For the last week or so I’ve been researching the science of smacking the snot out of things. I’ve been reading lecture notes from a Harvard course on “fracture mechanics,” learning what the Timber Construction Manual has to say about “design values for bearing on end grain” and hearing about the construction of escrima (a … Read more
Chisels
Video: Stupid Shim Tricks
Some wide chisels and narrow plane irons don’t work well with the cheap-o side-clamp honing guide. They are too narrow to fit between the walls on the top of the guide. And they are too wide or thick to fit between the dovetailed ways in the guide. And setting the tool on the guide bars … Read more
Review: English M-Power Chisels With Replaceable Tips
When it comes to powered machinery, I’m a fan of using carbide inserts in the cutterhead instead of traditional straight knives. The cutters last longer, they do a better job on figured woods and they make the machine quieter. M-Power Tools of England decided to put this same technology to use in chisels. The company … Read more
The Science of Rented Mules (aka Chisels)
Sometimes when I write, I come to a question that paralyzes me – and I cannot continue until I get it answered. As a newspaper journalist, I was trained to “write my way around the problem,” which probably is one reason I don’t work for newspapers anymore (the other reason: there aren’t any newspapers). A … Read more
Yuppie Tools: A True Accounting
In a bar outside Philadelphia, Thomas Lie-Nielsen, John Economaki and I are having a drink and talking about the people who are getting rich selling tools. I’m on my second beer and running on four hours of sleep. I fumble and drop the veil of fairness and impartiality. “You know who is getting rich? The … Read more
Stupidest Tool Ever: The Chrasp! or The Risel!
About 10 years ago I was at The Hardware Show in Chicago visiting manufacturer’s booths to see what new stuff they had coming out for Christmas. Some of these tools would stretch credulity. Some of them never saw the light of day. Some of them were so awful that even women in bikinis (so-called “booth … Read more
An Unprofitable Morning
After last weekend’s orgy of tools, woodworking and back-breaking workbench moving at Woodworking in America, I decided to take a break today and buy some tools and old woodworking books , and move a huge metallic garden bench. This morning I woke up at 5 a.m. and headed down to Louisville, Ky., with Megan Fitzpatrick … Read more