Amongst all of the projects I have been working on this winter, my wife decided it was the perfect time to remodel our master bathroom.
After a few weeks of researching and planning, we finally agreed on a design and layout for the bathroom.
Not that it needed it, but after all of the upgrades and changes, the job ended up being almost a total tear-out.
The nice part of this project was that it was time for me to dust off my cabinet making tools and cabinet bits as I build my own custom vanity.
Naturally, I will be using Eagle router bits but I had to build the cabinet carcass first.
The quickest and easiest way I have found to build a cabinet is by using Kreg pocket hole jigs. I was able to use my pocket hole jig to assemble the face frame and body of the cabinet in less than a day.
Pocket hole jigs create strong joints and can save you time and money!
As I continue to build my cabinet, I will keep you updated on the tools and techniques I use.
As most of you reading this blog know, we have a great relationship with Marc Spagnuolo - a.k.a The Wood Whisperer. Marc contacted us regarding a project that he felt strongly about and wanted to know if we would help him out. Needless to say, it was a no brainer. Marc started Woodworkers Fighting Cancer and we are happy to be involved with Marc and the other sponsors that have joined us in the fight against cancer.
Woodworkers Fighting Cancer - Duane's Wife, Duane, Marc and Nicole
Follow this link woodworkersfightingcancer.com to watch a video where you will be introduced to Duane, a woodworker that is fighting cancer. In talking with Duane, Marc came up with the idea of the "Build Guild". For every member of his Wood Whisperer Guild, of which Duane is a member, that builds the shaker table he will donate $5 to the American Cancer Society. We have joined Marc and will make a corporate dontation as well. As you will see in the video, Marc and his wife Nicole actually jumped on a plane and flew to Ohio to give Duane some one-on-one instruction with his woodworking tools and woodworking accessories as well.
Duane recenlty sent us an email thanking us for our support and we let him know that we are just a part of the large woodworking community that has taken up the same cause. We wish Duane and his family nothing but the best going forward. Would you like to join the cause? If so, click on the image below.
March Madness Savings have come to Eagle America! Starting now you can Save Up To 60% on 16 different woodworking accessories. Click here to see the complete selection or scroll down for a preview.
SAVE $10 - Miter Gauges
Fit any machine track with a standard 3/4" x 3/8" miter slot
Adjustable stops at 45° and 90° positions
18" guide bars and a pivoting work support body with pointer and calibration readings
It was an eye opening experience to say the least. When my turn came around to use the woodworking router I was scared to death. I remember asking the instructor if I could skip this part, of coarse my request was denied and I used a woodworking router for the first time. After all of my concern, it turned out to be really fun. After being involved in that first class, I found myself attending more classes.
The project for my first class was a hand held mirror, and if I do say so myself, it turned out better than I expected for my first time.
It is amazing that here we are 16 years later and I still have the mirror. This experience helped me understand the woodworking tools and woodworking accessories I help customers purchase. Today I can answer questions on the majority of tools we sell.
I love the web...and I love what the web can do for woodworkers. As much as I like our Eagle America woodworking catalog, I like our website even more. It allows us to have a conversation with woodworkers in a way no other medium can duplicate. We can tell whimsical stories on this blog, we can post friendly updates on our Facebook or Twitter pages, we can send you weekly updates via email...the possibilities are almost endless.
What woodworking tools would you like to see star in our next movie?
The web also allows us to educate our customers by providing much more detailed technical information thru the use of video. Woodworking videos are an area that I am very excited to expand upon in the very near future. Currently you can find video from us in 3 primary locations:
Product Pages - The VIDEO tab on our product pages will appear when a video is available
Video Listing Page - EagleAmerica.com/Videos will always point to some form of a video index page so you can quickly review what is available.
YouTube - For you YouTube fans out there, we have our own YouTube site! Simply go to YouTube.com/EagleWoodworking for our latest and greatest.
Finally, I want to pose a question to you. What would you like our next Eagle Original Video be? Feel free to email us or leave a comment here. Some ideas:
Router Bits and Router Bit Sets such as Cabinet Bits or Stile & Rail Bits
Back in August my husband decided we needed to replace the doors on our shed. So we removed the doors to use one as a template to make the new ones.
After buying materials, we got to work in the pole barn. Since I own all the woodworking tools, I was volunteered to help him build the doors. We did not have to do any router woodworking but we sure did a lot of nailing!
Well, you know how one job leads into other. The next step was painting them. I put a primer coat on by brush. Then we decided we should put a coat on the whole shed.
I took the easy way out and used a sprayer called the Earlex. It's a great new addition to the line of woodworking tools. After checking the viscosity of the paint, we were able to easily spray a coat on the doors and lightly coated the rest of the shed.
And while I was at it, the trim around the garage doors needed repainting.
So I got out my sanding supplies to see what I needed. One of the new woodworking accessories I tried out is called a scuff ball. It is brand new in the sanding supplies category at Eagle America.
I used it to get the paint off the trim around the garage doors. It hooks up to a hand drill and it actually did a good job taking the peeling paint off.
I decided to hand brush because of the siding so I put a primer coat on the trim and then brushed on the final coat.
It’s nice to have the right woodworking tools to do the job right but I really hope this job lasts a few years!
Well….another winter, another 12 feet of snow in Chardon. But I wasn’t expecting it to hit us all in about 3 weeks. This is the third time in the past 13 years that we had to hire our Amish friends to go up on the roof and remove the snow.
The weight was so heavy that when you were inside our building you actually saw the suspended ceiling tiles sag. Living near Lake Erie has always had its adventurous moments.
If you look carefully at the photo, you can see Linda, Tim and myself waving to you from our office windows. Can you see us???
Of course not! From the inside of our offices you see NOTHING! It looks like it is midnight, 24 hours a day.
When the snow removal was all over you can see what we were left with.
About 10 years ago after the first big storm, we had to replace the outside metal walls with block and have special metal grates made to hang over our windows to keep the glass from breaking.
Under this pile are our three air conditioning units that got crushed to death that year and we had steel grate cages made to cover up the new ones when they were finally installed.
I will send you pictures of that once the snow melts. Check back with my posting in July!
My name is Ruth and I have been working at Eagle America for the last 16 years. When I started I didn’t even know what a woodworking router bit was and over the years I have learned so much about woodworking accessories and woodworking tools.
The best part of my job is helping people from all over the world with their questions about the woodworking tools and woodworking accessoriesEagle America has to offer. Every day is a new adventure and I can’t wait for tomorrows.
Some of the most beautiful things I have seen over the years are the bowls that have been turned on lathes and the detailed cuts that can be made with a scroll saw, absolutely beautiful works of art!
More about me…. I graduated from high school and majored in bookkeeping. My husband and I have 2 sons and have several grandchildren. My grandchildren are the light of my life and I feel truly blessed to have them. They teach us not to sweat the little stuff and focus on what is truly important.
Wow! Looking over some of our recent blog posts I can tie a couple together, clocks and students. One of the best parts of what I do here at Eagle America is talking to you, the customer.
In my time being the Customer Service Manager I must have spoken to thousands of our customers, I may have even spoken with you! It is always great to hear from people like Mr. Hazard, a high school woodshop instructor in California.
I have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to connect with him and donate some Woodworking Tools, Woodworking Accessories and Woodworking Router Bits to his woodshop over the last couple of years.
Mr. Hazard has sent me some photos of his students and some of the projects that they are making during this school year.
Here you can see a couple of mission clocks his students are making. You can see there is quite a bit of time and effort that the students are putting into these projects. They look great!
Here you see a student in his furniture making class working on her Pedestal table. I think she could have used one of our woodworking clamps to hold this a little more steady.
It is great to see the art of woodworking being passed down to the next generation, keep up the great work Mr. Hazard! I am sure we will be seeing more of his students great work in the future.
The other day, my April 2010 #211 Fine Woodworking magazine showed up in the mail. As usual, there were lots of wonderful projects to admire or at least, be jealous of the amount of time these woodworkers have to work on their projects. I think I speak for most woodworkers with day jobs that wish we all had more time to commit to our projects.
On the last few pages of the magazine I ran across an article about turning scrap wood into small platters or bowls. I instantly thought of the ever increasing pile of scraps in my shop. In between all of my other projects this last weekend, I sorted though the scrap wood pile and found a piece of mahogany and a piece of black walnut to get me started.
I laid out a few basic profiles on the scrap pieces that resembled something close to the images of the projects in the magazine. I grabbed a few band saw accessories and headed over to my band saw where I attached all of my dust collection accessories. A few quick cuts with the band saw and I was ready to carve out the center of the little bowl.
Being a woodworker for several years, I have seen many injuries. You would think that some of the worst would be from power tools however, most of the worst injuries I have seen have been due to carelessness with hand tools.
Any wood cutting tool can be dangerous but one of the most consistent injuries I have seen are the result of carelessness with wood carving tools. Most professional wood carvers have learned to protect their hands over the years due to injuries they have sustained, so beginners are the ones to look out for.
A quality wood carving set can have some of the sharpest tools a new woodworker as ever used and one slip can create a long and deep cut with surgical precision. I always recommend to anyone purchasing carving tools they invest in a carving glove. They cost much less than a trip to the emergency room! Carving gloves are designed to be worn on the hand that is holding the item being carved. Some of the best gloves have dual protection. A Kevlar body with a leather palm. The Kevlar will help prevent a knife or gouge from cutting you while the leather helps prevent something from going in between the weave of the Kevlar. A carving glove really is one of the best woodworking accessories you can have in your shop!
Have you ever been loosening up the collet on your woodworking router table with the wrenches supplied with your router and when it released, your knuckles rubbed across the seam between the router plate and the top?
I had this happen to me the other day when I was changing out one of my roundover bits from my Kreg router table. Usually I am careful with my router woodworking but this always seems to be the point where I destroy my knuckles.
These wrenches are designed to fit around the opening of your router plate so you can easily secure the collet below the router bit on your router. The handles have a nice rubber grip which prevents slipping and adds comfort.
I found a nice article in the Pratt Tribune about a high school woodworking student who got some help from a local woodworking college. They basically took her paper plans for some furniture and converted them into official drawings...and then they made her piece for her using a $250,000 CNC router. Wouldn't it be nice if that happened to you?
Don't have one of these in your shop? Don't worry! Most people don't
The reality of the world we live in is that this was a freak occurrence and more often than not you will be on your own to make your plans into reality. So if you don't have access to a big, expensive CNC router or fancy CAD drawings then how will you get things done? The old fashioned way...by being creative with what you have or can easily acquire!
You don't need a CNC Router to get the job done, these work wonders!
Of all of your woodworking tools, the most versatile by far is your router. When you combine your router with other resourceful router jigs, router accessories and other woodworking accessories you can accomplish almost anything on a one-off basis that a big production shop can do with more complex machinery. Oh, and I forgot one...woodworking router bits! Whether you are using a CNC router or a good old reliable DeWalt 3HP handheld, your router is only as good as the bits you put in it. Eagle America is "The World's Router Bit Source" thanks to our selection of over 2,000 Eagle America and PriceCutter brand router bits. Both brands are know for their broad selection and high quality cuts.
Knowing that many woodworkers in today's busy world don't always have the time to build their own wooden tools chest, Eagle America now proudly offers Gerstner Tool Chests. These chests are recognized by professionals everywhere as the finest chests built in the world. These chests are ideal for storing any type of woodworking tools or woodworking accessories from precision measuring tools to scroll saw accessories and woodworking drill bits. These oak chests have a hand-rubbed lacquer finish, felt-lined interior and polished chrome plated hardware, just like the ones or fathers and grandfathers had.
So if you had to add one new item to your collection of woodworking accessories, what would it be? You would be hard pressed to find a better choice than one of the Kreg Pocket Hole Jigs, premium drilling tools that you can get at very affordable prices.
The Kreg K3 Master System
From the Kreg K3 Master System to the Kreg R3 Jig, there are many options available to you to make pocket hole joints quickly and easily. Pocket hole joints can be used on a wide variety of projects so these jigs are also versatile, something you need out of your shop tools so you can stretch your woodworking budget even farther.
If you have the itch to add something new, click here to see our complete selection of Kreg woodworking tools.
This week I found an article from the Chillicothe Gazette in Chillicothe, Ohio about preschoolers and teens connecting through woodworking. It's a great, quick read about a preschool that is located right next to the high school shop class. In essence, the older kids are sharing their craft with the preschoolers. What a great example for YOU!
Please teach me how to make stuff!
Woodworking is a hobby that needs to be shared with the masses, are you doing your part? Did you know that due to budget shortages all around our country, school woodshops are being closed and programs are being cancelled?! It's a shame that an entire generation of kids will not be exposed to our craft...so it is on all of us to keep it alive!
Imagine how much better you could teach them than Lowe's!
So how can you spread the word? When people ask you about your finished projects, or compliment your handy work, volunteer to tell them how you made them! If a child marvels at the box you made, take them right out into your shop and show them where you made it. Show them the cabinet making tools you used to refurbish the kitchen, show them the Kreg pocket hole jigs you used when building that new end table, let them cut a piece of scrap wood with your wood bandsaw blades, let them whittle with your wood carving set, let them go to town on some scrap boards with your woodworking drill bits.
Just 5 minutes spent with an open eyed child could create a woodworker for life!
Eagle America is "The World's Router Bit Source" because of our selection of over 2,000 router bits and router bit sets. Starting now you can get some of our most popular router bit sets and save even more!
Our March woodworking catalog cover features some great joint making router bit options. Choose from Plywood Dado Sets, 3-Piece Glue Joint Sets, 10 in 1 Master Rabbet Pro Sets, and our famous 2-Piece Edge Banding Sets. All of your options, in both the Eagle America and PriceCutter brands, can be seen by clicking here. Don't miss out, you can save up to $80 with this great sale.
In the meantime, if you are going to be getting some new bits we also suggest taking a look at our selection of Router Accessories, Router Jigs, perhaps a new Router Table System and more. We are much more than just Eagle Router Bits, click on over and take a look.
After milling the profiles on my router table system, I cut the pieces to length with mitered ends.
After applying glue to all the joints, I used some woodworking clamps, specifically, a simple picture framing clamp that keeps everything nice and square. I did not use any fasteners because I planned on adding a simple corner spline.
After the glue had cured, I cut a slot in each corner using a simple shop made jig and made 1 pass through the table saw.
The splines were made to match the thickness of the saw kerf. A little glue was added and the splines were tapped in. After the glue dried I trimmed the excess wood off with a flush trim saw and sanded them flush.
I found that one of the easiest ways to hold a picture into a frame is to use fender washers that overlap the inset picture. The washers are slightly countersunk using a forstner bit just slightly larger than the washer.
We love seeing our Eagle woodworking customers finished projects in our retail store.
Andrew Kotlarsic, a regular Eagle woodworking customer, was nice enough to bring us a picture of all the English Mantel clocks he built for Christmas gifts this year.
He had purchased the plan, five hardware kits and some other woodworking accessories in early September.
By December he had five very nice gifts wrapped and ready for gift giving!
Well….another winter, another 12 feet of snow in Chardon. But I wasn’t expecting it to hit us all in about 3 weeks. This is the third time in the past 13 years that we had to hire our Amish friends to go up on the roof and remove the snow. 
When the snow removal was all over you can see what we were left with. 
Here you can see a couple of mission clocks his students are making. You can see there is quite a bit of time and effort that the students are putting into these projects. They look great!
he other day, my April 2010 #211 
I laid out a few basic profiles on the scrap pieces that resembled something close to the images of the projects in the magazine. I grabbed a few 
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