WWN's Top 10: Beautiful Kitchen vs. Ugly Furniture
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July proved to be a hot month for wood industry news (read related blog), but several woodworking case studies, a pair of diametrically opposed videos and the pending auction of American of Martinsville and Barcalounger, grabbed the most attention of WoodworkingNetwork visitors.

Read on to learn more about these and other top features for July 2010.



1) Woodworking CNC for Archtype Guitars
Fernando Alonso Jaén, a Spanish guitar designer, has created the world’s first “serviced” archtop guitar kit — a kit where complex wood tooling is done by the manufacturer to simplify the buyer’s task. As a small operation, “creating the wood parts with complex contours required for the guitar would have been impossible,” Jaén said. Using a CNC router he was able to do it. Using conventional woodworking toosl "would have probably been more than the market could bear,” Jaén says. (Posted 7-9-10) 

2) House Beautiful's 'Kitchen of the Year'
"Flipping Out" TV star Jeff Lewis gives a tour of the modern kitchen he designed for House Beautiful. The consumer publication bills it as the "2010 Kitchen of the Year." The kitchen was showcased July 19-23 in the heart of Manhattan's Rockefeller Center, the contemporary design features an open layout, KraftMaid cabinetry designed by Lewis, a table made from 200-year-old reclaimed wood, a cozy seating area and lots of high-tech conveniences.  (Posted 7-27-10)

3) 'Ugly Furniture'
It's easy to see why this satirical YouTube video has been viewed more than 200,000 since it was posted in mid January by jmsalad. Enjoy. (Posted 7-2-10) 

4) Eyewood Design Uses 5S to Expand Capacity
Running a custom woodworking business in Michigan these days means steeling yourself for a highly competitive bid process in an extremely depressed market. But Eyewood Design, Inc., an Interlochen, MI, architectural millwork and custom cabinetry manufacturer, has faced the downturn head on, reinventing itself in the process. The company's secret: implementing new technology and restructing its management processes.(Posted 7-13-10)

5) Novel Moulder Adds Texture to Wood
The newest of eight Weinig moulders now running at Great Lake Woods 103,000-square-foot main plant incorporates all of the features of other Powermat 500 moulders, including PowerLock tool holders to speed set-up adjustments. The two key differences are the additional texturizing head and the 12-inch board capacity, allowing parts more than 33% wider to be processed than the standard 8-7/8-inch capacity. The 12-inch capacity is allowing Great Lake Woods to produce plank flooring and other wider products. For the purpose of textured wood mouldings, the machine is limited to 10-inch-wide mouldings because the texturizing heads require 1 inch of clearance on each side of the part. (Posted 7-12-10)

6)
American of Martinsville, Barcalounger Up for Auction
A "stalking horse" minimum bid of $1.5 million has been established by the bankruptcy court for American of Martinsville and Barcalounger, according to information disseminated by NHB Advisors Inc., which is facilitating the auction. The bidding is scheduled to remain open until Aug. 18. (Posted 7-14-10)

7) Hardwoods Threatened by Hardwood Beetle
The USDA issued an alert for help in identifying hardwood-killing Asian longhorn beetles. Expected to begin hatching this month, the longhorn beetles are already responsible for killing 69,000 U.S. trees, says USDA.  (Posted 7-7-10)

 8) White Ash: A Hard Hitter
White ash is considered the premiere species of North American ashes, prized for being hard, strong, high in shock resistance with excellent bending qualities, but also easily worked. Louisville Slugger bats, manufactured by Hillerich & Bradsby Co. in Louisville, KY, are made of white ash and maple. The Hillerich & Bradsby Web site states, “Pound per pound, ash is the strongest timber available. Ash has a flexibility that isn’t found in other timbers like maple. It tends to flex rather than break, which gives a strong ‘sweet spot’ in terms of breakage. Ash is lighter than maple, giving a wider range of large barrel models.” (Posted 7-7-10)


9) USGBC Under Fire for FSC Monopoly
WASHINGTON --Seventy-nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter requesting the U.S. Green Building Council to end Forest Stewardship Council's monopoly on LEED credits for certified wood.
In the letter steered by Congressmen Kurt Schrader (D-OR) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), congressmen representing 35 different states, urged the organization to “accept all credible forest certification systems for qualification under the LEED rating system,” including the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). (Posted 7-20-10)

10) Matchless Woodworking
Chip Yawney's, owner of A Cut Above LLC, Custom Woodworking & Design, Jessup, MD, use of prefabricated components — in this case sourced from La Crosse, WI-based WalzCraft — was very practical in this two-room Springdale Estates office in Clarksville, MD. “Clearly you can see how much prefabricated componentry is in there,” says Yawney. “I built the cabinet boxes and made the crown backer and shelving — largely this was a prefabricated project.” (Posted 7-9-10)


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