Hello everyone! I hope you have all had a wonderful summer and are settling in for fall/winter festivities of warm fireplaces, enticing smells from the kitchen and family gatherings. This is the time of the year that our projects start to really hit their stride, no more distractions of warm breezes, chirping birds or the siren's call of the beach. Nope, now is the time to warm up the shop, turn on the lights and start the Christmas gift projects. Or maybe you need to gear up for holiday selling, or just settle in to work on that doll house.

This month I want to talk about two machines that the real experts or daring craftsmen of our trade use to make some of the more interesting items for collectible dolls, dollhouses, tool creation, etc.: the milling machine and the lathe. Now normally, if you know what these two devices are the first thing that