Magazines

Norman Mackay of Woodeye Furniture - this month’s profiled furniture maker

Our November issue is now here, brimming with projects, technical articles and a whole host of exciting features for you to enjoy!

Yes, there’s something for everyone in this issue and especially so if you enjoy both music and wood, but what happens when you put the two together? Well, the result is unique pieces of furniture that incorporate elements such as accordion bellows that make a sound when the drawer to the chest is closed - ingenious! We spoke to Norman Mackay of Woodeye Furniture to find out more. A Scottish accordionist, composer and furniture maker, his work really does need to be seen to be believed.

Peter Harrison’s lovely ring box with wooden hinge

As usual, we have a variety of projects for a variety of different skill levels, beginning with Peter Harrison showing how offcuts can be used to create this lovely ring box complete with a wooden hinge, which is certainly a good test of machining skills. And a great one for beginners, Ross Mielke shares a fun, cheap project that is ideal for your loved one or anyone who loves baths; founder of Instructables.com Eric J. Wilhelm shares his sophisticated nautilus bookshelf build, which will hopefully go on to inspire many of you to try similar ideas and techniques; in Around the House Phil Davy has a perfect project for the autumn months - a firewood box, which ensures that your woodburning stove will always be ready for action. And lastly, in turning, Les Thorne gets artistic as he turns a curly top box with some added decorative details, including a lovely ebony finial, which finishes it off perfectly.

In his beginners’ guide to power tools series, Peter Bishop moves on to looking at the extensive range of drills, borers and bits available to the woodworker

In terms of technical articles, Peter Bishop brings us the next part of his beginners’ guide to power tools series, which sees him delving into the rather broad subject of drills, borers and bits. If you’re not sure about the best tool to buy for the job in hand, this extensive guide will tell you all you need to know, and much more! we also have the next of Dennis Keeling’s series of articles on CNC routing, which sees him taking you through the steps for making a laminated jewellery box using this clever device.

Ed of Winter Garlands using the Wood-Mizer to machine some big pieces of beech

In ‘People and Places’, Christmas comes early for Edward Hopkins as he discovers a gem of a timber yard in Devon, and off on yet another jolly, Andy King ventures to Frankfurt to attend the Bosch Blue Innovation Summit 2016 where he learns about a whole range of new tools and technologies that will soon be taking the woodworking world by storm, and our ‘Centrefold’ this month is Ian Parker’s ‘K desk’, which, despite having a deceptively simple design, features tapered legs with hand-cut mortise & tenon joints, all at differing angles.

As Andy King discovered, the waterstones are placed in the holders and rested on the lip of the Veritas Stone Pond for support

We also have a wide range of tests for you this month, so no matter what you’re thinking of buying, we’ve got it covered. Andy kicks off by looking at a mortising gem - the Charnwood W316 mortiser - which is a great hobby-rated machine that is solidly built using heavy cast-iron, doesn’t take up much space and performs well. And if you’re in the market for some new abrasives for your orbital sander, then the Bosch M480 net abrasives and Bosch backing pad are definitely worth looking at. Andy found that they work in perfect harmony with the other, producing increased efficiency and dust control. But if sharpening is more your thing, then the Veritas Stone Pond could be just what you’re looking for, or if you’re more interested in fast, clean cutting flat bits, then the Trend Snappy flat bit set will certainly fit the bill.

And if you haven’t already considered applying, there’s still time to enter your piece of furniture into Felder’s 60th anniversary competition. With a great range of prizes up for grabs, worth a combined total of over £4,000, now really is the time to start getting creative. Good luck!

All this and much more in GW311, which hits the shelves on 14 October.

Enjoy!

Tegan Foley, Editor