Bill Esler

We tracked down more behind the video (below) about a round "capstan" dining table that spins to expand to huge dimension using servo motors and inventive hardware. We found out who developed the patent and licensed it.

Wood Industry Conference members are doing better and doing good. The team from Woodworking Network was thrilled to join the party at WIC 2012.

Home construction and sales drive the woodworking industry. But pay no attention to housing starts and sales: Home formation is on the rise, a better indicator of demand for cabinetry, millwork, flooring, windows and residential furniture.

KBIS 2012 hardware and component exhibitors deepen the bonds with cabinetry companies, even those not exhibiting.

Can you take a second and help these woodworking classes? Donors Choose, an education charity built around crowd-sourced funding (where lots of online visitors give little bits) seeks woodworking class support.

Is the wood industry hiring? Yes, overall. While net employment in the industry has fallen, the trend is reversing as housing and consumer spending improve. A table shows the losers and gainers.

High tech apps help unstick the housing market, speeding sales of repossessed homes, as $250 million in venture capital goes to one market player. Meanwhile, Chinese and Russians shop for U.S. residential properties.

Honesty is the best policy and other profit-centered value systems are proving their worth as wood manufacturing and other industries return to the U.S. That insourcing trend lets La-Z-Boy and Ethan Allen export to China.