Video Tip: Clenching a Nail with Confidence
Clenching a nail – sometimes spelled “clinching” – is an essential traditional woodworking skill. But until you are clenching like a pro, there are some baby steps you can take. In [...]
Buy it Now: Blue Spruce Tool Roll
I dislike using other people’s tools when I travel. And I dislike it when all my tools fall tips-first into the concrete. Oh, and I also dislike all of the tool rolls I’ve [...]
Details: Installing Hinges in Mortises
Installing traditional mortise hinges makes some woodworkers want to turn their electric drill on themselves to just end it all. While practice is the best teacher, there are little tricks that [...]
In the Background, My Next Project
Drawings of early shops can teach us and mislead us about pre-Industrial woodworking. But I don’t want to get into a debate about how artists interpret or misinterpret a scene. Please. [...]
More Information on the American Cabinetmaker's Bench
I got some more information on the nice early American workbench I wrote about on Tuesday (click here to read that article) from Lee Richmond, who runs The Best Things web site. In addition to [...]
Worth Reading: Matt Bickford's New Blog
If you are curious about or struggle with moulding planes, planemaker M.S. Bickford has recently launched a new blog that will open your eyes: Musings from Big Pink. Using SketchUp drawings and [...]
An Early American Workbench
You’ve heard me rant and rave about French, English and Scandinavian workbenches since the day this blog was launched. But what about American benches? Is there even such a thing? As we are [...]
Nice Saw. And it Always Will Be
A few weeks ago I was reading through “The Rule Book,” an amazing piece of scholarship on measuring tools by Jane Rees and Mark Rees. A few of the minty, minty old rules in the book [...]
From My Vault: 'Spons on Carpentry & Joinery'
My woodworking library is the backbone of the work I do in the shop. My books on furniture design train my eye to appreciate (and perhaps to draw) well-proportioned pieces. My books on tool [...]
It's Official: WIA Set for Sept. 30-Oct. 2
Mark your calendars and start saving your pennies. The 2011 Woodworking in America event will be Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, 2011, in Covington, Ky., at the same facility we used in 2010 (The Northern [...]
End of an Era (for Me). Manny’s is Closing
My brad points, which I bought at Manny’s. I still use them all the time. In 1993, I had just finished graduate school, had been accepted to law school and was working for a small magazine [...]
Use the No. 95 Trimming Plane Upright?
I’ve always held the No. 95 edge-trimming plane like a block plane. The lever cap faces up to the sky. The fence of the No. 95 is then vertical. So I was surprised to see a little tip in …
