Techniques

No one told me that setting up and using a scraper plane was a pain in the butt, so I didn’t think I had done anything special when I got my Stanley No. 80 to take perfect shavings my first [...]

After last weekend’s orgy of tools, woodworking and back-breaking workbench moving at Woodworking in America, I decided to take a break today and buy some tools and old woodworking books , [...]

Right before “Woodworking in America” turned into “Dead Tired in Covington,” I finished this square for the December 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. The square [...]

What are you doing next weekend? Wanna build a sawbench and become famous? We are shooting a DVD on Oct. 16 and 17 on building a sawbench entirely by hand and thought the whole thing would be [...]

With Woodworking in America breathing down our necks (we’re beginning to count it down in hours instead of days), we’re trying to get a workbench built, machines assembled, wood [...]

Woodworking isn’t all about tools and shop techniques. To make the most of your time in the shop, it helps to have a design worked out and good plan in place. Google SketchUp is the [...]

If there were an award for the most words per board foot in writing about woodworking, I believe that this series of posts about the Gottshall block would win. And if there were an award for the [...]

There are few things worse than too-soft screwdrivers. Lima beans, Care Bears and eye surgery with a teaspoon immediately come to mind. When I blogged about my favorite “perfect [...]

The machinery room at Dick GmbH is a power tool lover’s dream. It has an enormous sliding table saw, a jointer/thicknesser the size of a small car and a huge band saw. But there’s no [...]

How many saws does it take to cut giant dovetails? In my case, three. Sure, those of you with mad saw skills might simply whip out the panel saw and go at it. But I’m not that brave. [...]

With Chris in Germany, I’m afraid this post will be sorely lacking in metaphors involving wee creatures (I simply haven’t my boss’ flair for metaphor). I do, however, recall [...]

Time for a show of hands. Have you ever said, “I can’t cut curves because I don’t have a band saw, a jig saw or an oscillating spindle sander?” If so, here’s a [...]