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The problem with Wednesdays at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking is that Kelly and Teri are a bit too nice to the students and instructors. That’s the evening when the Mehlers shut down the [...]

I usually keep a log that records all the time I work on a project in the shop. But few people believe me when I say that I spend about 40 hours building an ancient workbench. Their disbelief is [...]

When you look at old workbenches, it’s clear that pre-Industrial craftsmen lavished untold attention on their benches. They would use only the best materials. So the early bench was typically [...]

Many tool collectors I know are a reclusive sort. They might remodel their home (and barn) to show off their tool collection, but it’s kind of rare for them to open their doors to anyone [...]

This blather would not pass a sixth grade assignment to write a ‘theme’ on something. ‘Make me ill’ is hyperbolic and repulsive and means nothing, and ‘You owe it to [...]

The results of last week’s survey on the occupations of woodworkers are in, and the results have a few surprises. I need to stop making fun of mechanical engineers on this blog, for one. Also, I [...]

I would be flat-out lying to you if I said we planned out Woodworking in America for you, our beloved readers. That’s crap. The truth is that we plan out Woodworking in America for us, the staff [...]

Handplane irons should be sharpened completely straight across. No curve. Ever. No, scratch that. All bench plane irons should be sharpened with some sort of curve. Always. Ah yes, this is one of [...]

And you thought yesterday’s posts about Estonian workholding was obscure? Bah, that was amateur hour. Let’s talk about the Charles Fenner Patent frame saw, a fairly rare bird among collectors. [...]

  This week we are putting the finishing touches on a new article from Ron Herman, the Columbus housewright, on a topic that has yet to be covered by the woodworking media – as far as I can [...]

Whenever I teach a class or answer e-mails from readers, I’m always interested to find out what that woodworker does (or did) for a living. What I’ve learned is anecdotal, but [...]

For the June 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine we asked readers: “If you could own only one woodworking book, what would it be?” We are still compiling the responses [...]