A Photocopy, a Dot on a Box
LAS VEGAS , Wandering around our last day at AWFS , a tool-lover’s heaven , you might think I’m a little misty-eyed. But instead, I’m actually a little mad. After...
Coloring the Tree Before Cutting it Down
LAS VEGAS , This week I’m in Las Vegas for one of our annual trade show pilgrimages. This show is called AWFS. Mostly, these shows seek to deafen you. One...
The 12-step Program for Smoothing Planes
The first handplane I ever bought was a Popular Mechanics block plane I purchased one night at Wal-Mart. There was no blade-adjustment mechanism. No adjustable mouth. And the iron was...
Classic Shaker Side Table: What do the 'Spacers' Do?
Question: I am building the Shaker Side Table (Issue #2). I built the cabinet from the first issue (I used cherry and spalted maple – it came out pretty nice)....
Understanding Early Joinery and Drawboring
Few modern people understand drawboring as intimately as John Alexander , the author of “Build a Chair From a Tree.” He and his students have drawbored more than 1,000 joints...
The Problem With Dado Joints
Many cabinets with shelves are built using a common method: You plow dados in the sides of the cabinet. And then you glue the shelves into the dados. Perhaps you...
A Vise's Rear Jaw: Flush or Protruding?
Question: I am now re-working my workbench. I purchased and read “The Workbench Book” and have researched through four woodworking magazines for the last three years, without an [...]
The Right Nail Ain't Round
In looking at a lot of old fine furniture, you might be surprised how much of it is made using nails. In fact, I’m often shocked at how bad a...
