Eagle Woodworking

Like many people, my husband and I are not taking an extended vacation to far off places this summer.  We are discovering places near by to visit for the first time or revisiting favorites in our own back yard.

We have many interesting things to do in Geauga County, Ohio and I was pleased to see some of them at the Northern Ohio Tourism - One Day Trips website.

 

If you’re visiting Chardon, Ohio you might want to consider stopping by our Eagle America Outlet Store.

I am sure the woodworkers in your family would love to browse our store and look at the thousands of router bits we have to offer. We also have thousands of other woodworking tools and woodworking accessories on display. Not to mention the fun you can have picking the brains of our woodworking staff.
 

What ever you do this summer I wish you safe travels.

So I was back in Philadelphia visiting my mother this past weekend. My mother’s apartment is full of original George Nakashima furniture. While sitting at the dining room table enjoying a bowl of clam chowder that I had prepared for her she asked: “Dan, do you remember going up there to his workshop when you were a little boy?” Sure I told her. How can I forget that place!

I told her I remembered backing up the old “57 Plymouth station wagon (the one with push button drive) and loading up the family along with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for an adventurous drive to New Hope, Pennsylvania.

After a few hours and a few fights with my brothers we arrived at an old barn where we were met by an old man who spoke broken English and made furniture. Mom wanted to replace all of that gorgeous ‘50’s Formica furniture.

We walked around this barn and saw all of his woodworking tools and woodworking accessories. While looking at big slabs of trees, some standing over 24 foot high, my mother suggested they would make a neat coffee table. I thought she was nuts! I thoughts she should buy a table off my Boy Scout camp mess hall.


Well, we got the table, then came the dinning room table and chairs followed by a few hutches, all made by and signed by George Nakashima.

Over the years, all visitors to our house were taken back by the uniqueness of the designs and the butterfly inlays. They felt my mom went over the edge.


Little did I know that some day I would be in the woodworking business and learning more about this extraordinary craftsman. My mother bought those chairs for $40 (we still have the invoice) and recently similar ones went to auction for $800 and the full dining table which cost $195 is now worth over $4,500.



George is long gone now but I had them refinished a few years ago by Nakashima’s daughter. I encourage all readers to visit their website and their showroom. http://www.nakashimawoodworker.com/

I developed the Eagle America butterfly inlay template so that you can make those butterflies as well.

Yes mom, I remember our trip well. Hopefully some day one of your great-grandchildren will remember the furniture when you showed it to them and appreciate it too.

It’s Fair Time,


It’s August and almost time for all of our local Fairs to start. I am looking forward to the 4-H Displays, animal judging, lemonade stands, greasy fried foods and all the different vendor booths. 

One booth you can always count on to be at the fair is the Sign making booth.  I am amazed at how many people spend their money on signs when they are so easy to make.

All you need are a few woodworking tools and woodworking accessories and you can make signs for you and all of your family and friends. Remember, signs make great holiday gifts and Christmas is not really that far away.

For a simple sign, all you need is a router and the Router Sign-Pro Sign making template kit from Eagle America. They even have vertical number templates that are great for putting numbers on your mailbox post!

Once you start with these few items you will be making signs like these in no time.

So pass right on by the sign making booth at your local fair this year and save your money for some new sign making woodworking accessories that will give you satisfaction for years to come.

Last winter, my husband Mike wanted to try his hand at cabinet making. He looked at so many different cabinet plans but could not find something to build. 

Space is a premium in our small woodworking shop so when he asked for a woodworking router table system, a bench top router table was the best solution.

Eagle America offers two bench top router table systems.

Kreg Router Table                  or  a             Freud Router Table

Yes, these are smaller woodworking router table systems but they get the job done!


Now, back to cabinet plans. Mike never found "the one" perfect cabinet plan to build so he designed his own. 


Mike was able to use his stile and rail bits and many of his other Eagle router bits for his cabinet project. While he was building the cabinet, it was exciting to see the majority of his woodworking clamps being used all at once. 


In the end the cabinet he made will become a family treasure. 


Not bad for a first effort.

• Are there other famous woodworkers that you would like us to reach out to? 
• Who are some of your favorite "famous" woodworkers?
• Do you make decisions on buying woodworking tools and woodworking accessories based on celebrity endorsements?

• Sometimes the fastest method is still the oldest
• Hand tools often do what power tools can’t
• They give you precise control, ensuring a perfect cut

I was looking through the Popular Woodworking Pocket Shop Reference Guide and came across a list of “Circle Templates around the House”. I thought it was so funny that they have a measurement for the bottom end of an Old spice Shave Cream 11 oz. can! By the way it measures 1 5/8” and has a radius of 11/16 “.

If you need to make circles, you don’t have to trace pennies, or the bottom end of a coffee can. Eagle America has many woodworking accessories for making circles. Here are 6 different router accessories and router jigs to help you cut circles:

1. Adjustable Circle Cutting Jigs
2. Turnlock Circle / Edge guide
3. Curv Pro Circle / Oval Cutting System
4. Circle Template
5. Circle Cutting Template
6. Router Tri-Jig

If you are using other woodworking tools, like a Drill press, or Jig saw, don’t forget about our 3 Piece Circle Cutting Pins Set.
 

Simply drill a 3/16" diameter hole half way through material being cut, thread proper length pin into filler strip, place material onto pin and cut to shape using straight or spiral router bits. Circular pieces should be rough cut using a band saw or jig saw prior to cleaning up the edge. Pins measure 3/16", 3/8", and 3/4" long for various material thicknesses.
 

Another woodworking accessory we carry at Eagle America for your drill press is the Wheel and Circle Cutter.

Certainly, with all these woodworking tools and woodworking accessories, you should never have to trace another bottom end of the Borden’s’ condensed milk can again!

I had a customer call the other day and the Eagle America catalog he used to order from was a catalog he borrowed from his father, that is not that unusual but the catalog was from 2000.  He is not the first customer to order from one of our catalogs from several years ago. I’ve asked "Why do you keep them so long" they usually say they keep it for reference. They would see a woodworking accessory or router bits that they had not seen before. So they hold on to it for when they need that item.

Do you know we carry over 6000 different woodworking tools? We have everything from; router table systems, router bits and router bit sets, saw blades and saw blade accessories, woodworking clamps, sanding supplies, wood carving tools, Kreg pocket hole jigs…. and the list goes on.

A few years back we ran a promotional offer to see who had the oldest catalog and I believe we had multiple customers that supplied us with catalogs from the late 80's and early 90's.

  Yesterday's Catalog                                      Today's Catalog
                                 

Wow what a difference, so don’t be so quick to toss that old Eagle America catalog it just may be worth something in the future.

Working here at Eagle America one question I hear more than any other is" where can I get that information"? I hear it in our outlet store, I hear it on the phones and I see it in emails. No matter what the woodworker is trying to do, setting up dust collection, looking for band saw accessories, questions about shaper cutters, any woodworking accessories that is new to a woodworker them we get questions about that item. Another thing we hear a lot of is, I am interested in one of the Kreg pocket hole jigs which one should I get? Or I am building some cabinets which set of stile and rail bits should I use? Which one of your router bit sets is the best for me? We do our best to answer all the questions we receive within 24 hours.

Did you know we have tech support available where we will take your question sent to us via email to us at tech@eagleamerica.com and pass it to our one of our woodworkers that we have on staff?

 

Don't they look knowledgeable! 

Well back to the question, where can I get this information?
You can find just about anything...
                                                                                                                                                                                                      
 ....ON THE INTERNET!     

There are thousands of website dedicated to woodworking. Places where you can ask questions of your peers or ask professionals like The Wood Whisperer's website.




You can find just about anything you need right here. They have a community where you can access blogs and forums where you can ask questions that will be answered by many people that are just woodworkers like you that want to help their experience is there to help you. Also in their community they have photos of the member's projects. Not to mention many videos that Marc Spagnuolo (The Wood Whisper) does showing how to do certain things or projects start to finish. You can also find Marc's work on You tube talk about a video library that you don't have to buy! You can also find many different woodworking groups that have joined the community, maybe you belong in one of these groups? Do you?

And of coarse what true Wood Whisperer member doesn’t have a Wood Whisperer hat and T-shirt. Well don’t worry you can get these items and more at the store. I should get a free t-shirt for this blog don’t you think?

There is a live chat room where you can discuss your project or anything woodworking related. You can even watch projects being made because there are dozens of people/workshops that stream live video to the site for you to watch.

This is just one site of the thousands of woodworking sites out there on the world wide web. So if you have a specific question maybe we can help. Or if you are looking for a place to go to learn and pick up some tricks of the trade and meet some woodworkers maybe The Wood Whisperers website is where you want to go.

No matter what you are looking for, the Internet can be the best tool in your workshop.

• Can you make something new with your router bits?
• Can you make something new with a wood carving set?
• What about with your scroll saw blades and scroll saw accessories?

Working in the call center for Eagle America I have heard some interesting ideas over the years.

One of the more interesting ideas that I have heard recently was when a customer suggested an alternative way to use the Earlex Spray Station, although neither we nor the manufacturer recommend it.

The customer called wanting information about using the Earlex Spray Station in a Spray Tanning Salon.

Well we can tell you that this is not what we meant when we said "more detailed coverage" in the description.

So if you’re thinking about retiring you woodworking accessories or hanging up your woodworking tools. Think spray tan!