Techniques

Lately I’ve been planing stuff that has been a lot nastier than your typical run-of-the-mill cherry, oak and walnut. First Senior Editor Glen D. Huey tried to torture me by bringing in some [...]

Last week I bought a toothing plane from a Midwestern tool collector. I’ve always wanted one of these tools, and this one is particularly nice. Toothing planes are lot like scraping planes: [...]

When I first opened the package, I assumed that the tool inside was a prototype that had a plastic blade. That happens occasionally here at the magazine when a manufacturer wants our opinion on a [...]

Between bites of salad, Kevin Drake pauses to take a close look at the common chair sitting in our local Panera. When I look at the chair, all I see is your typical bent-lamination, [...]

Thanks to my job and the freelance work I do for The Fine Tool Journal, I get to see a lot of specialty handplanes that most people see only in the catalogs or in one of the lusty tomes …

As woodworkers dive into handwork, they usually start with a block plane, then the bench planes, the saws and the joinery planes. Joinery planes , such as plow planes, router planes, shoulder [...]

When a young Thomas Lie-Nielsen set out to start making premium handplanes in the early 1980s, he launched his business with an adaptation of the Stanley No. 95 edge-trimming plane. But [...]

For me, finger joints have always been the nerdy, square cousin to the dovetail. Finger joints are immensely strong when glued properly. But they are usually used by beginning woodworkers in [...]

Tips for Tool Storage Organize your shop with these weekend projects. By Tom Caspar Clamp Warehouse Hang your long, heavy clamps on this rack designed for strength. The braces are notched into [...]

Miter Plunging Biscuit Joiner My biscuit joiner fence does not rotate to 135 degrees, and that is one of my most-often-made joints. To help hold the joiner steady, I add a second mitered piece of [...]

  Machine Floor Locks Anyone with a machine on wheels— especially a tablesaw or planer— understands the necessity of locking it in place before using it. I use a pair of toggle [...]

As I was unpacking my tools for the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Chicago this weekend, John Economaki from Bridge City Tools stepped up to my workbench with an astonishing piece of wood. It was [...]