Customary Marks
These furniture maker’s symbols are an international language. They have been used for generations because they’re easy to make and easy to understand. A board’s working face and edge are [...]
‘Good Eye’
Awaken your inner design sense with just a little practice. Talk about design often leads back to the idea of developing a good eye. For a long time I wrestled with this; it seemed a bit like [...]
An Exercise in Repurposing and Design
As woodworkers, we possess the remarkable ability to augment everyday objects by adding wooden components to them. From crafting knobs, handles, and legs to forming frames, lids, pedestals, and [...]
Measuring Marking and Layout Essentials
Double-check your tools, your technique, and your thinking. One of the most important skills in woodworking is rarely discussed or considered as a thing that needs to be learned or practiced. The [...]
11 Great Tips for Marking and Measuring
Check out these 11 methods to make layout easier. Write With Chalk Lay out “cut here” marks on rough lumber with chalk. Chalk marks are easy to read, even on the scruffiest surface. Unlike ink, [...]
French Curves for Woodworking
In the proto-CAD (Computer-Aided Design) world, draftsmen and draftswomen had to rely on a set of curvy templates when they needed to connect two or more points via a graceful arc or curve. In [...]
Making Sense of Forms
Early 20th-century filmmakers used time-lapse photography to dazzle audiences with never-before-seen images of flowers emerging and bursting into bloom. Critics with Victorian sensibilities [...]
Combination Squares
Choosing and using this must-have measuring and layout tool. In 1878, Laroy S. Starrett designed and patented the combination square. His invention was a multi-purpose layout and measuring tool [...]
English Layout Square
This useful tool is easy to make, easy on the eyes and awesome to use. Wooden layout tools usually are superior to metal ones in my opinion. They are lightweight, inexpensive and as accurate as [...]
