Zero Clearance Relief Cut
A zero-clearance throat plate is a must-have for every tablesaw. It prevents small offcuts and thin strips from dropping down alongside the blade which is really annoying. Some manufacturers sell [...]
Restoring a Vintage Saw Part 1: Assessing the Damage
Now that I have been at Popular Woodworking for a while, and finally settling into my new home (apartment), it’s time to do some actual woodworking. While it’s true that I have a laundry list of [...]
A Ripping Good Time
If you’re just starting to put together an arsenal of blades for sawing hardwoods, allow me to make a suggestion: Get a rip blade. Sure, a general-purpose blade does a reasonably good job of [...]
New Sawmaker Builds Ancient Saws
Anyone who has ever read Joseph Moxon’s “Mechanick Exercises” (1678) has puzzled over his pictures of saws. There are some frame saws, a whipsaw and a fancy handled saw without a back that Moxon, [...]
Another Solid $10 (and Change) Saw
It sounds like a difficult question, but it’s really not. “I really want a Wenzloff & Sons handsaw, but I am a (graduate student, hobo, philosophy major) and cannot afford it. Can you [...]
Christopher Schwarz DVD Combo Pack
Here's a great gift idea, at a 27 percent savings! Included in the DVD Combo Pack: "The Last Word On Sharpening," "Build an 18th-century Workbench," " [...]
For Accurate & Heavy Sawing, Try a ‘Shangie’
One of the great joys of reading old woodworking magazines is that they includes lots of tidbits that aren’t in old woodworking books – such as the one I found last night about the “Shangie.” [...]
Report Card: 6 Months Without a Chop Saw
When I reorganized my shop last Spring, I sold a lot of stuff. I sold so much stuff that I was afraid that I was cutting into the bone. I sold my routers. My router table. My sliding compound [...]
Get a Consistent Set on Your Saw With Paper
Whenever I teach a sawing class, I typically reduce the set of students’ saws using a metal file. And when I do this, I’m also amazed at how many times I’m also filing an errant [...]
On Storing Handsaws and Backsaws
Recently I’ve become somewhat obsessed by the puzzle of storing saws. During my years as a woodworker, I’ve been admonished many times for how I handle this tool. Here are a few choice ones to [...]
‘I Want my Micrometer…’
Charles Hayward, the dean of woodworking writers, once wrote a column about the continued industrialization of the woodworking craft. All hand work was being set aside and forgotten. People who [...]
Ron Herman: ‘Sharpen Your Handsaws’
The first time I saw Ron Herman sharpen a handsaw, I learned more about sharpening the tool in 20 minutes than I had learned in all the years I’d been a woodworker. I had been sharpening my saws [...]
