Archives

Many years ago my carpenter square mysteriously disappeared at the start of my basement finishing project. So I started using a butt hinge to mark lumber. It worked better than...

Chiseling and paring away the waste between dovetail pins can be largely eliminated by using a Forstner bit to remove the waste. Set up a Forstner bit (the diameter equal...

Most shops have two types of router bits – dull and sharp ones. It’s easy to tell the difference because the sharp bits ease through the wood while the dull...

Some woodworkers would rather stick their hand into a running disposal while naked than turn on a dry grinder. So when they need to correct the skew angle on a...

I hadn’t heard of the “Woodworking In Action” DVD series before the 16 DVDs were added to the shopwoodworking.com web site this Spring. Now I wonder how I could have...

Vintage hand drills – sometimes called “eggbeater drills” – are common, useful and easy to fix up using stuff you already own. You can buy hand drills all day long...

Fellow woodworkers, did you know that a jeweler’s saw (fret saw) is not just for jewelers? This revelation was brought to me two or three years ago after I saw how Rob Cosman used...

I’m focusing on basic skills in PW. Know that this isn’t news from the mountain top, but rather my very real commitment to fundamentals in my own shop. “Fundamentals” could...

The day I stop learning how to work wood is the day I hang up my saws for the last time. After more years than I care to admit, I’m...

A couple weekends ago I did a clumsy thing in front of an audience: I dropped my expensive 5,000-grit waterstone on the floor where it broke into three jagged chunks....

Recently, I had the distinct pleasure of watching some of Roy Underhill’s earliest episodes of “The Woodwright’s Shop” – a PBS show he’s been filming since 1979 at [...]

I love good old tools, ones that were made from fine materials such as brass, steel, and hard woods. As I mentioned in my last posting, these tools can endure much abuse,...