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The awl is one of the most useful tools in woodworking and perhaps the most basic of them all. Awls help to initiate indentations into which screws, nails, and drill bits will bore. We use them [...]

Tool: The Original OmniSquare Shop Now   Manufacturer: Omni Tool Works MSRP: $29.95 This clever and inexpensive milled aluminum square functions as a try square, miter square, bevel square, [...]

Double-check your tools, your technique, and your thinking. One of the most important skills in woodworking is rarely discussed or considered as a thing that needs to be learned or practiced. The [...]

Check out these 11 methods to make layout easier. Write With Chalk Lay out “cut here” marks on rough lumber with chalk. Chalk marks are easy to read, even on the scruffiest surface. Unlike ink, [...]

Layout Tool Haiku A framing square, small Enough to fit in your hand Is nuts-on 90. (originally published in American Woodworker #158) Veritas precision square Buy Now …

Tool: Compass Guides Buy Now Manufacturer: Walke Moore MSRP: $33-$90 Designed as solid anchor points for placing compasses and dividers on the edges and corners of boards to mark curves, two [...]

I have been using compasses throughout my career as a woodworker and a woodworking teacher, and my favorite ones are the pencil compasses. Honestly, I never liked compasses that require a 2mm [...]

Choosing and using this must-have measuring and layout tool. In 1878, Laroy S. Starrett designed and patented the combination square. His invention was a multi-purpose layout and measuring tool [...]

Article sponsored by Woodpeckers. Working with plywood is always an adventure. The large size of the sheets isn’t easy to handle in my small shop. This means that I’m often left wrestling these [...]

This useful tool is easy to make, easy on the eyes and awesome to use. Wooden layout tools usually are superior to metal ones in my opinion. They are lightweight, inexpensive and as accurate as [...]

As editors, we search our two web sites (popularwoodworking.com and shopwoodworking.com) constantly for information for the online extras portion of all  articles and most columns – the [...]

When I talk to woodworkers about drawers, particularly dovetail joinery, I mention the transition that occurs as we moved from one furniture period to the next. In general, dovetails became a [...]