Woodworking, like fishing, covers a lot of territory, so the audience for our magazine and web site is a diverse lot. When I learned how to make stuff out of wood, the Internet didn’t exist and there was only one magazine and few books available on the subject. Lacking these modern resources, I was forced … Read more
All woodworking stories are – by definition – somewhat sappy. This one is even more so. The day I met Steve Shanesy I was a burned-out writer, designer and editor. I was managing a newspaper that was swirling around the rim of the toilet bowl. I was writing about politics – something I didn’t care … Read more
This week I’m at Acanthus Workshop LLC teaching a class in which we are building the cover project from the June issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, the Hannah Darlington Chest. Tuesday morning started out great: Breakfast at Annamarie’s; pancakes to die for. Then it was off to the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Winterthur, … Read more
From how to get started with hand tools to mastering (and super-tuning) your handplane, this exclusive value pack has it all. Learn everything from designing and building a proper tool chest to sharpening a saw, to cutting a huge array of joints. Get top-notch instruction in sharpening, chisels, awls, marking knives, spokeshaves, planes and Read more
The Milkman’s Workbench – a portable bench I built for the June 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine – is about 653 percent better than my first workbench. Thanks to the clever engineering in the portable bench, it can handle most handwork tasks when clamped to a dining room table or kitchen countertop. My first … Read more
It’s Sunday, and I’m at work to process lumber so that I can get started on a project that involves 44 half-blind dovetails for the October issue of the magazine. And it’s possible that on Saturday night I had one-too many adult libations (or I perhaps just didn’t sleep long enough…or both); I’m feeling a … Read more
I spend hours looking at photos of furniture. If I don’t have my nose buried in books, I gaze upon photos sent to me by other woodworkers. In a flickr set sent to me by Mark Firley (thanks, Mark), I stopped on a bow-front chest photo. (I think Mark was on a dovetail expedition that … Read more
