Archives

An experiment uncovers cutting edges of the past. “How did they sharpen their tools back then?” I’ve asked this question myself and I have been asked the question, and I’ve never felt comfortable [...]

Youthful energy sparks the experience, but careful work takes time. Editor’s note: this article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Recently, the [...]

Bow Blues After preparing the laminations, bending form and heat box for the fiberglass longbow I planned to build, I mixed the epoxy—and promptly began to mess up the entire project. First, I [...]

The bogs of New Zealand yield gargantuan Kauri logs. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in American Woodworker #139. Ancientwood is listed as permanently closed on Google but [...]

Passing up gold for a treasure with more lasting value. The holidays are a time for visiting and catching up. While visiting my parents one Thanksgiving, my mother handed me an envelope. I could [...]

Pants on Fire When Daylight Savings Time begins, I make it a point to change the batteries in the three smoke detectors in my workshop. It was that time again, so I bought new 9-volt batteries [...]

Trade dangers revealed in 17th-century journals. I thought of Nehemiah Wallington (1598-1658) when I set up my lathe in my nearly finished workshop. A few times a year he pops up in my mind. He [...]

A nervous woodworker is aghast as his best projects arrive from storage. The message “Up”(with a directional arrow, no less) seems unambiguous. When displayed prominently on all four of what [...]

I always sign my work, now that I’ve figured out an easy and permanent way to do it: I use an engraver. But not just any engraver—it has to have an adjustable stroke (the distance the tip moves [...]

Kite frames to cabinets: A 50-year journey back to woodworking. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the February 2015 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Before mom’s shop [...]

Filling knots with colored epoxy usually works quite well, but sometimes the void is in a spot that’s difficult to fill, like the edge of a board. Here’s how to do it. First, apply some paste wax [...]

Mice used to rule my shop. They got into everything! That all changed when someone told me that fresh mint repels mice. Mint grows wild in one corner of my yard (it’s a perennial and comes back [...]