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I was about to make a desk for my son John’s bedroom and in my mind it was a beautiful thing: simple, sleek and with elegant proportions. Drawings and a cut list were completed. Walnut boards [...]

If anyone ever sees that, they’re looking too closely. I spend a lot of time looking at antique furniture, often from below. My interest is pieces made about 100 years ago, from the Arts & [...]

Editor’s note: this article originally appeared in the February 2013 of Popular Woodworking A dream deferred – and that’s just fine. I’ve dreamed about my Workbench for years. It will be [...]

The best source for learning is right there on your bench. At a seminar I found myself saying that I mostly taught myself woodworking. It was an easy way to get the idea across that I did not go [...]

Research gives names to unknown artisans. David Rowley, Freegift Wells, Amos Stewart, Orren Haskens, Eli Kidder…ever hear of these guys? They were Shaker cabinetmakers, the names behind one [...]

Grab your torch and pitchfork; the hand-tool guy has a table saw. Editor’s note: this article appeared in the November 2016 issue of Popular Woodworking People react with shock and horror [...]

Exposure to great furniture hones the eyes for quality and proportion. Woodworking is, all at once, frustrating, elating, challenging and straightforward stupid simple. It combines the elements [...]

The hands are the tools that mean the most.

Thoughts on Adam Savage’s Every Tool’s a Hammer Buy the book here You may recognize the man on the cover of this book, Adam Savage, as one half of the duo from TV’s “Mythbusters.” The show ran [...]

A boring task turns into a history lesson. This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking One day in Williamsburg, a message reached me at the carpenter’s yard [...]

Christmas, 1956. I was a little fella, and my seeing the Tonka Hi-Way series display in the W.T. Grant store months earlier had captured my entire attention. In my letter to Santa, I asked for [...]

Lessons from a big box guide my approach to woodworking. I love Ikea. Yes, I said it. This store has provided me with an understanding of furniture design and with products I use on many of my [...]