A Square that Stays Put
From the “I need three hands” file: Sometimes when you scribe a line on a board with the guidance of a try square you need one hand to hold the knife, one hand to press the blade down [...]
Star Tools Marking Gauge
Marking gauges have all manner of ways for you to lock the head to the beam, but most involve a screw or wedge mechanism. I think the coolest method I’ve ever seen is a cam-lock on the [...]
Take Your Eye for a Walk
Ever since I saw George Walker’s DVD on furniture design and his lecture at Woodworking in America, I’ve been trying out some of his ideas on pieces of furniture that I know and love. [...]
New Sliding Bevel from Chris Vesper Tools
Though I need another sliding bevel like I need a goat in my living room, I recently ordered one of the new sliding bevels from Chris Vesper Tools in Australia and have been putting it through [...]
Roubo's Triangle on the Job
I finished up building a set of try squares based on Andre Roubo’s 18th-century plans this weekend and need to put the finish on them. What’s holding me back? Well, I keep using the [...]
The Roubo Triangle
Inspired by Robert W. Lang’s article on making wooden try squares in the Autumn 2009 issue, I decided to make a batch of squares this weekend. Yesterday at lunch I bought some quartersawn [...]
Woodworking in America: The Hand and the Machine
“The machines need the numbers. We don’t need the numbers.” – Jim Tolpin After attending almost two days of lectures at our Woodworking in America conference, [...]
Woodworking in America: New Tools
I got to spend a little time in the Marketplace area of the Woodworking in America conference this morning and got a first look at some new hand tools that will be available soon. First stop was [...]
Who Would Make Such a Stupid Rule?
In the history of measuring equipment, there is one blunder so awful that it makes me twitter (old-school twitter) like a smack-addled squirrel every time I encounter it. It’s a 6″ [...]
Place Hardware So it Looks Right
There is precious little information out there about placing your hardware so it doesn’t look awkward. My theory: Woodworking writers get so worn out by the time that they reach the end of [...]
Neener, Neener, Tofflemeier
I’m a child of the Cold War. I remember the drills in elementary school where we curled up under our desks in the event of a nuclear attack (to kiss our butts goodbye I suppose). One of my [...]
Get Mired in ‘Red Tape’
My grandfather’s workbench had an adhesive rule stuck to its front edge, which was extremely useful when woodworking. You could check part dimensions without pulling out a tape measure or [...]
