Shop Blog

About six years ago, Megan Fitzpatrick, the editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine, asked me to join the group of editors blogging on the magazine website. I don’t remember why I...

My Japanese corner chisel is not the most handy tool in my tool box. In fact, I hardly use it. But since I have it, I feel obligated to keep...

For many years I’ve lined the jaws of all my vises with sueded leather to improve their grip. Whenever I mention that I do this, I get a barrage of...

While many people get warm and wet feelings about their smoothing planes, I have those emotions about my hand drill. Maybe it’s because I use a hand drill almost daily...

The cover story for the April 2016 issue (#224) is Caleb James’s article on making matched sets of Roubo-style moulding planes (the three sizes for which he reaches the most:...

To turn wood safely, you need to know the correct way to introduce a cutting tool to a spinning workpiece. There are different ways to start a cut, depending on...

With my sawhorses ready and waiting, the plan clear in my mind and hardware in place, it’s time to start progressing the workbench project. On balance, I think I’d say...

Mike Dunbar, the founder of The Windsor Institute and the leader in the renaissance in Windsor chairmaking announced today he is closing the school. According to an e-mail sent to...

Visitors to my shop are always surprised how small my shop is – 15’ x 25’ – and that I share it with the house’s furnace (it’s a friendly relationship,...

Every morning for the past year, I would clock in at the cabinet shop where I was working and take a moment to contemplate the worn-out scribbling on the band...

Picking up after my last post on sawhorses (or sawbenches, as you might call them), the housings were all formed and ready to go. Then it’s down to cutting the...

After showing you in my last post a few ways for clamping workpieces to the Bench Bull (F-style clamps, Veritas Fast-Action Hold-Downs and 3/4” pony #56 pipe clamps), I want...