Craft Videotape Prices Cut, New Titles Issued

It isn’t often that something that sold for $59.95 and $49.95 just over a year ago is now selling for $20 less this year, but that’s the case with the woodworking videocassettes from the Taunton Press.

The videotapes were described in my Dec. 15, 1985 column; at that time, there were five, covering such subjects as drawer dovetailing, wood finishing, bowl turning, ball-and-claw furniture feet and radial arm saw joinery.

Those who bought the tapes at the higher prices from Taunton or various dealers can obtain $10 rebates from the publisher or dealers, according to Dale Brown at Taunton, 63 S. Main St., Newtown, Conn. 06470.

Five new tapes have been added to the list: Four also include instructional booklets and the fifth is offered as a companion videotape to “Turning Wood With Richard Raffan,” a book Taunton published last year. Four of the tapes retail for $29.95, while the considerably longer Raffan tape retails for $39.95, Brown said.

The $29.95 tapes cover mortise-and-tenon joints, wood carving, router jigs and techniques and shop tips and techniques. More information can be obtained from Taunton or bookstores, home centers and lumberyards handling the line. The tapes can also be rented for three weeks for $14.95 per tape.

The holidays may be over, but the Christmas catalogue from Woodworker’s Supply of New Mexico has virtually anything for that difficult person on your birthday, anniversary or Valentine’s Day gift list, the man or woman who has everything. I’m willing to bet he or she doesn’t have a Freud biscuit spline joining machine or a Delta “Lumber Co.” portable saw mill!

John Wirth Jr., president of the company, has upgraded its inventory since I first began receiving catalogues. This 56-pager, priced at $2, is the best yet, with such useful odds and ends as a television pullout drawer that holds up to 176 pounds (P.51) and a $10.95 kit to personalize a standard metal mailbox (P.56).

The company is at 5604 Alameda Place, N.E., Albuquerque, N.M. 87113. Even if you’re not a dyed-in-the-wool woodworker, you’ll want to get on the firm’s mailing list: The company has plenty of useful products for general home improvement projects. This is a class act, getting classier all the time.

Finally, there’s the Christmas catalogue from Garrett Wade, 161 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10013. You wanna spend $250 for a plane? This is the place! Shades of the Neiman-Marcus holiday catalogue.

To be fair to Garrett Wade, the same catalogue contains another British plane priced at $27.50.