Magazines

A river runs through Robin Gates’ alder dish

Happy New Year to all our readers and welcome to our first issue of 2017. We’ve got some great content in store for you, including a whole host of fun and exciting projects, some technical articles to help improve your skills, a book review looking at a brand-new book, as well as a wide range of kit and tools tests. This issue kicks off with Ian Wilkie’s tractor and trailer article, which is also the subject of this month’s cover. Intended for the 3-5 year old age group, this fun toy will surely be a hit with any young recipient. Robin Gates is also back with another practical project - this time a carved alder dish, which is designed to hold some sweet treats, and in terms of turning projects, Colin Simpson rescues a piece of spalted beech from the firewood pile and turns it into a wonderful vase.

Rick Wheaton shares the secrets behind the construction of his coffee table

In techniques, we have Rick Wheaton sharing a 25-year-old project with us that still looks good to this day - a glass-topped low table with a definite sense of style, and Tony ‘Bodger’ Scott comes clean on a project that went wrong and tells his experiences of what happens when you run the grain the wrong way. Alex Dalton, managing director of Daltons Wadkin, takes a closer look at some of the top things to consider when making a woodworking machinery purchase, and Dave Roberts shows how it really is a case of strength in numbers when it comes to working with constructional veneers. In terms of technical turning, Bob Chapman, an expert in all things turning, explores the vast subject of timber for turning and suggests some excellent tips and things to look out for.

A carpenter at La Navarra working on a section of veneer for ‘Ribbon’ tables

We also have a great feature that looks at The Workshop of Dreams, the American Hardwood Export Council’s latest creative collaboration, which celebrates great Spanish design and wood craftsmanship, and the Editor takes a look at a brand-new book by Nick Offerman - Good Clean Fun - which contains an eclectic mix of woodworking projects, entertaining text, techniques, stunning artwork and sketches.

The Ryobi R18PDBL 18V brushless combi drill is an extremely competent all-rounder

‘Kit & tools’ is full of a wide range of tools and equipment as usual, beginning with the Editor’s review of the Makita DTD170 cordless impact driver. As he said: “Compact, comfortable and full of power; they don't come much better than this!” The Bosch GSR 10.8 V-EC cordless drill fared equally well due to its compact design and the fact it still retains a great deal of power - definitely one to always have to hand. Andy King puts the Crown Mini Revolution hollowing tool through its paces and finds it to leave an excellent finish once you’ve mastered the technique of using it, and he’s equally impressed with Toolovation’s cut & peel tool foam, which is great for keeping your tools secure. We finish with a test from Phil Davy, who takes the Ryobi R18PDBL 18V brushless combi drill for a spin. An extremely competent all-rounder, it is more than capable of most drilling and screwdriving tasks around the house and workshop.

Fancy winning a Hammer A3-26 planer/thicknesser worth over £3,000? See below for details!

While the closing date of our fantastic Felder competition is drawing ever closer, there’s still around a month left before the competition closes. Whether you’re finishing up your build or are yet to start, do get cracking as we can’t wait to see what you’ve made! There’s a whole host of wonderful prizes up for grabs (including the A3-26 planer/thicknesser pictured here) and a chance to have your work judged by an impressive panel of experts. Good luck and see inside the magazine for more details!

As well as all this, we also have your usual favourite pages, including our timber suppliers directory, readers’ letters, AOB, archive and marketplace.

All this and much more in the January issue of The Woodworker, which is now on sale!