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Its been a while!!! Well, I will try and make that up to you guys with a great episode. In this episode we are talking with Megan Fitzpatrick, editor of our favorite woodworking magazine, Popular Woodworking.  In this episode we talk about, well .... obviously the magazine, but more specifically we take a dive into contributing authors, and how Megan has found so many great articles and contributing authors for Popular Woodworking magazine. Have you ever thought of writing an article for the woodworking community? Megan tells us where we should be, and what we can do to pop up on the magazines radar.  Megan tells us the benefits of having a web site to show our work, and the power of the forums. I know I have said it before, and I promise you I will say it again. PARTICIPATING IN THE COMMUNITY is the best thing you can do for yourself and your woodworking career.  

Click here to subscribe on iTunes Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio On this weeks episode of the Craftsman's Road Podcast we talk with Peter Follansbee .  Peter has specialized in 17th century woodworking, and is the author of 'Making a Joint Stool from a Tree', and many other 17th century woodworking related books. He has been featured in Popular Woodworking magazine, and teaches classes all across the united states. Peter just recently left Plymouth Museum after twenty years to venture out on his own. Check out up-coming classes on Peters web site(click on the above link),  let him know you heard him on the podcast.

Click here to subscribe on iTunes Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE LISTENING TRY TO PLAY IN NEW WINDOW OR DOWNLOAD I am working on fixing this problem right now   Its another hand plane show! We all love hand planes right? I know I do and honestly I never get tired of talking planes. So today we are  joined with Phil Edwards from Philly Planes. Listen in to learn how Phil got started in his business "Philly Planes" and what you can do to try and jump start your career as a plane maker. I talk a little bit at the end of the show on what I have learned from doing this podcast and what actions I have taken in response to some of the great advice we have received from guests on the show. If you do not understand the metaphorical "stool" please go back and listen to the show we had with Chris Shwarz.

Click here to subscribe on iTunes Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio In today's show we are joined by Neil Cronk. In this episode Neil shares with us what he has been doing to start his career in woodworking. Neil will share with us how he has created for himself a teaching position at Lee Valley, and how through twitter and interacting with the community, and building an awesome shop stool, Popular Woodworking reached out to Neil to write an article for the magazine. If that is not enough, by the way this is a all within a couple months of getting started, Neil will also be a vendor at the upcoming Woodworks 2014 conference.  So, if you have been sitting on the side lines, not sure how to get started in  your woodworking career, listen to this episode with Neil, and I am sure you will find what he has been doing not only informative but inspiring.   **Will have links to the show up shortly, I have to step away for a little while, sorry for any inconvenience

Click here to subscribe on iTunes Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio In this weeks show we talk with Josh Mcvety, Josh is an artist working in multiple materials to find the balance between form and function. In this episode Josh we talk about crafts education, attending blacksmithing school, getting your work into galleries, and the art community. Recommended books: The grammar of ornament William Morris Soul of a tree, George Nakashima

Click here to subscribe on iTunes Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio Hand tools and hand work has been a hot topic since I have become a woodworker. Actually, hand work is probably the reason I got into woodworking in the first place. I consumed the Krenov books in a matter of days, and then would read them all over again. There is just something about the hand tool community that is so into and intimate with doing the work with hand tools, that honestly it just made me want to do nothing more than spend my days watching shaving curl from my planes and come to rest next to the work piece on my bench. I am really excited today to have Scott Meek on the show.   In this interview, Scott will share with us how he got started building hand planes, and how what initially was a hobby for him, has turned into a full-time business for him today. Click here to see Scott's planes, and sign up for his plane making courses.

Click here to subscribe on iTunes. Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio Shannon Rogers, creator of the Hand Tool School, joins us today for an in-depth look into what it takes to bring your skills and passion onto the world wide web. The Hand Tool School The Renaissance Woodworker   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iCa_ZecDhc I found this interview with Shannon to be very enlightening, as someone trying to create something on the web for the woodworking community this gives me hope. In this interview Shannon and I discuss what it was like for Shannon in the beginning, the time and effort he put into creating an authority site within the hand tool niche, and what it was like for him when he went from a free online site to a paid membership site.  Shannon, being an online content marketer for his day job, tells us what is and is not working in online marketing, and what he is doing to drive new students to the Hand Tool School. We learn how the Hand Tool School has progressed financially and today is exceeding his 9-5 day job, and Shannon's plans for possibly going full-time with the Hand Tool School ( this should be very exciting for any of you looking to create something on the web, as we now have multiple people who have proven that doing content driven educational media online is working, just look at The Woodwhisperer, and The Hand Tool School, this is an exciting time for woodworkers, take advantage of it!).  To wrap up this show Shannon gives us all some advice and guidance to help us along on our own path in this craft. Hope you enjoy the show, please leave any questions or comments below.

Click here to subscribe on iTunes. Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio Today we are talking with William Ng, from the William Ng Woodworking School. In this interview William shares with us how he became an instructor and the owner of a woodworking school. What it was like for him in the beginning, the fears and hurdles that he had to overcome in opening a school and how he has been networking and marketing his school. William tells us the importance of preparation, and getting everything in order to avoid the failures that strike so many new businesses in their first few years of operation.

Click here to subscribe on iTunes. Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio In today’s show we get the opportunity to talk with Chris Schwarz from Lost Art Press, and former editor of “Popular Woodworking” magazine.  In this show Chris tells us how doing what he is passionate about, writing and woodworking, and being ambitious has led him to a career doing what he loves, every single day.  While doing this interview I got the feeling that I was talking with the type of person  who doesn't easily give up. Chris tells us about his failures in business, and the struggle of taking “Popular Woodworking” from a magazine that sounds like it was very nearly discontinued by the publisher, on to become one of the top woodworking magazines we have available to us today. We learn that Chris hasn't always been the amazing woodworker\writer that we know today. That in fact Chris has had multiple failures before his success with “Popular Woodworking” and “Lost Art Press”. While talking about his current work Chris mentioned something I think we should all be thinking about trying to incorporate into our lives. Chris says he’s current work is based on “three legs” like a stool, to stand and be stable you need at least three. For Chris that three represents his writing with Lost Art Press, his furniture making, and the classes that he teaches. Not relying on any single path, but doing a little of each. We should each try to create multiple sources of income, and being a craftsman, or artist, you have the opportunity to branch into multiple business’s within any one craft. That is really what this podcast is all about. Each and every one of us can do this. We have worked hard for our skills, and there are many ways for us to share those skills with a market that is in need of them.  I hope you find this interview inspirational and motivating. What have I been up to?  I have been working on building wooden hand planes.  I recently finished "Making Traditional Side Escapement Planes" by Larry Williams, a very detailed instructional video on building moulding planes, and have been reading the MS Bickford blog on building traditional style rabbet planes. I got some tools in from Lie-Nielsen, and I have been hacking away on my first traditional style hand plane.  Stay tuned to hear more about these hand planes, and the things I have learned in the process.

Click here to subscribe on iTunes Click here to subscribe on Stitcher Radio In this show we talk with Ben Patron, Ben is as luthier, or guitar and creator of Patron Guitars. Ben has been featured on the front cover of the American Journal of Lutherie. Ben’s isn't your typical guitar maker, working with a wide variety of materials, an innovator for this industry Ben's creations are unique and built in search of their perfect voice. In this interview Ben tells us how he has been able to make a living in this industry, and how his musical knowledge and craftsmanship has opened up other opportunities for him, taking him out of the 9-5 rat race. Ben tells us how he built his network in the lutherie community, putting in the work to create a network that is still bringing in customers many years later. Beginning at a young age Ben’s father told him there is nothing you can’t make on a good work bench, a belief that is obviously still true to him today. Now at this point in this (which is about 17:00 minutes into the show) interview we begin to move away from the way Ben has been making this living in this craft and start to move more into how to build a guitar. Ben shares with us the power of the pencil. Why you need to create a prototype, a three dimensional representation of what you think you may want. He recommends after finishing the prototype to spend some time handling and observing this prototype to make sure its comfortable to you and visually pleasing before you begin cutting into more expensive materials. What are the right materials? Well Ben goes into his view on materials and how to choose the right materials for your project, and why you should always build more than one. Lastly Ben tells us his secret to creating and properly fitting a scaled guitar neck, and how to easily and economically fret the neck.