Every state has a quarter, and every quarter’s in its state in Dale’s handmade, all-wood, laser cut USA map. He starts every project by planing wood flat on his Woodmaster Molder/Planer.
Meet Dale Hellewell, a toy-making, furniture-building, home-renovating, heirloom-building, happy & talented Woodmaster Molder Planer Owner!
For some folks, retirement means day after day with not much to do. But not for Woodmaster Owner, Dale Hellewell. Dale’s retirement days are full to bursting. He’s renovating 19 homes, building lots of furniture, toys, cabinetry, miles of trim, family heirlooms, and much more. Like so many Woodmaster owners, Dale’s been deeply bitten by the “Do-it-Yourself Bug.” Tell-tale symptom: “I like to stay busy.”
Toys and games galore! Dale made this impressive lineup for a recent family reunion. He shares his toy-designing and building know-how regularly on the Vectric.com forum. Search for posts by dhellwell2.
Here’s one of Dale’s home renovation projects. Dale starts all his projects with one simple step to ensure precision: he planes the wood flat with his Woodmaster Molder/Planer.
Here’s another family-oriented project by Mr. Hellewell. Dale’s handsome “Franklin Chairs” are each laser-engraved with the name of the soon-to-be recipient. The front of each chair lifts and hinges back to form a handy step stool — see the example at far right in the photo.
“I started working in wood at age six and I’ve been doing it my entire life. In high school I was a carpenter’s helper, helping renovate apartments. I became an electrician, then a civil engineer and architect. I helped design bridges and tunnels in Seattle, the Sears Tower in Chicago, and more.
A busy shop means a happy woodworker. Here’s Dale with one of his 3 Woodmaster Molder/Planers. He got his first one in the early 1990’s and has been adding on ever since!
I went into business for myself and was a general contractor for 35 years, all the while doing woodworking. Now, as a retirement business, I’ve bought 19 houses that need renovation — I fix, renovate, and upgrade them with cabinetry, trim, and more. That’s why I got my first Woodmaster Molder/Planer. Then I got another, then a third.
3 Woodmasters — 2 set up as molders, 1 as a planer
I have two 25” 725 Woodmasters, both set up as molding machines because I make a lot of door and window trim, baseboard, and more. My midsize Woodmaster is set up as a planer. I also have a CNC laser engraver I use to make 3-D carvings I incorporate in my cabinets and more projects.
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Dale buys less-than-premium wood, glues up wide panels, and planes them flat with his Woodmaster — he’s ready for any project he can dream up!
“Before I make anything, I prepare the wood with my Woodmaster planer”
I make furniture, toys, cabinetry, and more. Before I build anything, I always prepare my wood first — I make it flat by putting it through my Woodmaster planer.
I use a lot of reclaimed and ‘cull’ lumber; lower quality boards I can buy inexpensively. I use a lot of black walnut, oak, red alder, maple, exotic woods, and many more hardwoods.
Many of my projects start as glued-up panels I make from cull wood. I run the panels through the Woodmaster to plane them flat and to the right thickness. Cabinets, drawers, raised panel doors, balusters, stair tread, door and window trim, baseboards, cove trim, toys, furniture — I start them all by running the wood through my planer first.
When I’m making trim and molding, my second step is to run the wood I’ve prepared by planing through one of my Woodmaster set up as a molding machine.
Because Woodmaster’s big & heavy, fast & easy
Why did I choose the Woodmaster? It’s big, heavy duty, fast and easy to set up. I bought my first one, a Model 725, in the early ‘90s. I ended up with a lot of molding knives. I bought a second 725 and I set up several profiles in the cutterhead at the same time — I can cut several different molding patterns without changing cutters.
In a lifetime of building and renovating, Dale’s obviously learned a thing or two about quality construction and tasteful design. Nice work!
Dale’s run literally miles of hardwood in 20 years
I do recommend Woodmaster’s Indexable Spiral Cutterhead. It’s well worth what you pay for it. And I definitely recommend using a bedboard like their Super Slick Poly Bedboard.
I don’t know any company that’s making a better machine. It’s very heavy duty and mine have lasted a long, long time. In 20 years of use, I’ve put literally miles and miles of hardwood through them.”
— Dale Hellewell, Woodmaster Molder/Planer Owner, Othello WA
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Questions? Comments?
