Today I’m in Portland, Maine, eating myself sick at Duckfat and studying the architectural details on the old houses in this coastal city. As I started picking apart some Victorian houses on the city’s east side, I remembered something that a student once said about the English Layout Square I built for the December 2010 … Read more
Tool seller Patrick Leach has a new sliding bevel in the works that does something that no other modern bevel does: It locks at a perfect 90°. Yup. Sliding bevels are great at describing almost every angle except 90°, which is why we have try squares. With this new sliding bevel, some woodworkers might throw … Read more
If you remember the Veritas Dodeca-Gauge – the company’s hilarious April Fool’s prank that featured a marking gauge with 12 independent sliding rods – then the company’s newest tool might look a little familiar to you. The Veritas Dual Marking Gauge offers only one-sixth of the rods of the fictional Dodeca-Gauge, but the good news … Read more
This weekend I built a contemporary lamp for the August 2011 issue of the magazine that was all-electrons, all the time. It has been a while since I have worked this way – usually my mode is to use machines for the heavy lifting and hand tools for the details. And I was surprised by … Read more
Jim Tolpin’s article “Secrets of the Sector” in the June 2011 issue has stirred up a lot of interest and discussion among our readers. A sector is a way to eliminate arithmetic, especially division (multiplication’s tricky friend). To help readers understand the sector, I made a couple short videos: Video: Jim Tolpin’s ‘Secret of the … Read more
As Jim Tolpin’s article on sectors from the June 2011 issue is getting into the hands of readers, we have had a few questions about the tool. One question is, of course: “Where can I buy one?” I don’t recommend you try to purchase a real sector. They are small affairs that were intended more … Read more
In the June 2011 issue we have Jim Tolpin building the “Ultimate Router Table.” Nah, just yanking your chain. He’s actually building a wombat house. Ha. Got you. In truth, Tolpin wrote a great article about how to build and use a “sector.” What’s a sector? It is like magic wands that have been hinged … Read more
