Sharpening Pencils… and Geese

Memo Date: October 28, 2011 To: Steve Shanesy, publisher From: Christopher Schwarz, editor Re: New Revenue Sources for 2011 With the recent rejection of my new ideas for revenue for FY2011 (see [...]

The Power of the Pixel

People gripe that the vintage tools and books I write about often go up in price after I post an entry. I actually think the effect is mild and temporary, except in two cases: Robert [...]

File Under: Handplane Maintenance

When your handplane won’t create a perfect surface, there are several things to check. Here’s how I diagnose the problem when it looks like I’m making plane tracks in my work. [...]

Yuppie Tools: A True Accounting

In a bar outside Philadelphia, Thomas Lie-Nielsen, John Economaki and I are having a drink and talking about the people who are getting rich selling tools. I’m on my second beer and running [...]

Early Bird Sale: 'Build a Sawbench' DVD

If you use saws powered by meat and muscle, you need a pair of sawbenches. Both you and the saw work a lot better when your work rests on these kneecap-high platforms. For the last five years [...]

Why I File the Corners of my Irons

Before After When setting up bench planes, the enemy is plane tracks – the ugly step created on a board when one (or both) of the corners of the tool’s cutter digs into your work. In my [...]

The Best of the New Stuff in Our Store

Our bookstore got a lot bigger this week – more than 500 new titles. And we didn’t just fill it with junk. Publisher Steve Shanesy has been working for the last few months on selecting the [...]

Erasers: The Unsung Heroes of Accuracy

I make lots of pencil marks on the wood as I work. Removing them is either easy or excruciating. Whenever I can, I use a handplane to dress my stock, so the pencil marks usually come off without [...]