Friends:
The holiday has me as busy as everyone else, so I'm taking a break from the Real Lathe and exploring an under-examined part of the hand-tool world: transitional planes.
These planes are usually ignored by both users and collectors, and that's a shame. Transitionals have their ...
2018-11-22 14:50:27 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I'll be honest: I never appreciated how complex the lathe tail-stock is until I went to build one. This often-forgotten piece of the lathe has to do a LOT of jobs and building one out of (mostly) wood is a tall order.
It was a scramble to get this done on schedule, but I...
2018-11-17 00:29:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I really thought I was going to bang this one out, but damn, it was just a comedy of errors from start to finish. Turns out that making a tool rest out of wood is VERY difficult. Wood is just not rigid the way that steel and cast iron are and making something like this requires a to...
2018-11-09 17:06:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
Ask and you shall receive!
The fantastic LiraNuna, a Patron who has given great feedback in the past, suggested that I narrate the Dark Star Video and make it a Patron exclusive.
It was a great idea and I did it yesterday.
I do have one small request: I...
2018-11-07 11:56:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I took this one in a very different direction. I don't talk. There's music. I kept it short.
I'm honestly quite anxious to hear how you like it.
Hope everyone is well!
--Rex
2018-11-05 01:16:15 +0000 UTC View PostFriends:
You probably noticed that I didn't get a video up yesterday. The end of the day just came too fast and before I knew it, it was time to be a dad and work had to wait. The next video in the Real Lathe series is 90% done, but a little work remains.
Anyway, I will have TWO videos...
2018-11-03 12:50:05 +0000 UTC View Post
I think a lot about low-angle planes. Mostly, I think about how they’re unnecessary. I’ve seen prominent woodworkers refer to them as “essential” and that’s nonsense.
Before these planes were reintroduced by companies like Lie Neilsen, low-angle models like the Stanley...
2018-10-31 15:09:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
This week has been a blur. Working out all the technical details for a full-size lathe is a big challenge and there are SO many details to keep track of.
Still, the work goes on and I'm delighted to bring you Part 3 in the Real Lathe project. In this video, I'll show you...
2018-10-26 23:30:51 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s a funny question, but I’m also serious. My wife has called me a hoarder; heck, I’ve called myself one.
But is it true?
It’s not a straightforward question. For one thing, I’m broke. I have a fairly new, small business and I also handle the before and after-s...
2018-10-23 11:15:35 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I'm a day later than usual because nothing this week went according to plan. Tools went missing, materials broke, and the best laid plans of mice and men came to nothing.
Anyway, I made some pulleys and I made them from plywood. It ended up awesome.
You can m...
2018-10-19 21:10:41 +0000 UTC View PostFriends:
I now have t-shirts for sale at www.rexkrueger.com/store
I have three designs to begin with, but I hope to expand to 10 or more. I'm going to have designs that show your support for the channel, but also shirts that show off your love of woodwork and craft.
2018-10-17 11:15:17 +0000 UTC
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Can I be honest? I don’t really care about cars. I grew up in a family that was obsessed with antique autos, but the bug never bit me. I can’t even drive stick.
So why did I drive 6 hours each way and spend three days at the Hershey Pennsylvania Antique Auto Show? Because this show is the worl...
2018-10-16 11:29:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
My big lathe project is on hold for a few days while I attend the Hershey Antique Car Show and Flea Market in Hershey, PA.
Am I a car guy? Not really, but this show is the largest automotive flea market in the world. You know what a lot of car guys have sitting in their garage...
2018-10-11 18:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostA few months ago, I took up blacksmithing.
It's a lot harder than woodwork because hot iron is a plastic material. It's very malleable, so whatever you do to it has unintended effects. Hit a piece to make it flatter and you also make it wider. Make a piece thinner and you also make it longer...
2018-10-08 12:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I've been teasing it for a while, but it's done and it's ready.
I've built the first major components of the lathe: the bed, ways, and headstock. I ran it. It didn't kill me. It didn't self-destruct.
Win.
This was a lot harder than I was expecting...
2018-10-04 14:07:23 +0000 UTC View Post
So here’s the headstock from the Real Lathe:
Looks good, right? That’s what I thought, too. It’s extremely sturdy and rigid; the pyramid design gives it a very wide base while making the top as narrow and unobtrusive as possible. That’s a win, right?
2018-10-01 12:00:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
Friends:
You know I've been on a real lathe kick recently. Not only am I in the process of building one from scratch (more on that soon), I'm also thinking about what we make on the lathe.
The mighty lathe is actually the heart of the Industrial Revolution. It makes precision par...
2018-09-28 00:56:44 +0000 UTC View PostFriends:
I'm hard at work on the Real Lathe. I bought a 10 foot length of black iron pipe (surprisingly affordable at $17) and cut it in half. This will give me a total machine length of 5 feet and maybe 36 inches between centers.
2018-09-26 10:40:18 +0000 UTC
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Friends:
Sorry it took me a little longer than I promised to get this up. My daughter recently started school and I have to work around her new schedule. It's making it difficult to get things done.
Anyway, the longer wait time meant that more people were eligible for the drawing...
2018-09-21 10:43:34 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
This week, I'm collaborating with the amazing Iron Gordon. He does really slick, vintage-style art in a bunch of mediums. He's big on Instagram, but hasn't really gotten the YouTube thing happening yet. He deserves a big following, so I'm hoping to throw some attention his way.
<... 2018-09-20 11:22:08 +0000 UTC View PostFriends:
I've been putting out a lot more content since I went full time, but I could do more to tell you about future projects .
I've been thinking a lot about lathes recently. The longer I use one, the more I find it an essential tool. This sounds a little weird, right? Woodwor...
2018-09-17 11:27:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
My daughter didn't have school most of last week due to heat and no air-conditioning. (Am I just old, or was this unthinkable when I was a kid? We went to school when it was sweltering.)
Anyway, I didn't get a video up last week, but I'm going to get some good content up...
2018-09-13 12:12:46 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I get a lot of questions and I think it would be fun to answer them in a video. I've made a short clip about all the stuff you can ask me and some things from my past that you might find interesting.
I forgot to mention that I also play 3 instruments (guitar, bass guitar...
2018-09-05 11:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I recently got a new guitar and when I got an old guitar stand out of the closet, I realized that it was ugly and that I could make something better.
So I did.
This is my first experiment with bent lamination, an accessible technique that anyone can use to ma...
2018-09-01 23:29:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I'm giving away the jack plane I reviewed and prepared in one of my recent videos. I know a lot of my Patrons are just getting started in woodworking and need good tools. Even if you have some tools, using this Hong Kong style plane can be a real eye-opener.
Either way, ...
2018-08-29 23:20:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
It's Sunday afternoon and I could be mowing the lawn or cleaning the gutters, but who wants to do that crap? Instead, the Rex Krueger content machine cranks along.
Here's part 2 in my Drill Press Basics video series. In this one, I cover about 2 dozen ways to make your d...
2018-08-26 19:15:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
It's been a heck of a month around here. We've already welcomed SEVENTEEN new Patrons to the channel and it's only the 21st!
Now that I'm doing content full time, I can make more of it, so I'm ready with the next installment of Import Tool Madness.
When I saw this ...
2018-08-21 10:38:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
August has been an AMAZING month for me on Patreon (and the month is only half-over!) I've added many new members to the channel and some of my current supporters have upped their support level. I'm delighted and humbled by this show of support.
To say thanks, I did a sh...
2018-08-20 13:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Friends:
I had a blast making the guitar in my last video and the response (both here and on YouTube is encouraging. I might want to do more of this content.
I'm thinking about all the c...
2018-08-20 12:59:50 +0000 UTC View Post
And now for something completely different.
I don't talk about this a lot, but I'm a pretty serious musician. That little guitar riff in my intro? That's me. I also play bass guitar and lap-steel and I studied classical voice for about 2 years.
I started modifying and restoring g...
2018-08-15 17:56:28 +0000 UTC View Post