If you ever needed more evidence that woodworkers have always been a parsimonious lot, look no further than the December 1901 issue of the British magazine The Woodworker. In an article on [...]
There are few things worse than too-soft screwdrivers. Lima beans, Care Bears and eye surgery with a teaspoon immediately come to mind. When I blogged about my favorite “perfect [...]
I have four sets of screwdrivers. Three for loaning and one for using. The set I never loan is made up of tools that were made (mostly) by the H.D. Smith & Co. company of Plantsville, Conn. [...]
Plate Joiner Tips and Techniques 12 ways to build cabinets faster and better with biscuits By Jon Stumbras Fast, Accurate Face Frames After you’ve put together a few face frames with [...]
In my DVD “Building Furniture With Hand Planes,” we offer plans for a Shaker Hanging Cabinet, which is what I’m working on throughout the DVD. However, as some viewers have [...]
This week I’ll be taking a sack back Windsor chair class with maestro Michael Dunbar at The Windsor Institute, his school in Hampton, New Hampshire (a state my daughter has re-named [...]
If you ever decide to delve into traditional woodworking, you quickly learn that wedges are your friend. Build chairs? You need to wedge all the joints. Traditional doors? Wedge your [...]
For this Roubo workbench to work, I’ve got 16 joints that have to come together all at once. There is not an option to glue things up in stages and still guarantee success. As a result, I [...]
If you’ve been trying to reach me during the last few weeks, I apologize. The answers to your questions are: 1. Almost any species of wood will do fine for your workbench. 2. There is no [...]
I’m thankful when I can see disaster coming. Being able to spot a potential problem is the gift of experience, but it is also like a tranquilizer dart used to take down a rabid African [...]