Tools

In a bar outside Philadelphia, Thomas Lie-Nielsen, John Economaki and I are having a drink and talking about the people who are getting rich selling tools. I’m on my second...

If you use saws powered by meat and muscle, you need a pair of sawbenches. Both you and the saw work a lot better when your work rests on these...

Before After When setting up bench planes, the enemy is plane tracks – the ugly step created on a board when one (or both) of the corners of the tool’s...

One of the unsung heroes of our Woodworking in America conference is Mike Siemsen. Mike is an accomplished woodworker and teacher from Minnesota, and his enthusiasm is unmatched. He runs...

About 10 years ago I was at The Hardware Show in Chicago visiting manufacturer’s booths to see what new stuff they had coming out for Christmas. Some of these tools...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...