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 [...]
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 [...]
Here’s a short trailer of the forthcoming DVD “Build a Sawbench with Christopher Schwarz” that will be released in a few weeks. If you pre-order the DVD, you’ll save $5 [...]
If there were a woodworking tool hall of fame, the Bridge City TS-2 try square would definitely be on display there. In my travels through shops all over the country I’ve seen this square [...]
Right in the thick of Woodworking in America – somewhere between duck fat fries and falling asleep in a puddle of what I hope was my drool – Mark Harrell of Bad Axe Tool Works put a saw down on [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
About 10 years ago I was at The Hardware Show in Chicago visiting manufacturer’s booths to see what new stuff they had coming out for Christmas. Some of these tools would stretch credulity. [...]