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The days of Timber Frame Construction are being kept alive and well by members of the Timber Framers Guild, a world wide organization dedicated to keeping this form of woodworking combined with carpentry, alive and active. And thankfully someone does because without some of these massive and impressive hand build structures like houses, barns, bridges and lodges, we would see this art from fade away.
One of the more more recent and certainly impressive project this group engaged in was building the impressive Foot Bridge over the Kicking Horse River in Golden British Columbia, Canada. The Kicking Horse River was so named because in 1858, Sir James Hector, who was exploring the area, was kicked in the chest by his horse while in the vicinity of the river, and so came the name, Kicking Horse River.
Although the bridge was completed in 2001, it was 5 years in the planning and the raising of funds to build it.The townspeople of Golden worked hard and making this bridge become a reality by ensuring the skilled workers would be on hand, along with a team of apprentice Timber Framers who go on-the-job training, and all of whom needed living quarters and meals provided because most of the workers on this bridge did so with out pay, and many even paid their own way from all corners of the world, just to get to Golden and the opportunity to work on this timber frame bridge.
Towards the end of summer in 2001 the bridge was nearing completion. This was also the time of the tragic events unfolding in New York City on September 11, 2001 and what come be be known as "911". Despite this world changing event, the townspeople and Timber Framers worked hard into the fall to finalize the competion and placement of the bridge. Having been build on the banks of the Kicking Horse River, a glacier fed river, upon completion the entire bridge needed to be hoisted and positioned across the river.
This was done using 2 enormous cranes and the process lasted 4 heart-stopping days. After the bridge was placed the final component, the roof was added and thus was the completion of the Kicking Horse Foot Bridge.
anyone who has any love of woodworking, carpentry and timber framing will be in awe of this bridge as it sits over the the turquoise river ... and during the right seasons, you can watch the boat loads of rubber rafters who come to challenge these white water rapids, making one of the most picturesque and awe inspiring locations you will ever get to visit.
- Read Time: 5 mins
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I love learning new things about woodworking, and it seems that every day I learn something new. I especially love it when I find people who are doing things that are outside of what we normally expect, and wooden sign making is one of those areas.These are the kinds of people I like to highlight because they work hard and give freely of their information and knowledge.
For years I have assumed that really the only way to carve signs of any quality was to use a CNC machine, connected to a computer running special software, that can take quite a while to learn how to use. Some time ago I was shown that, with a little bit of practice, some fairly common tools and little bit of instruction, it is possible to makes some outstanding wooden signs.
Eric and Dave Rhoten, the father and son team, have spent many successful decades in the wooden sign making industry and are now showing how everyone how they can make their own wooden signs on their website davesigns.com and their YouTube Channel oldave100.
It seems like they have made about every kind of wooden sign that anyone has dreamed up because between them they have an enormous wealth of information. They are frequently releasing new videos that answer viewers questions on sign making and give tips, ideas and suggestions on the best way to make wooden signs. (and scroll down for direct links to their 2 videos on making the woodworkweb sign) ...
- Read Time: 4 mins
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When ever I get a number of similar questions, it tells me that there are a lot of other people out there who have the same question, but just haven't asked it yet, it also tells me that I may not have explained something clearly so it's time for me fix that, so here goes. There are 2 main questions I have had repeatedly for ... well ... a long time and I should have addressed them earlier instead of trying to answer emails and messages one at a time.
Question #1 - How do I know when you are releasing a new video? ... great question.
The answer is, I try to release a new video every Thursday morning (not I am not always successful at that goal). The BEST way to know when I release a new video is to go to my YouTube Channel and right next to the "Subscribe" button, is a little round GEAR. If you click on that GEAR it will pop up a new little window with a check box ... if there IS a check mark inside the box, it means you will receive an email every time I release a new video, with a direct link to that video. If there is NO check in the box, it means you will not be notified of any new video releases or any other channel information, so check the little box, then SAVE that change and watch for the next video release notification.
Question #2 - How can I find specific videos you released in the past?
Another good question. Currently I have something like 250 videos online so yes, it can be hard to find one specific video. The best way to do this is to go to woodworkweb.com to do a search for the video.
For every video I release I also write and article about that video. knowing this, it is now easier to find a video if you can recall a key word or a couple of key words from that video that would have been used in the article.
If you use the "Search" box in the upper right area of the woodworkweb.com website, you will be able to find that video by typing in a key word ... hit the return or enter key and every article in woodworkweb.com will be searched for that word or set or words.
To search for a set of words it is best to use quotes " " .
Such as "trim router" or "saw blade". Try NOT to look up words that are used commonly like router, wood, joint etc. as these will give too many responses for you to look through.
With that info you will all be able keep up-to-date with the latest videos, and be able to find older videos in much less time.
Thanks everyone for watching my videos, and to all of you who ask questions and those of you who help me by answering other people's questions ... these are an enormous help to me, so thanks everyone.
Colin
- Read Time: 4 mins
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There are always new people interested in woodworking, and often these are younger people who have an interest in learning how to do woodworking and the best way of teaching them is getting them involved in making something. In the past I have made bird houses, and they are fine, but more recently I discovered another project that is still quite easy, but this one gives the woodworking student something to take away and something they can use in the future ... their very own tool tote.
It's easy to make, can be made with power tools or hand tools, there are many different designs, sizes and methods of making these all of them have their own unique advantages and perfect build for helping to teach newcomers to woodworking some of the finer techniques and methods.
I prefer to use Pine, or some other softwood as it is lighter in weight, so less to carry around. Softwoods are usually less expensive and easier to "work" than hardwoods, and if you make a mistake, it's not too costly to fix or replace. What's nice with this design is it doesn't take all that long to make, the tote works great and you can use a wide variety of tools in making and assembling it.