
Tips & Tricks
Carving Wood with a Rotary Tool for Metal Inlay
Learn the secrets to carving wood with rotary tools like a dremel, and how to increase the flexibility of carving by adding a simple, optional attachment. Create beautiful curves and designs that can mask and conceal defective areas of wood and make them more valuable and saleable. You can also read about this on my blog.



Mixing Fresh Shellac from Flakes
An Easy Method to Mixing Fresh Shellac
Shellac has been a foundation in finishing and sealing for decades. Watch the video, then read my blog about what shellac is and how you can utilize it in your shop. Mix it fresh and on-demand for projects that require a gloss finish or thin it down and use it as a sealer from moisture protection to a foundation coat. It’s a versatile finish.



Maintain Your Lathe’s Tailstock to Drill Accurate Holes
Drilling straight holes on the lathe. Pitfalls and how to fix them.


Tailstock maintenance is easily overlooked, and poor performance isn’t noticed until you try to drill or bore an accurate hole in wood with various types of bits. Off-center drilling or oversized holes can be a headache to try and troubleshoot. I know. I’ve been there. Here are a few tips that can get your lathe to bore the correct size hole the first time accurately.

Signature grind Finesse Scrapers: How to Clean-up Your Forms & Add a Great Finish to Your Woodturning
Using finesse scrapers can add a sense of volume, fluidity, & sensuality to your woodturning. This video debunks the myth that scraping is “taboo” in woodturning.
Video Tips
I will be shooting helpful video tips and uploading them onto this page. The information I will be covering will help you “see” your work better at the lathe and help you to maintain your lathe, and much more. If you have suggestions on topics you’d like to see, please don’t hesitate to email me and let me know your concerns. I will try to accommodate all questions that have a broad appeal to woodturners.
- Topics will include:
- Drilling straight holes on the lathe. Pitfalls and how to fix them.
- Mixing Shellac From Flakes
- How to turn spalted maple with great results.
- Turning Life: Adding sensuous curves to wood turning.
- Backgrounds and lighting
- Transporting your turnings safely to and from craft shows.
- Carve Lines with “Life”.
- How to Sharpen a Forstner Bit.
- Adding Volume and Gravity to Turnings.
- Woodturning Myths
- How to sharpen a Bandsaw Blade.
- How to cut your costs on Bandsaw Blades.
- Quality of Line
- Contrast, Weight, Timing?