Rockler To Fellow Makers: Summer Plans

Now that the April and May showers are finally bringing June flowers 😉, I can at last enjoy this perfect window of weather—warm, sunny, and fresh. But with the knowledge that, in a week or three, the real heat is about to hit. And depending on where you are, the humidity!

Honestly, I like the heat and humidity. I've never had an air conditioner, so it does get to a point where I need to find the nearest body of water and stay there (the top photo is of my puppy and her friend trying to stay cool).

Which leads me to this month's theme: wood, water, and summer heat.

If you look up "best ways to keep cool in the summer," one of the first things that comes up is shade and keeping window coverings closed. But that can make it too dark inside. I think the perfect solution is wood shutters — they reduce heat while still allowing in light. And luckily, I remembered we had a great guide for making your own shutters:

Another thing I was thinking about with summer humidity is that wood moves!

Next month, I’m heading up to visit my mentor—designer, wood scientist, and master woodworker Ian Kirby. If anyone knows about wood movement, it’s him! Over a decade ago, I left a big mahogany campaign chest I was working on in his old basement shop. At one point, the shop flooded, and Ian was ready to throw out my hard work if I didn’t come up and finish it.

We did manage to save it, but it still remains in pieces. It’s been so long that, after all the seasonal changes, I’m really hoping that when I get up there, I won’t find a twisted, cracked mess of a campaign chest waiting for me. At least I started with nicely dried mahogany!

In case you want more information about the measurement of water in wood, I found this great article:

And for fully enjoying summer on the water— you can build a boat! Well, at least a toy tugboat. It’s the perfect companion to any body of water, even a bathtub. But someday, I really do want to build a real, sailable boat!

A full-sized boat, however, is not in this year’s summer plans. I still have too many other projects to finish, and I PROMISED Ian I would finally get my (hopefully intact) chest out of his shop.

What are you making this summer?