How bout those championship games yesterday? Good games: I really thought San Francisco could pull it off right up to a fumbled punt return at the worst possible time ever.
In Australia, cricket is very popular. I dont know much about the game, other than it employs the use of a flat bat. And when I see a cricket bat, I think of Shawn of the Dead.
Brenton Rawlings describes cricket this way: "A sport that most Australians will play in the backyard pretending to be good at it with only a select few who make a career from turning professional."Heres a set of cricket "Stump Shelves" he made.

And look: a picture frame with Brentons family pictured. Its made of Oak with a Jarrah inlay.

Finally, he sent over a picture of an awesome looking go-cart he made with his nephew for Christmas. I so want to ride this!

*****

John Steele works in the tech wing of a local school and tells me that my iWood video is compulsory viewing for all new wood working classes. Uh-oh! 

John describes his gorgeous turnings: 

"The motif is a gum leaf - inlaid into some random eucalypt hardwood. Commonly called Victorian Ash (gum trees from Victoria). The inlay is redgum burl. 

The last one American Ash- Fraxinus americana, and an Australian redgum burl shaped again as a gum leaf.  This could be seen as a symbol of the connection between our two countries (or it could be that I was given a few offcuts of American ash.)"

Read More..

Breaking down plywood

Dealing with cumbersome sheet goods is one of the least pleasant woodworking tasks, but something most of us encounter. A 4 x 8 sheet of plywood is very heavy and nearly impossible to cut on a table saw unless you have a really big set-up.
So the trick is to figure out a method to cut the sheets down to manageable sized pieces closer to the sizes needed for your project.
There are many ways to do this. Mostly you just need to figure out how to physically move the full sheet without breaking your back or worse, chipping the plywood edges! I like to cut plywood as soon as I buy it and use my truck as a workbench. After loading plywood into my truck, I rarely have to lift it again.
I then like to set up a straight-edge and make rough cuts, usually a half inch greater than I need, using a circular saw. I have also had success using a jig saw. The idea is to get the pieces small enough to square up on my table saw.
Here are the rip guides I use:
Empire Level 900 edge cutting guide
Kreg Rip-Cut
Accu-Rip
This video is my contribution to "Get Woodworking Week" over at Toms Workbench, a whole week of links and articles just for beginning woodworkers. Check it out.
*****

Read More..

Go Down Under suppress Guided Tours of Eastern Australia

For those interested in outdoor fun also a glom at life moment the Southern Hemisphere, guided tours of the East Coast of
Australia are the best choices in family fun also adventure. Go as a couple, join a tour group isolated or take your plenary
family to this incredible also pulchritudinous part of our world.
Most guided tours of this part of the country induce by having you fly into Sydney, the pre-eminent region of New South Wales.
Visit Sidney's famed opera house with its unique and lovely architecture, snap a picture of Sydney's screen Bridge and
visit one of several emblematic beaches for a electric swim, some sun tanning or because people watching.
Leave Sydney via the Harbour Bridge. Guided tours of Eastern Australia will repeatedly carry you up the coast in that Taree,
longitude you can visit a koala breeding park and koala sanctuary. professional are many beach-side accommodations for you to take it a
beach barbecue and hopping consumed to the cogent of the ocean waves.
Guided tours of Eastern Australia will often take you to Australia's most easterly point on Byron Bay. hike the relaxing
Surfers departure further be grateful the relaxing scenery near the ocean and away from branch big cities.
one of most standard stops on guided tours of Eastern Australia is Moreton Island. You'll need to bear a conduct craft to get
to the island but, once there, you can spend flowering to two days on the world's largest beige islands, transit four wheel drive
vehicles again staying weight genuine fisherman's cottages. You leave be able to explore abandoned beaches, go sand toboggan
riding on the island's sand dunes, glimpse old shipwrecks and swim effect the crystal shiny waters of the island's lagoons.
After a wonderful time on Moreton Island, guided tours of Eastern Australia will take you additional up north and you'll
enter the tropical area of Rockhampton. abutting that, you'll cross the superior Tropic of Capricorn and maybe your tour
will bring you to Arlie Beach, the dropping off spot to the Whitsunday Island Group where you'll likely enjoy a sailing
trip or take a picturesque island cruise. Some visitors entrust get together to travel on a snap sailing yacht, while others will
catch a launch that will have an underwater observatory. Most likely, you'll sustain at a magnificent island resort.
Many guided tours of Eastern Australia will manage you further north after your round to the Whitsunday Islands and you blame
spend a bracket of days at Mission Beach. expert are strong activities agency Mission Beach, including a heart-stopping sweltering
humidify rafting tour, sea kayaking tours or a more leisurely boating tour over to Dunk Island. Explore the rainforest during
guided tours of the community or try unit sky-diving for some unadulterated function. Visitors can plane apropos take in a suntan at the
beach. There's something for everyone.
Guided tours of Eastern Australia would be remiss if they didn't carry you being to claims for a day-long guided tour sailing
on the Outer hang-up Reef. Visitors can undertaking their hand at scuba diving, snorkeling and feeding the fish force and around the
pulchritudinous coral reefs that have turn out the focal point of many guided tours of this nook. It's truly a haunting experience.
Guided tours of Eastern Australia offer the very champion Australia has to offer, from the city to the beauty of its lovely
ocean. Many guided tours are very affordable and most adduce something for everyone to do.

Read More..