Tools

Vintage wooden-bodied miter planes are fairly rare birds (at least in the Midwest), so I was quite eager to try a new one made by Philip Edwards in England. While I’m well-versed in [...]

Plow planes are workhorse of the hand-tool shop when it comes to cutting joints with a plane. With a plow plane you can, if you are so inclined, cut many of the important joints for a carcase: [...]

In the world of handsaws, certain topics are taboo (or should be). We dare not talk about the origin of “the nib,” lest the conversation turn to the ridiculous. When discussing [...]

If you are one of the thousands of people who have taken a chair class at Michael Dunbar’s “The Windsor Institute,” then you have certainly used one of the travishers or [...]

Whenever I’m in the presence of a piece of furniture that is designed and built to perfection , such as a chair by Brian Boggs , it is a thoroughly humbling experience. Like I should just [...]

I’m confident with most hand tools, except for the saw. I can go months without using a plane or chisel, pick one up and get the results I want. Not so with the saw. I don’t get [...]

Most woodworkers consider the thickness planer to be one of the most important machines in a woodshop. As a result, many manufacturers have produced a variety of sizes in planers. None has been [...]

Kelly Mehler has opened the registration for his 2008 classes, including three classes that I’ll be teaching on precision handsawing, planecraft and building the Holtzapffel workbench from [...]

Confusing the Beginners-In Person I don’t make many personal appearances, but next Saturday, October 27, I will be at the Woodcraft store in Roswell, Georgia. I’ll be giving some [...]

Preparing small tabletops or irregular-shaped tops for finishing can be difficult with handplanes. If the top has a lot of mass, you can usually count on friction to help hold the top in place. [...]

I consider myself fortunate to share the Popular Woodworkingshop with two world-class woodworkers , Christopher Schwarz and Glen D. Huey. After many years of working mostly by myself, it’s [...]

Whenever I get into some serious handwork, I always try to boil down the processes so that I can 1) remember it myself and 2) occasionally explain it to others (including a couple children who [...]