The instructions for applying oil and wiping-varnish finishes are usually to wipe or brush on a wet coat, wait a bit, then wipe off the excess and let what remains dry. So I got this question from a reader who wanted to know what is the optimum number of coats to apply. You may have…

This summer I spent a couple of weeks driving  around the East Coast delivering furniture, giving talks related to English Arts & Crafts Furniture and Making Things Work, and photographing kitchens for the book I’m writing for Lost Art Press. (There was also an event at Tools for Working Wood featuring a Hello Kitty pinata stuffed…

Finding a paying job as a woodworker is one of those tricky negotiations. Working in a woodworking business or owning your own business sound attractive, but we all know there are risks and it’s still work. Woodworking as a hobby makes things more friendly, but you still end up needing to pay the bills. How…

Back when I was a young woodworker (shortly after the exit of the dinosaurs) I had a general acceptance of the reality that the planks of wood I purchased came from trees. I knew that they came in different colors, sizes and appearance, but the concept of how they ended up that way hadn’t really…

Some call it a Patternmaker’s vise, others name it a Gunstock Carving vise, and the luthiers among us, obviously, refer to it as Guitar Maker’s vise. Many names for the same vise that has been in manufacturing by the same Taiwanese company for a few decades now. I have always wanted to get one, but…

I was having a phone conversation earlier this week with an amateur woodworker who told me that he hates finishing because he’s afraid of ruining the project he has spent six weeks making. Actually, I hear this often, woodworkers thinking they can ruin their projects if they screw up the finish. There are really only…