Years ago when I was editor at Popular Woodworking, I was interviewed for a job at one of our competitors. During the interview, I experienced one of those fork-in-the-road moments where a single decision will change everything you do for the rest of your life. To set the stage a bit, this happened about 2008….

It’s the easiest question in the world: Who is your favorite woodworker? A fellow craftsman asked me this question earlier this month, and I still don’t have a good answer. I have one easy answer: Dead woodworkers. Charles H. Hayward is my No. 1 hero. He was everything I have ever wanted to be: A…

Even if you have a gold-plated fancy-pants laser-guided dovetail saw, you should also own the $15 Zona dovetail saw because it’s so dang cheap and so dang handy for small-scale work. I’ve written a lot about this saw (check this entry for the background and copious links). Bottom line: It’s served me well for years…

Handscrews don’t get enough credit in the shop. This ancient clamp is often neglected in favor of modern clamps. But the handscrew is often the simplest solution to a tricky workholding problem. One of the handscrew’s many charms is that it will clamp to almost anything and keep the piece stable on the floor or…

It’s no secret that I love Benchcrafted products. I recommend their bench vises without any reservations and have them installed on almost all of our workbenches in our workshop. When Benchcrafted released its Hi Vise, I immediately bought the hardware and almost immediately got insanely busy with something else and stashed the hardware away. This…

When I emerged from my mother’s womb I had a small knife clipped to my baby fat at my waist. I immediately used the knife to cut the umbilical cord. Then I folded the knife (for safety) and hugged my mom. That’s the way I remember it. But it was a long time ago. I…

Big fat granite surface plates are nice, but they are overkill for most woodworking shops. The granite surface plates are intended for machinists and other metalworkers who work to thousandths or ten-thousandths of an inch. We work with material that changes size when you breathe on it. I’ve found that I don’t need a granite…

Recommending chisels for beginners is difficult. Excellent chisels cost money – or a lot of time searching for nice vintage examples and setting them up. Most beginners just want to buy a tool and get to work. Here are two options. Buy a 1/2” Lie-Nielsen chisel. It’s $55, but it is the best $55 you…

If you build chairs, staked furniture or anything that uses round tenons, this entry is for you. One of the greatest joinery tricks I know of is to cut your tenons slightly oversized – .010” or a bit more and compress them slightly before assembly. This trick ensures tight fits, which are essential for tenons…

Oh, if only Stanley Toolworks was this awesome all the time. This year, the storied company released a tape measure for its 175th anniversary that is awesome. No, it’s not high-visibility yellow plastic. It doesn’t have 10’ of macho “standout” of the tape before it bends. It doesn’t lock. No laser. No belt clip. Instead,…

All woodwork involves a little metalwork. Whether you are installing locks that need filing or working with a handplane that needs fettling, you need a good set of needle files. I’ve had my grandfather’s set from Germany since 1993 and always took it for granted. Needle files sneak into places that regular files won’t venture…

If you make wooden chairs (I make a lot) you might be missing an important accessory: a sheepskin. During a recent trip to Wales to study the country’s chairs I noticed a sheepskin on one of the stick chairs. It was a forehead-slapping moment. The sheepskin adds comfort and warmth to a wooden chair. It’s…

I use a boot tray to hold my sharpening gear. That way I can keep my stones in the tray underneath my bench and then place the tray on the benchtop for sharpening. The low walls of the boot tray keep water and oil from splashing on my benchtop. I used to buy my boot…

One tool that has been in my shop for decades is a little box of single-edge razors that I use as scrapers and – occasionally – as a save-your-butt tool when finishes go bad. Scrapers don’t have to have a “hook” to scrape. Early scrapers were pieces of shattered glass. I use my chisels as…

Welcome to the latest edition of the Anarchist’s Gift Guide, a yearly thing I do that recommends mostly small, inexpensive and useful shop items. These blog entries are great to email to family members who are asking you what Uncle Woodworker wants for Christmas. Here are the rules: Nothing is sponsored. I purchased all these…

If you post content on the internet or consume a lot of it, you will encounter wankers of the first order. You already know this. But how should you respond to their insults? You shouldn’t. I take it in the shorts almost every day on forums, Twitter, blogs, Facebook, you name it. And the only…

There are a lot of companies spending a lot of money to get you to buy their stuff. I suspect you are probably thinking, “Duh, that’s called advertising.” But this blog entry isn’t about traditional advertising. During the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of personal celebrity in the woodworking world (and the knitting…

On my way to Europe this month, I was summoned on the intercom to the airline’s desk at the gate. The attendant asked me to switch seats so a husband and wife could sit together. I agreed (of course). Then the attendant said: “I know you. You’re on Ray Underwood’s TV show – ‘The Woodsmith’s…

You can turn any digital photo of a piece of furniture into a full-size drawing with the help of your television set, a piece of Plexiglas and some tracing paper. Here’s how. When I travel, I take lots of photos of furniture that I want to study later on. When I discover a particularly nice…

I’m leaving the world of woodworking magazines after 22 years as an editor, writer and builder. But I don’t think I’m a rat fleeing a sinking ship. I still think printed magazines have a place in our digital age. But to survive, a magazine requires an editor with a set of brass ones. First, let…

After 13 years and thousands of entries, it’s time to shutter this blog and move on to other things with my research, writing and – above all – woodwork. But before I stop, I’d like to say a few things during the coming weeks, things about which I’ve held my tongue. For the last 13…

One of the great frustrations of using dowels in woodwork is that they are rarely round and they are almost never the exact size that you require. Why are they oval? Dowels, like, all round pieces of wood, tend to become an oval shape as they lose moisture. Why are they odd sized? Because they…

Three-legged folding stools need a “tri-bolt” to allow the legs to fold in and out. Years ago, Tandy Leather offered an inexpensive tri-bolt, but it has been absent from the company’s inventory for several years. Thanks to an email from a friend, I discovered they Tandy is now stocking the tri-bolts again in three finishes…

Laying out accurate angles on your work is critical. So it’s funny to me that we spend $100 on a Starrett square for 90°, then spend $1.59 on a plastic school protractor for every angle that isn’t 90°. Lucky for us, we don’t have to spend $100 to get a protractor that is accurate enough…

I’m a big fan of a soap finish for certain projects. It doesn’t provide a lot of protection to wooden objects, but it is completely safe, easy to apply and quick to repair. But this week I encountered some difficulty with the finish that caused me to ask: Can soap flakes go bad? First off,…

No matter how nice your band saw is, it’s still a fussy instrument with a lot of settings that are shaken loose by vibration. A block of rosin can improve things immensely. Rosin is a tree-sap product used by musician who play instruments with a bow, such as the violin and cello. Applying rosin to…

When people choose where to live, they often look at the quality of the schools, the cultural amenities, the traffic and the local economy. All those are good things to consider, but I would like to add another you should ponder: the quality of woodworking in the area. I’ve traveled all over the world to…

While buying some dowels at Menards this weekend I lucked into finding some of the Stanley 175th Anniversary tape measures for $7.99 each. According to Stanley’s website, this product (STHT36175) isn’t out yet. But Menards seems to have them. These tape measures are great for woodworking. They are compact (3/4” thick x 2” diameter) and…

Finding quality used hand tools in the wild can be a challenge in the Midwest. Usually the best strategy is to attend a regional or national meeting of the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association (M-WTCA). But sometimes you need a tool and you just don’t want to wait months for a tailgating event (or to gamble…

I use Southern yellow pine for a lot of shop projects, especially for building workbenches and sawbenches. But I also use it for some furniture. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in a lifetime of using the stuff, it’s to always buy the longest boards possible. Why? Long boards are clear(er) of knots and…

Last week, the woodshop across the street from mine caught on fire. Luckily, no one was hurt, the firemen arrived quickly and the damage wasn’t too bad – they’ll be back at work in a week. But the dramatic event did make me review the situation in my shop to see if things could be…

Whenever I explain how “ripple moulding” is made by a “waving engine” – a circa 17th-century machine – most woodworkers are skeptical. First, they are skeptical that ripple moulding, which has all but disappeared, could be beautiful. And in many cases they are skeptical that it even exists. OK, let’s back up. What is “ripple…

Like any Arts & Crafts enthusiast, I like the Gustav and L. & J.G. Stickley classics. But ever since I started collecting the stuff 28 years ago, I’ve had a deep affection for pieces by the Charles P. Limbert Co. of Holland, Mich. Like many of his contemporaries, Limbert made a lot of Stickley-esque pieces…

Cutting wedges, plugs or dowels flush with the surrounding surface is a source of great frustration for many woodworkers. Either you leave way too much of the plug behind, or you chew up the surrounding surface with the saw’s teeth. Sometimes you can plane or sand away the damage (or the excess material). But sometimes…

For many years I’ve wished for a better way to drill holes to an accurate depth without putting blue tape on the bit. The tape slips. Always. And then disaster ensues. I’ve tried all manner of gizmos that clamp to the bit, but they are only barely better than blue tape and they are useless…

Most visitors to the Cincinnati area have heard about the Pleasant Hill Shaker community (currently under renovation) or perhaps South Union. But few know about Whitewater, which is less than 30 minutes from downtown and is only occasionally open to the public. While I was at Popular Woodworking Magazine, we wrote extensively about the village…

Most visitors to the Cincinnati area have heard about the Pleasant Hill Shaker community (currently under renovation) or perhaps South Union. But few know about Whitewater, which is less than 30 minutes from downtown and is only occasionally open to the public. While I was at Popular Woodworking Magazine, we wrote extensively about the village…

Last week the woodworking community lost one of its giants. Jennie Alexander (1930-2018) passed away in Baltimore, where she lived and worked as a jazz musician, attorney and revolutionary chairmaker. Her book “Make a Chair From a Tree” (Taunton and Astragal), launched the careers of thousands of woodworkers and helped ignite the green woodworking movement…

I am fond of using acid brushes – sometimes called “flux brushes” – for spreading glue. And I have used the same acid brush for more than five years of daily work in the shop. I clean it after every use, and I put it in the same red Solo cup to dry. This year…

Like pocket screws, traditional pinch dogs are a great way to join odd assemblies or to use them in conjunction with clamps. A typical use is to drive them into the ends of a panel while the woodworker uses a bar clamp to secure the middle. (The middle is typically sprung, but that’s another entry.)…

Nancy Hiller’s new book, “English Arts & Crafts Furniture,” is an outstanding piece of research and writing. If you aren’t familiar with the English Arts & Crafts movement (it predated the American one), this is the book that will educate you and inspire you. To celebrate this book, we’re throwing a party for Nancy at…

The first time I became aware of pocket screws I was standing in a Grizzly Industrial showroom handing out free magazines to a long line of customers – maybe 200 people. More than half of them were holding blue boxes. Eventually I asked a customer what was the deal with the blue boxes. He replied:…

In May I got to spend two weeks working with Chris Williams, a Welsh chairmaker who worked with John Brown for many years. While Chris was teaching a class in building his Welsh Stick Chair I spied his cabinet scraper on the bench. I was compelled to pick it up. It was thick like mine…

Bending wood is great fun, but it can be frustrating when you need to work quickly (i.e. make a living at it). After you bend a piece of wood and clamp it to a form, you usually need to let it sit for several days to a couple weeks, depending on its thickness. Recently we…

Speaking as someone who has read too many woodworking books, there are a few archetypes: the project book (“Birdhouse Bonanza”), the tool book (“Router Rodeo!”) and the black-turtleneck-and-beret books on why we make things (“My Mortise is Deeper than My Soul”). Nancy Hiller’s new book “English Arts & Crafts Furniture” is none of these books….

We’ve all dented some important part of a project and hand to remove the dent with heat and steam. It’s a routine and and annoying fix. But what if we could use the same process to make our joinery tighter? That’s exactly what I do with many joints in my chairs. I slightly compress the…

Designing a piece of furniture with multiple spindles – or even working with someone else’s plan – can be tricky. Drawings will tell you one thing; your eye will tell you another. And relying on math or simple proportions is usually little help. The problem is how to array the spindles so they appear to…

Recently one of the leg vises in my shop cracked. The vise chop snapped and the garter on the wooden screw gave way. While I could repair the damage, I decided to replace the entire mechanism with a Benchcrafted Classic vise and a Crisscross Retro. I have this setup on one of my other benches…

This week I’m headed to Germany to teach a couple classes at Dictum in Bavaria. I don’t teach much anymore, but I make a grand exception for Dictum for several reasons. The biggest reason? The woodworkers overseas are much more hardcore than those in North America. Amateur woodworkers in the European Union (EU) have an…