I just found out via a friend that an amazing show about Japanese traditional carpentry and its tools is about to close in three days. The show, When Practice Becomes Form: Carpentry Tools from Japan, was organized by the Japan Society in New York City. It showcases a plethora of Japanese structural wooden components, their…

Many of us have seen videos of Japanese hand planning competitions where the contenders are competing which individual (in some cases its a team)  is capable of producing the widest, longest and thinnest plane shaving. Watching these videos is fun and informative and makes you grasp how seriously the Japanese take their woodworking traditions. But…

If it were up to me, I’d be able to divide myself into two parts. Editor’s note: this article appeared in the April 2020 issue of Popular Woodworking One would focus on my family, health, and career, and the other would focus on making great furniture. Unfortunately, that’s impossible. So, I’ve done the next best…

Years ago when I was editor at Popular Woodworking, I was interviewed for a job at one of our competitors. During the interview, I experienced one of those fork-in-the-road moments where a single decision will change everything you do for the rest of your life. To set the stage a bit, this happened about 2008….

It’s the easiest question in the world: Who is your favorite woodworker? A fellow craftsman asked me this question earlier this month, and I still don’t have a good answer. I have one easy answer: Dead woodworkers. Charles H. Hayward is my No. 1 hero. He was everything I have ever wanted to be: A…

Even if you have a gold-plated fancy-pants laser-guided dovetail saw, you should also own the $15 Zona dovetail saw because it’s so dang cheap and so dang handy for small-scale work. I’ve written a lot about this saw (check this entry for the background and copious links). Bottom line: It’s served me well for years…

Not everything has to have a furniture-grade finish. If you read the woodworking magazines or look online, you often come across instructions for filling pores, glazing, toning, rubbing out, and so on. These are wonderful techniques for use on sophisticated projects such as furniture. But they are often overkill for basic kitchen or bathroom cabinets….

Why stains and finishes sometimes dry slowly. A friend called with a problem. He had applied an ebony oil stain to oak and after the stain had dried for two days, the polyurethane he then brushed picked up some of the color and smeared it around the surface. Was there a problem with the stain,…

The truth behind craters and ridges. If your finishing career has been limited to finishing projects you have made, you may never have experienced fish eye. But if you have done much refinishing, especially of furniture, you have surely seen fish eye. Fish eye is the finish crawling up to form moon-like craters or ridges…

Sponsored by Inventables Like many woodworkers, we can get bogged down in specs when we’re researching a new tool (or car or kitchen appliance). How many horsepower? What size bits can it use? What sort of steel is it made of? What’s the runtime on batteries? How fast does it go? Does it cook both…

While enjoying a leisurely lunch the Sunday before Christmas, it hit me. Something was missing. Nope, it wasn’t the usual holiday panic — a forgotten gift or missed greeting card, but an urge for a holiday-theme woodworking project. Something that could be made with woodworking tools between now and New Years’. Something simple, Something needed….

The Star Wars Universe Not long ago, in a small workshop far, far away… As new technology spread rapidly throughout a galaxy of centuries-old traditions, the woodworking world was in a period of great unrest. At a remote base deep in the woods of the Great Northwest, a lone rebel armed with revolutionary tools faced…