will more often than not recommend your business to others. A good rule of thumb about word of mouth advertising howver is to remind your customers that you are still around.

Word of mouth advertising is the best advertising you can have because it is free, but most of all because the trust factor of a new potential customer is alleviated. One of the scariest factors for a potential client especially when hiring a woodworking contractor isto know if they can trust the company they a re hiring.

Building on that, a good marketing technique to increase the number of potential customers is to send out a postcard or letter to past clients. it is much easier to get a repeat client than to go after a new client. Writing a reactivation letter as it is called is especially a good idea when the ecomony is slow. Take the time to either write a letter thanking then for their business, and maybe letting them know of some improvements that they might want to add their home etc.

Other traditional media that do well for a new woodworking business is to use the standard yellow pages. …

3D Analyzer software is the ultimate link between Solidworks and CNC machinery used for woodworking.

3D Analyzer Software’s utilization of feature technology enhances programming automation, feature technology, a knowledge-based machining methodology.

By employing this technology, part features, such as faces, various types of holes, slots and pockets, can be created in Solidworks, automatically recognized, and then automatically machined. Feature technology improves the ease of use by having decisions made by the software, as compared to the user.

Feature recognition software is a relative new and important capability for the woodworking manufacturer to automatically examine a Solidworks model, identify individual features and their associated attributes, convert deign features into manufacturing features, and extract the features for subsequent operations.

- Take advantage of a free plug-in worth $700 US
- Feature recognition software for the woodworking industry
- Automate manufacturing processes
- Backed up by a professional and experienced team
- User manuals/ Help Pages for this plug-in are available here!

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For more information contact Darren Duane - darren@3danalyzersoftware.com

Offer valid untill the 30th of November 2010

WARRENSBURG — The devil, it is said, is in the details.

But woodworker and artist Ron Atteberry finds it angelically simple to apply fine hand-carved decoration to the superb wood chests and other furniture items he builds.

Visitors to Atteberry’s tidy garage workshop in Warrensburg will instead find numerous devils liberated from the details and grinning back at them from spine-tingling portraits executed in combinations of magic marker and colored pencil.

Atteberry, who has a fine eye for pretty girl model photographs he also likes to keep on the walls, prefers to use his own drawing talents to picture some pretty fierce, but strangely fun, creatures he pulls out of his imagination. It’s the kind of screaming skull stuff that would sell well at biker rallies, if he ever makes it to one.

“I like hot rods, and I love going to hot rod shows,” says Atteberry, 63. “But I’m no biker; if I got on one of those things, I’d fall off.”

In any case, demonic retailing would cut down on his furniture-making time, and Atteberry, a retired cabinet maker who loves to sketch, still thinks his woodworking skills offer him the strongest shot at nailing a few customer dollars. His particular forte is what he calls “hope chests,” which are like big trunks and measure about 39 inches long, 20 inches deep and 25 inches tall.

They feature precisely fitting lids, sometimes painstakingly built up from applied wood strips, while the outside of the pine chests provide him with an expansive wood canvas with which to play: no devils here, but instead hand-cut flowers, hearts and stars sliced …

This woodworking Lumber Storage Rack stores lumber and plywood. It provides good support for your lumber. The plywood is stored upright. Nearly any board is easy to find. And it keeps all out of the way until needed.

The Shop-made Lumber storage rack has vertical support brackets and horizontal arms. You cut all parts from 2×4 boards. The arms attach with half-lap joints. I suggest you space the arms no more than 32″ apart. Depending on the height of your ceiling, you could go down to 28″.

The spacing shows you where to cut the half-lap joints. You assemble the lumber rack with glue in the half-lap joint and two wood screws. I used #8 x 1¼” wood screws.

After assembly, secure the Vertical Support Bracket to your floor joists. You could use two #8 x 2½” wood screws. Since my floor joists were running 90-degrees to the Vertical Support Brackets, I screwed a 2×4 plate to the floor joist. Then you screw the Vertical Support Bracket to the 2×4 plate.

You anchor the bottom of the Vertical Support Bracket with a 2×4 base that goes to the back wall. Then screw 3/4″ plywood to the top of the base. This stabilizes the base, and allows plywood to slide easily in the rear. Also, it allows plywood to remain vertical. This is good storage for plywood, and it takes less room.

Woodworking Lumber Storage Tips

Keep Wood Off the Floor:
This is especially important on concrete floors, such as a basement or garage. Concrete is somewhat porous. Moisture can “wick” into your lumber and warp or damage your wood.

In addition, …

Bamboo Flooring More Than An Alternative

Compared To Traditional Flooring Bamboo Has Many Advantages. Bamboo Flooring is certainly one of the upcoming materials in today’s floor market. With many many advantages over traditional hardwood flooring it has certainly been a kind of shooting star amongst the different new floor types used. Amongst many its durability and hardness make bamboo very resistant.

Ecological Aspects Of Bamboo Floors

With a very short rejuvenating cycle of about 5 years bamboo can be harvested much faster than most softwoods. Softwoods usually have a 20 to 30 year harvest cycle. But keep in mind that bamboo is better compared in a review to hardwood than any softwood or pine flooring.

Different Types Of Flooring

Being cut, dried and than glued together in panels, bamboo flooring can be distinguished into two different types. Vertical and horizontal grain bamboo. Bamboo flooring vertical grain, shows very fine grain lines. Bamboo flooring horizontal grain, shows a wider line of grain.

As always, as a general rule of thumb here as well, wide large rooms and you might go for horizontal grain whilst on smaller spaces you may choose the fine vertical grain bamboo flooring.

Installing Bamboo Flooring

Basically when it comes to how to install bamboo flooring, the installing procedure is pretty much the same as with conventional hardwood flooring. If you use solid bamboo flooring you will need to consider that your surface is particularly dry - especially when you install it onto concrete surface.

Make sure you read all installing instructions from the bamboo flooring manufacturer carefully, because humidity can backfire if it comes to any wooden floor installation. Also make sure …

A Quick Tour of Router Table TechniquesFor as little as it takes to get set up, and the short time it takes to aquire skill at using a router table, it’s easy to see why this venerable workhorse is often one of the first and most important tool purchases that a woodworker ever makes. Below, we’ll take a quick look at the common woodworking procedures that you can master within the first few weeks of owning a router table, including:Working with long, narrow or small stock

- Edge trimming and template work
- Using a router table as a jointer
- Grooves, dadoes and slots
- Stopped cuts
- Dovetail and box joinery
- Making raised panel doors
- Lock-miter, drawer lock, and finger joints
- Working With Long, Narrow, or Small StockLong and narrow stock is easily machined on a router table. Featherboards make it even easier; they hold the stock tight against the surface of the fence and table and let you can concentrate on a steady, even feed rate.

In general, a router table will help you work with stock of dimensions that don’t lend themselves to handheld router work. Long, narrow stock, such as that used to make moldings and trim are nearly impossible to work with a handheld router. Edge profiling a few hundred feet of a particular door or base molding could probably be done with handheld router and the aid of special shop-built rigging, but dong so would be an extremely inefficient choice, when …

3D Analyzer Software Woodworking Tips - Grain Filler

Use Grain Fillers for a Great Finish

The first step to a superb finishing job on your projects is the realization that all hardwoods are not created equal. Most woodworkers really know this already, but check out the surface of a piece of red oak, and then hold a piece of cherry next to it. Look at them head on and then at an angle. This gives a glaring example of the differences, and shows right away why red oak needs to be filled for a great looking and smooth finish, while cherry simply requires a few coats of properly applied finish to look superb.

Red oak is an open-pored wood, called ring porous in technical terms, and has many fairly regular openings across its face. There are those who do not like using fillers, and they have a point, but for those of us who often use red oak in spots like desk tops, the natural, unfilled look tends to mean strange looking signatures and notes, often with holes all the way through the paper. Other open-pored woods include walnut, butternut (white walnut), black locust, mahogany, rosewood, catalpa, ash, hickory and pecan. Fillers help to create the smooth surface many people associate with fine furniture. Woods such as maple and cherry do not demand fillers–in fact, fillers are a waste of time, effort and money with smaller pored woods like those. Generally, if you look at the surface of a wood and cannot see the pores, then you don’t need, or want, a filler for …

Few of us ever admit to having “enough” tools and machinery, but sooner or later, we realize that it’s possible to own one too many. Finding parking spots for those most needed machines, benches, stands, and materials in a crowded garage or basement can take the thrill out of making sawdust. All too often, we eat up shop time dragging heavy pieces across the floor, turning every project into a series of hassles. Enter mobile bases—the next best thing to building a bigger shop. These affordable accessories maximize available space by enabling you to roll in machinery when it’s needed and then roll it out of when it’s not. Mobility is the quintessential tight shop solution, but it can be equally valuable in larger workshops. Repositioning machinery improves workflow and, in some cases, creates extra assembly space for large projects.

Mobile bases come in two flavors: Dedicated and Unviversal

A dedicated base is the simplest solution because it’s engineered to match the size and weight of a given machine. However, custom bases are more expensive (on average $50 to $100 more than comparable universal bases), and they can cost you more later. Because these bases fit specific machinery, future shop upgrades, such as replacing your old 6″ jointer with an 8″ one, may also mean buying a brand-new base.

Universal bases are suitable for almost any machine that fits within the base’s size and weight range. Prices for universal bases generally fall in the $50 to $100 range. The downside to universal bases is the assembly process; however, even those bases that come with a bag of parts can be completed in less than two hours.

Caster count: 3, …

What Is Needed To Build A Woodworking Workbench

Let’s have a detailed look at how to build a workbench for woodworking. Before you start building any workbench, make sure you have decided on the kind of vises you want to use. From a woodworkers point of view, you have the choice of two different vises which you can put on your workbench. So, how to build a workbench is first of all a question about what vises are going to be used.

Different Vises For Your Home Built Workbench

Let’s have a look at a heavy duty professional woodworking workbench to make sure we know what we are taking about. Sjöbergs deluxe cabinetmakers workbench is built with two different types of vises or clamps.

The front clamp is a parallel clamp and one of the most common on every workbench.This kind of front parallel clamp can be bought from various sources individually. Rockler offers a very solid one with two screws closing at the same time. The twin screw wise has both screws connected with a chain guaranteeing that the force is divided parallel on the clamp.

In case of planning to build a smaller woodworking workbench, you could also get a smaller quick release vise. Depending on the size of the workbench you build and how thick the benchtop is supposed to be, this smaller vise might give you enough pressure for daily jobs.

The rear vise, integrated into the workbench top, can open up to 10 inches and gives tremendous pressure as it presses against the end grain. However, integrating this kind of rear clamp into a self made workbench is rather difficult and requires …

- Think Before You Cut – The most powerful tool in your shop is your brain, use it. Thinking your cuts and movements through before acting can help save both fingers and scrapwood.

- Keep a Clean Shop – A cluttered shop is an accident waiting to happen. Keeping your shop clean will help protect you, and your tools, from tripping hazards.

- Avoid Distractions – Pay attention to your actions. Looking up to watch the shop TV or visitor can result in your hand contacting the blade. Always wait until you have completed your cut before you take your eyes off the blade.

- Don’t Rush – Keep in mind that this is just a hobby and take a break when you feel rushed or frustrated with a project. Mistakes happen when we rush to complete a job.

- Don’t Force It – If your saw is resisting the cut, stop and see what’s wrong. A misaligned rip fence or improperly seated throat plate can sometimes cause a board to get stuck in mid cut. Forcing the board in these situations may cause kickback or contact with the blade. Take a moment to evaluate the situation and determine the problem.

- Protect Yourself – Wearing the proper shop protection is an important part of safe tool operation. Goggles, Ear Protection, and Lung Protection should be used when operating tools. Use push sticks when working close to the blade and make sure the tool’s safety features are in place.

- Let the Tool Stop – Giving the power tool time to wind down after a cut is an often-overlooked safety mistake. Even without power, the spinning blade can still …