GlueTube

High-Speed Wood Turning

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:11:31 GMT

High Speed Staircase Baluster
Time: 2:35
Submitted by: Peter Galbert, Chair Notes
Bethel, New York

Watching a woodworking project take shape in real time can sometimes feel like watching the grass grow. Progress takes time and that just doesn't play well on video. Peter Galbert, a chairmaker who specializes in green wood furniture, came up with a solution for us project voyeurs: Speed up the tape.

In the above video Peter takes us fast-forward through the production of a staircase baluster. An audio voice-over details the process, which includes using a paper template and calipers to size and shape the billet. For some how-to on the tools and techniques used in this video, visit our Turning channel.

How To Make Wood Jewelry

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:27:37 GMT

Sustainable Wooden Jewelry by PrasseinDesignStudio
Time: 5:03
Submitted by: Tara Young
Produced by: Eric Beug, Etsy.com

We received another great video from our friends over at Etsy.com. This one is a profile of Seattle jewelry designer Shawn Taylor of PrasseinDesignStudio, who uses discarded lumber to make jewelry. The video is not exactly a how-to on wood jewelry making (although we expect many of you could pick up the process if you watch the video a few times), but it's perfect for you woodworking voyeurs who enjoy peering into other peoples' shops and seeing them at work.

What surprised us most in this video is the fact that Shawn was able to find a slab of purpleheart laying around in a pile of pallet debris! It makes us want to go dumpster diving before we get started on our next woodworking project.

Save the Rainforest One Chair at a Time

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:06:44 GMT

GreenWood: Furniture Making as Sustainable Livelihood
Time: 1:22
Submitted by: SamiGrover, via YouTube
United Kingdom

Watch Part 1 and Part 3

Today we came across a trio of videos posted on YouTube that begin to tell the story of a movement taking place in the rainforests of South America to end deforestation and instead put the wood to use by teaching indigenous people how to build handmade furniture with it.

We've been interested in this subject for a while, thanks in part to contributor Scott Landis, who has teamed up with other woodworkers including Curtis Buchanan and Brian Boggs on a similar effort called the GreenWood/Maderea Verde project. The idea is to teach locals woodworking skills, and help them market and sell the furniture they make.

While we're on the subject, Scott wrote an essay a few years back for Fine Woodworking discussing the pros of forest certification. It includes a counter essay by the late Jon Arno, a wood scientist who authored dozens of articles for us. It's a great read and might broaden your perspectives on the subject of sustainable woodworking.

Wood Movement of Another Kind

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:44:58 GMT

Wood movement is not always a bad thing, as illustrated in the three videos we found recently while scouring the Web for woodworking-inspired home movies.

The first example of this comes from the workshop of Ashford, Connecticut woodworker David C. Roy who builds fascinating kinetic sculptures from wood. According to his Web site, the sculptures are"powered by a constant force spring which must be wound.”

The video below illustrates how his sculptures work, but equally as interesting is the design process, which relies on drawings created in Adobe Illustrator and animated with a program called Working Model. Read more about the design process here...

Watch more videos of David's sculpture here.

Man Powered Movement

Our second example was filmed at the world fair for the forestry and wood industries in Hannover, Germany. It shows a pedal-powered wood machine with chain-driven gears on a massive scale and is an amazing display of mechanical engineering.

Del’s Wooden Machine

This last example is one that you may have already seen considering it has been viewed more than 400,000 times on YouTube. It shows a hand-powered wooden machine constructed entirely of wood and glue that incorporates a variety of mechanical motions all set off by a single hand crank.

The 71-year-old maker of the "nutty device" only goes by the name "Del" in this video so we didn't immediately dig up any information about his other work, but he calls this example "his crowning achievement."