Christopher Schwarz’s new DVD, “Super-Tune a Handplane: How to turn a flea-market find into a fast, accurate and smooth-cutting tool,” is now available in our store for pre-order. I watched the two-day shoot for this video (ya know, just to make sure he got everything right (ha)), and I now feel confident that I can … Read more
Christopher Schwarz just posted on his Lost Art Press blog about his latest parlor trick: “Making a Sawbench in 60 Minutes or Less (or More).” He’ll be doing this on stage (I believe it’s a metaphorical stage, but he’s tall enough to make it seem as if he’s on a riser, at least) at Woodworking … Read more
The dovetailed skirt around the carcase of a tool chest (or blanket chest) is fussy to fit. The case has to be square and plumb. The skirting material has to be flat and square. And you have to get the joint’s baselines in just the right place. And even when you do all that, you … Read more
At some point during a woodworking class, students, teachers and bystanders become a sort of ersatz family. It is not by design. It is despite my best efforts. Today at The Woodwright’s School, students dressed the shells of their tool chests and added the tongue-and-groove bottom boards (yay for cut nails). After that brief nailing, … Read more
When you’ve worked out of a traditional tool chest for 15 years, you sometimes forget how excellent it is to work from. That is, until you teach others how to build the chest. This week, I’m at Roy Underhill’s woodworking school, “The Woodwright’s School.” This is the last class I’m teaching in 2012 (aside from … Read more
Earlier this year I wrote about a portable workbench top that went up for sale in an Australian auction. It was an ingenious solution to a problem that many woodworkers face: How do I do woodworking while watching television in the house? Well, that’s one of the problems this solves. This bench gizmo also is … Read more
If you’ve been reading Popular Woodworking Magazine for more than a decade, two “new” products won’t be new to you: “Workbenches & Toolboxes” and “Great American Furniture.” Both are “SIPs” (special-interest publications) that we offered only on newsstands, before I joined the PWM staff (so they’re really old). But they’re chock-full of great information, and … Read more
