Slatted table source
The Slatted Outdoor Table article (Apr/May 2023) says the project uses thermally-modified lumber. I can’t find more information in the article or the Buyer’s Guide about how to source that material. Can you help?
Mike Bliziotes
via email
Coordinating Editor Ken Burton replies:
That little table was made from thermally-modified ash, natural wood that’s undergone a process akin to roasting. See Woodsense, June/July 2021, for more on this process. My local hardwood supplier carries the product, and yours might too. An internet search turns up a number of producers, and they might be able to help you source thermally modified wood in your area.
Slick new option
JPW Industries has added Armorglide surface coating to many of its Powermatic bandsaws, table saws, and jointers. A patented, industrial, non-stick coating, Armorglide both protects and reduces friction on the tools’ tables. The Armorglide coating is a factory-applied option for an additional cost, and the same machines will be available without the Armorglide coating.
A new dust jacket
Dust Collection Systems and Solutions for Every Budget, a new reference book from Fox Chapel Publishing, will be available in October. Designed as a guide to corralling dust, the 128-page volume covers the design and setup of systems for all shop sizes, from PPE and shop vacuums to shop-wide dust collection and air filtration systems, including photos, illustrations, and graphics of shop layouts.
Illuminating ebonizing
Thank you for the excellent article on preparing an ebonizing solution – and by an actual chemist! As a former analytical chemist myself, I’ve long been frustrated by poor write-ups and logic around subjects such as this, and your article is a delightfully professional, scientific look at ebonizing, down to the inclusion of a link to the Journal of Wood Science article.
Bob Jackson
via email
K4 making a comeback
After pulling the popular K4 pocket hole jig from the market in 2021 to make room for its new 520 and 720 pocket hole jigs, Kreg has plans to reintroduce the classic. Less automatic than the 520 or 720 systems, the K4 was an industry leader for more than a decade, and demand for the tool remained strong enough that Kreg decided to turn the machines back on, using the same tooling and injection molding as on the previous iteration of the K4.
Workmanship of Risk:
Sculpture by Michael Cooper
From his earliest work in the 1960s through the present day, Workmanship chronicles the mind-blowing wood and metal wizardry of California sculptor Michael Cooper through the artist’s personal history anchored by local and global context. Featuring hundreds of photographs, Cooper’s original technical drawings, and essays by Paul J. Karlstrom and John Lavine, Workmanship is both a feast for the eyes and an illuminating contemplation on the life of an artist and the people and events that influenced, challenged, and inspired him.
$74.95 -Design Studio Press 2023
A Splintered History of Wood
by Spike Carlsen
Spike Carlsen celebrates the impact of wood on humanity and vice versa, winding from the roots of wood as we know it to modern belt-sander races, visiting chainsaw artists and blind woodworkers along the way. A unique and interesting tour that is equal parts well-researched history and humorous personal anecdotes. One critique: I often found myself seeking a deeper dive into the tidbits and trivia this wide-ranging tome touched on as the author meandered through time and space. But this book will surely give woodworkers and non-woodworkers a new perspective on our ubiquitous friend wood.
$11.99 - Harper Perennial 2009
