Workbenches
Woodworking workbenches articles, advice, plans and more.
My Favorite Japanese Pullsaw
It’s funny how my chainsaw skills have gone through the roof since I started to build lots of workbenches in 1999. Today I cut down a buttload of 6 x 6 x 16’ Douglas Fir beams for a bench-building class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking that I’m teaching next week. And when you Continue reading»
That’s Not a Holdfast
Christopher Schwarz and Lucy May are pleased to announce the newest addition to their family. Length: 18”. Weight: 9 lbs., 4 oz. Birth date: Feb. 15, 2012. Delivered by: Peter Ross, blacksmith and white smith. After more than seven years of searching, I have finally found a bench holdfast that works effortlessly with a French-style Continue reading»
Straight from the Frenchman’s Mouth
Can we not agree that I am not of sound mind and body? Yup? OK, read on. Last year I commissioned blacksmith Peter Ross to make a holdfast for me that was made as close as possible to Andre Roubo’s instructions. Ross is quite familiar with Roubo, but I sent him a translation of the Continue reading»
How Not to Rive Oak
This week I’m cutting a bunch of half-blind dovetails in oak – oak on the pin board and oak on the tail board. This is somewhat trickier than dovetailing softer woods, or when dovetailing a soft wood, which compresses, into a hard wood, which does not. Add to that the fact that oak really likes Continue reading»
Super-simple Support for the Moxon Double-screw
When I built a Moxon double-screw vise last year for sawing and other chores, I tried to keep it as simple and close to the 17th-century original as I could. After building two prototypes, I made it even simpler and easy to build by using 8/4 stock instead of some uber-thick wood. But woodworkers, being Continue reading»
Improved Phil Koontz Holdfasts
It seems I have more holdfasts than internal organs. And yet, when I was dropping something off at Managing Editor Megan Fitzpatrick’s house this week, I was struck by two holdfasts in her bench that were familiar and yet different – like an old friend who had lost weight or gotten implants. The holdfasts Continue reading»
My Benchcrafted Moxon Vise
Perhaps I should be the last person to buy a Moxon-style vise kit from Benchcrafted. After all, I’ve built six of these highly functional vises for myself and friends – not to mention all the ones I’ve built during classes during 2010. But instead, I was one of the first to line up for the kit Continue reading»
