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After roughly shaping the awl’s handle (read the first part of the story here) on the bandsaw, I clamped it inside my Pattern Maker’s Carving Vise and began shaping the neck. This vise is [...]

It is fun to make a tool for your own use. When that tool becomes one of the handiest tools in the shop, you’ll be delighted that you took up that challenge. On the many occasions you hold it in [...]

In just over 90 seconds Logan walks you through all the main parts of a metal body hand plane. Interested in learning more? Check out the article Handplanes for Beginners. For Basics Week [...]

The awl is one of the most useful tools in woodworking and perhaps the most basic of them all. Awls help to initiate indentations into which screws, nails, and drill bits will bore. We use them [...]

It’s an age-old question I hear uttered hundreds of times a year: What hand tool should I buy first? Without context, the question is impossible to answer. Most times, I fire back several [...]

One of the first things that many people notice when advancing the blade of a Preston/Record style shoulder plane (today’s Clifton and Lie Nielsen planes are based on that design) is a scratching [...]

A few years ago, my friend Cambell Albritton gifted me with a small Clifton #410 shoulder plane that he no longer needed. The plane was still in its original box but unfortunately developed a few [...]

Tool: Box-Maker’s Plow Plane Shop Now Manufacturer: Veritas MSRP: $159 One of the stand out hand tools of recent years was Veritas’s release of their plough plane. It’s the perfect tool for [...]

Bringing an old hand plane back to life is simple to do, and will yield a top-not tool. When I build a project, I use a variety of “fancy” tools (readers’ words, not mine). Lie-Nielsen, [...]

Tool: Card Scraper and Dual-Handle Burnishers Shop Now   Manufacturer: Blue Spruce Toolworks MSRP: $21.99 The very first hand tool that I ever purchased was a set of Lie-Nielsen card [...]

An ancient European tool that still has a place in the modern American shop. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the November 2008 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Why [...]

My son is seven years old, and so far, I have tried to refrain from proselytizing woodworking to him. My hypothesis, at least for now, is that the love for woodworking should come naturally and [...]