Karl Forth's Page

I had a conversation with a friend recently and we discussed debts, paying off mortgages, and the housing market. The current debate: Is it morally right to simply stop paying your mortgage and walk away?

If you’ve lost yo

A survey of manufacturers in Minnesota this week indicated that companies were much more optimistic about the economy than they were last year. More than a quarter expected an economic expansion in 2010 and 44 percent of companies expected their revenue to increase in 2010.

An increasing worry for manufacturing executives is the decreasing availability of credit. The percentage of companies that reported a constriction of credit increased th

Our new woodworking product database is now online. Go to www.cabinetmakerfdm.com and click on "New Products Guide" on the home page. You can then search by product category or by company name.

This new product database is by far the industry's largest, with more than 2,150 products searchable by category, and another 600 older products that can be accessed by company name.

There has been a lot of talk about the upcoming IWF show, now about six months away. Some of the largest equipment manufacturers and distributors have announced they will not attend the show in Atlanta Aug. 25 to 28. In the past week many of the major Canadian companies announced they will not exhibit at this year's SIBO show in Quebec.

IWF is still the largest event on the North American woodworking calendar, and there will be many new products and innovations at the show, even if it

We received a few questions from a smaller shop about the proposed new regulations on combustible dust. One was whether small shops need HEPA or better filtration to meet airborne dust limits. What kind of explosion protection is needed for small one- or two-bag standalone collectors? And what kind of vacuum cleaners are approved for workworkers? Even a small "explosion proof" unit reportedly cost $5,000. And all the past cases on OSHA's list seem to be larger companies. Are there cases of du