Tools

I have three favorite jokes. One of them starts out with, “What’s brown and sticky?” The second one is from journalism school. It goes like so: “People complain about bias [...]

In the world of backsaws, almost all the modern makers have perfected their version of a dovetail saw. But when it comes to tenon saws, things are all over the map. Some are difficult to start or [...]

All custom planemakers are judged against the work of Karl Holtey. His work has the precision of a Swiss watchmaker, and the tools are finished to such a degree that some might classify them as [...]

As a beginning dovetailer, I had a crappy set of plastic-handled chisels, a newspaperman’s salary and a copy of the Japan Woodworker catalog. All three things conspired to make me [...]

Look around your neighborhood. The next time you see a truck belonging to a contractor or cabinetmaker, there’s a good chance that the company uses a handplane in its logo. Though the image [...]

Editor Christopher Schwarz is out of town , so we’ve commandeered his blog for a few days. Don’t worry , the socks on squirrels and monkey references will soon return. When The [...]

Before Mike Wenzloff became a professional sawmaker, he was a furniture maker. Before that he was in graphic design. Before that? An almost-minister. And before that? Fetus? Nope. Logger. But [...]

Today I got the magazine’s staff involved in evaluating carcase saws for the Autumn 2009 issue of Woodworking Magazine. But before I could cut the staff loose on the saws, I had to make [...]

When you pick up an old plane in an antique store or swap meet it is sending off clues. This is (I’m told) a bit like speed dating , your job is to weed out the twitchy, drooling, [...]

After being in and out of print during the last several years, David Finck’s “Making & Mastering Wood Planes” is finally available for sale again directly from the author. [...]

We’re received the much-anticipated new planes from Stanley Works and are beginning to set them up for a review in a future issue of the magazine. In the meantime, here are some of the [...]

A curved cutting edge is critical to most operations with your bench planes. The curve prevents the corners of the iron from digging into your work, and it allows you to correct the flatness of [...]