Adding Age to Brass
Getting all the bits of hardware to match on a project is a critical detail for me. I go to great lengths to ensure the hinges, pulls and other assorted metal bits look like they came from the [...]
The Mysterious Blotch Elf
The back page of the upcoming issue of Woodworking Magazine (which mails to subscribers at the end of November) focuses on wood structure. What’s the difference among ring-porous woods, [...]
Raising a Wood Snob
This weekend we went to a little street fair in downtown Cincinnati to see some art, eat some Belgian waffles and , unbeknownst to us , consider the question of raw material selection in building [...]
What the Inside of a Tree is Good For
“There is something about the outside of a horse…that is good for the inside of a man.”, Attributed to Winston Churchill Whenever I start on a project, the most curious part is [...]
No More Cheap Plywood
The last time I completely lost my composure, a piece of office equipment almost died. This was in 1995, when I was running a start-up newspaper in Frankfort, Ky., and was sleeping under my desk [...]
Round Like the White Man's Bullets
Sometimes I wonder if morticians can tell a lot about a person’s character by the body left on the slab. Do fine lines around the mouth indicate an easygoing person who always smiled [...]
Strategies for Using Southern Yellow Pine
Question: When is your book on workbenches coming out? I read the excerpts in your magazine this weekend and decided to purchase it before I attempt a bench of my own, I can’t [...]
Update on the Amerock Hinges
Amerock’s customer service department promptly responded to my question about its new Chinese-made hinges (to the company’s credit, they didn’t know the query was from a [...]
Second Thoughts About a Recommendation
In the first issue of Woodworking Magazine I wrote a half-page article titled “A Better Hinge” that sang the praises of the Amerock non-mortise hinges, which I have used for many [...]
Coloring the Tree Before Cutting it Down
LAS VEGAS , This week I’m in Las Vegas for one of our annual trade show pilgrimages. This show is called AWFS. Mostly, these shows seek to deafen you. One whole floor of this show is [...]
The Tricks for Gluing Southern Yellow Pine
I’ve made a fair number of workbenches using Southern yellow pine (sometimes called longleaf pine) and it’s always been a challenge to get tight joints that stay closed after years of [...]
