2012 Review

2012 is on the way out so it seems like I should get all reflective and think about what has gone on over the year, but more importantly where things are heading for 2013.

This year saw fewer posts than last year mostly due to my day job and some personal events collaborating to keep me out of the shop.  You knew it had to happen because I finally got a mini-split A/C unit in the shop so it can be so very nice to work in over our hellish summers!  Oh, there's an important event in the past year: installation of a Fujitsu mini-split 30kBTU A/C unit.  The bill was also an important event, but well worth it.

The beginning of the year started with a bit of a blackout as I went to mock-up the Angle Madness project since I felt the mock-up was required to prove the angle calculations as well has have something to show for the design episode.  The calculations also proved to be a bit of a blackout as I swear I re-took my college linear algebra class to figure it out and write an iPad app to do the calculations.  After  a bit more refinement and testing, I may release the application in 2013; let the madness spread!

The Domizilla (Domino 700-XL) was released and I was picked to participate in an early preview group.  A very nice unit, but more on that in a bit.

The Woodworking In America (WIA) conference split into two events: one in Pasadena and one in Covington.  I went to the Pasadena conference to do demos of the Bridge City Jointmaker Pro with the new precision fence along with long-time favorite: the HP6v2 multi-plane.  My fence actually arrived last week so look to see a review of it since the WIA footage didn't go into a lot of detail.  There's also a tablesaw version of the fence; it just might be in my shop as well right now  :)  I've had a project waiting for the tablesaw version since April '12 so we should see it in action soon.

Around the time of WIA, a blog reader wrote me directly with some nice comments about the videos.  He was a news cameraman for a long time.  I asked him to pick apart what was wrong with the video/audio.  We had an amazing back-'n'-forth in email talking about what's wrong and what's right.  Several weeks of test videos posted for him and detailed feedback helped me make improvements where I can although some things are more difficult due to the shop.  As I work on a big video right now, I can see the difference it has made compared to even recent videos plus the shots I think are a bit lack-luster, I know why and can maybe be a bit less lazy setting it up next time :)

...for that, a big thank you, Derek!

The improvements started around the SensGard Hearing Protection review.  Must have worked because I have three requests in my inbox for details on the camera and post setup.  ('post' being post-recording editing)

Speaking of post, this year I moved away from iMovie.  iMovie is a fantastic app for even sophisticated videos although some things need to be done in some export/import round-trips.  That was the killer for me as every multi-cam video involved probably 2 hours of round-tripping.

Final Cut Pro X is what I'm using now.  Bit of a learning curve when you do it bit by bit over time, but well worth the effort.  I'll be updating the camera setup page soon with more details now that some representative videos are posted.



So what's coming up? Why the current blackout?!

I'm currently working on "No Comment #2"; this follows the idea of the first No Comment build last year where the video just shows the whole build start to finish in high speed sections, interesting multi-cam angles, and anything else to make it more visually entertaining short of inviting Megan Fox for tea.

This project is much more ambitious than the first No Comment build plus the extended footage and doubled camera angles have already completely consumed a 4Tb RAID stack; good grief, bought another stack last week...

The problem with No Comment #2?  I have to finish the build to complete the video :)  This build, though, will include several videos after the initial No Comment video to explain the build.  I really think you'll like the follow-up videos as they go into some interesting topics.

There's some interesting use of the Domizilla in this build, something the 500 can't practically do.

I should be applying finish to the project the first week of January.  Teaser frames to the left :)






Angle Madness? It'll continue, but the way it got dragged out due to other influences made me (likely you, too) need an intervention; No Comment #2 is the intervention.  It's videos will come out between other things as they get produced.

Other reviews besides the precision fence?  Yes!  Liogier rasps; these are really nice and got a heck of a workout in No Comment #2!  Besides the review, I have a couple others videos written up on their use; I'm no pro so if I can make something nice with them tells me anybody can!

That all?  No, my traveling tool steward Michael sent me a photo of the Bad Axe Tool Works specials board from Covington's WIA and I ordered a nice, almost too nice, hybrid dovetail saw.  (My wallet would like a word with you, Michael, when you have a moment...)  I've been playing with it a lot and will be doing a review of it in the episode for the drawers for Angle Madness.



It seems like all my new tools arrived in the past month; I may need a vacation to play!

Thank you for reading!
Thank you for the patience this year!