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…

Gustav Stickley is perhaps the most nationally and internationally-recognized name among American furniture designers and manufacturers. His seminal contribution to the rise of the American Arts and Craft Movement is unprecedented and has earned him an honorary seat at the pantheon of the great American Men and Women. Stickley to the United States is like…

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…

Bob Flexner compares the three basic finishing tools (rag, brush, and spray gun) in terms of their cost and efficiency.

Even in wood finishing. One of my favorite songs back in the 1960s was Bob Dylan’s, The Times, They are A-Changin’. This theme applies today to what’s happening in wood finishing. It’s natural for us to believe that the way things ought to be are the way they were in our youth or young adulthood….

Discover what finishing products work well together. I’m sure you’ve come across cautions in woodworking books and magazines instructing you to “use a compatible product” – stain, filler, glaze, finish – and you’ve wondered, “What is compatible, and what isn’t?” The phrase, “use a compatible,” is a “cover-my-behind” dodge used by authors who have little…

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…