Rockler was the proud sponsor of the Winter 2010 LumberJocks' Woodworking Awards, and the winners were announced today! LJ had a record-breaking 151 entrants for this season's challenge which was "Yin Yang, The Dark and the Light". The idea was to create a project that used color (dark and light) "to convey how contrasts work together to make the whole". Imagine 151 variations on this theme! Completing and submitting an entry for this contest was a huge accomplishment, and we congratulate all the entrants on their efforts!

The voting was done by the LumberJocks themselves. Anyone who had ever posted a project on the site was eligible to vote, and the four top vote-getters won prizes from Rockler.

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Rockler is proud once again to have sponsored the recent Woodworking Challenge by one of our favorite podcasts, The Sawdust Chronicles. This second Challenge was done a bit differently than the first (see our previous blog post '30-Day Woodworking Challenge Inspired Beginner Woodworkers'). The Fall Challenge was longer (60 days instead of 30) and instead of being required to make a particular project, contestants were allowed to choose their own project, with the only stipluation being that they create something that "positively impacts [the] environment/community".

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The gang over at the Woodworker's Zone runs online classes in their WoodWiki section that are really interesting and fun to follow along with. The current class happens to be on making a screwdriver, using the 4-in-1 Screwdriver Kit from Rockler!

Instructors Jim and Steve (or router-jim and stwoodie as they're known on the Woodworker's Zone site) do a really good job of going into great detail on the how-to of turning the handle, and yet still allowing for plenty of creativity on the students' part.

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Last weekend the Rockler Blog Team (actually my ten-year-old-sidekick/daughter and I) attended a blogger party of a most unusual sort - it was a potluck, for junking bloggers, held in the middle of a flea market, with the food served on... junk! And it was a blast!

The party was hosted by Amy Versnik Nowak of Junkologie in her booth at the annual Oronoco Gold Rush Days flea market (in southern Minnesota). Oronoco is no ordinary flea market. People literally come from all over the country to go to this thing, and if you are a junker, Oronoco is the place to be.

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Two of us from Rockler (Lin Cable, a veteran junker, and yours truly, a newbie junker) were lucky enough yesterday to have the opportunity to go to Sue Whitney's JunkMarket garage sale — and what a sale it was!

You've never seen anything like a sale that Sue puts on. First, I have to say that I was so awestruck and excited (and yes, there might have been a little hyperventilating going on) that I forgot to take even one picture! (''Thanks,'' you're all thinking. ''Thanks very little.'') I'm filching a couple pics from the JunkMarket blog, though, so you'll get the idea. (Thanks, Sue!)

I can tell you that this was more like a cross between an elaborately-staged magazine photo shoot and a big, fun party than any ''garage sale'' you've ever seen before. There was fun music, breakfast and coffee, and our fabulous host, Sue, flitting through the crowd and talking with everyone!

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In our last post we talked about Sawdust Chronicles' 30-Day Woodworking Challenge. In TSDC's last few episodes, the guys have been talking with contest participants. Today we'll talk with one of the winners, and hear from Rick Waters about TSDC's plans for future contests.

David Benton, winner of the Rockler prize, talked to Rockler this week about his woodworking. (Dave's project was pictured in our previous post).

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This spring, Rockler had the distinct pleasure of sponsoring the first-ever Sawdust Chronicles' 30-Day Woodworking Challenge. The challenge was put on by Rick Waters and Erik Pearson, hosts of The Sawdust Chronicles (TSDC) podcast.

The idea was to get beginning woodworkers involved in making a project within certain constraints. (The contest eventually branched out, and also included amateur woodworkers, who were judged in a separate category). The project was a desk organizer, and it had to include certain features, be made of wood (no plastic, melamine, etc.), and be made without buying any new tools. There were some really creative and beautiful projects submitted, and we encourage you to view all the entries here, using the password buildchallenge. Rockler congratulates everyone who took part in the challenge, and especially those who were able to complete their project within the allotted time. Well done!

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EDITOR'S NOTE: The Spring Trunk Show was so popular that it has been held over at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and is now showing through Wednesday, May 13th. You can also check Virgil Leih's website for additional upcoming exhibits.

Virgil Leih is a different kind of woodturner. Think there's nothing new under the sun in woodturning? You'd be surprised. Virgil turns not pen blanks or 8" x 8" pieces of turning stock-- he turns entire tree trunks! And he turns these tree trunks into some of the most beautiful pieces of wood sculpture you'll ever see.

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