Road-trip to Epic Woodworking & Tom Mclaughlin

This weekend  I took a little road trip out to visit Tom McLaughlin at Epic Woodworking in Canterbury, NH.

Epic Woodworking has both On site Classes & Online Classes whether you are a beginner or a more experienced woodworker Epic Woodworking has a course for you, that Tom teaches.

The whole reason for my trip was to have a class with Tom McLaughlin as our host and the topic of discussion was a very informal visit to his shop to talk about how he made The Tilt Top Table that was featured on his TV show “Rough Cut with Fine Woodworking”

Here is the  shop of Tom McLaughlin of Epic Woodworking , what a beautiful shop inside and out.

Here you can see the Tilt Top Table assembled

Here is Tom demonstrating the table in tilted position

Below are a couple of pictures and video of Tom demonstrating how he made some of the components that made up the table

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Below is a couple of pictures I took while in the shop.

Lath time

Tom is demonstrating how he turned the column that supports the table top, he used Curly Maple

Master at work

A lot of effort went into the turning , I also made a video below that better demonstrates how Tom was turning it in real time

Cross-Cutting Jig

Tom made this very simple jig to cut the leg to its final size, I have to say that Tom is extremely talented in taking something complex and finding an easy solution.

Table-saw Jig

Tom made a very simple jig for the table saw and in this picture he is cutting one of the legs to final size. Tom is a genius in making very simple but extremely effective jigs in achieving his goal

Router Jig

I won’t go into too much detail on this , but it’s another jig that he made for the column that needed to recently be sliding dovetail grooves that will receive the 3 legs

Router Jig

Tom also made this ingenious jig for the router, basically making a sled for the router to ride to cut a flat into something round.

Seem-less Design for a pedestal

Here is how far we got in the class the pedestal all made with the column and feet attached.

Roughcut Swing

Here is the swing that he made when he was a guest on the Roughcut show before he actually got to host it a few years later . Let me tell you it is as beautiful as it is comfortable and he has it sitting out back behind his shop.

Crosscut Sled

Tom is demonstrating his cross cut sled on the tablesaw.

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Tom was very kind in taking a picture with me in the shop. I can never get a good picture as Tom can contest I think i tried like 6 times to get a decent pic of me, Anyway this was the best one, LOL

I would just like to Thank Tom for a wonderful day and I learnt so much just being in his shop with him showing you all the techniques that you can use in  any project, he is extremely friendly and knowledgeable. I think some of his best traits is that he is extremely approachable and no question is too dumb.

SPECIAL UNEXPECTED SURPRISE

What was a little funny was that Tom showed us the project that he made for the episode of Rough Cut & Fine Woodworking that was airing on the day that we were in his shop, the project was a Contemporary Table lamp that he made with special guest Chris Becksvoort if you want to look at the show click here

The lamp is beutiful and its made with pieces of veneer that acts as the shade and the body is made up of a few pieces of wood with half-lap joinery.

If you would like to learn more about Epic Woodworking I have placed links below to his social media sites, as well as his website.

Until next time Tom take care.!!!!!!!