Graham Blackburn Steps in for Ailing David Charlesworth

Graham Blackburn has joined the list of expert woodworkers instructing at this year’s Woodworking in America Conference (Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center).

He has kindly agreed to step in at the last minute for David Charlesworth, who, we’re sorry to announce, has been hospitalized for pneumonia. In addition to teaching at the conference, David was planning to shoot a video with Lie-Nielsen Toolworks while he was stateside. We hope he’ll soon be back on his feet and making that trip to Maine, and to a future Woodworking in America Conference.

In his stead, we’re delighted to welcome Graham to Greater Cincinnati, where he’ll be teaching a couple of top-notch hand-tool sessions:

Handplanes for Joinery
Friday, Sept. 30 9 a.m.-11 am. & Saturday, Oct. 1, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
There is a plane for almost every phase of woodworking, especially joinery. Whether it’s making the whole joint or adjusting something with great nicety, an understanding of the following easy-to-find and often inexpensive specialized handplanes can be great fun and improve your joinery. Graham shows you how to evaluate, tune up, sharpen and use rabbet planes, fillisters, dado planes, plow planes and match planes, including many of their relatives and varieties.

Planing for the Perfect Surface
Friday, Sept. 30, 2-4  p.m & Saturday, Oct. 1, 4:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
For the perfect surface you need to be able to plane any piece of wood in any direction, regardless of grain. This is what planes are designed to do. Watch as Graham demonstrates the secrets of the cap iron, a jig-free method of sharpening, and the basic user techniques for guaranteed accuracy in order to turn virtually any bench plane — wooden, Stanley-type, or high-end — into the ultimate finishing tool.

Graham was born and trained in London, and now lives in Woodstock, N.Y., where he built his first house more than 25 years ago. He’s spent decades designing and making custom furniture. Besides serving as contributing editor to Popular Woodworking, editor of Woodwork and contributing editor to Fine Woodworking, Graham has written numerous books on all aspects of woodworking, from home building to cabinetmaking to hand tools. He was the television host of “Secrets of the Master Craftsmen,” and was featured in Maxine Rosenberg’s “Artists of Handcrafted Furniture at Work” and Jane Smiley’s “Artisans of the Catskill Mountains.”

In addition to making furniture, and teaching across the United States, Graham also runs Blackburn Books, which recently published the highly acclaimed “Traditional Woodworking Handtools: A Manual for the Woodworker,” and its sequel, “Traditional Woodworking Techniques.” You can learn more about Graham, his videos, books and appearances at blackburnbooks.com.

And for those of you who were looking forward specifically to David’s class on simple, repeatable and easy sharpening, Christopher Schwarz will be delighted to teach sharpening to anyone who asks – just visit the Lost Art Press booth in the Marketplace. Or ask Deneb Puchalski in the Lie-Nielsen booth (Deneb has a story on sharpening coming in the December issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine).

Both full conference passes and one-day passes are still available for Woodworking in America 2011: Click here for more information and to register.

– Megan Fitzpatrick