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Chisels don’t wait to get dull until you’ve finished a job—do they? The trick is to keep them sharp while you’re working. Rather than pull out my stones to renew an edge, I keep a piece of MDF [...]

HOUSE OF DUST To keep airborne dust from getting into the house, I bought a dust collector for my basement workshop. I wanted to start with a clean slate, so I decided to rid the shop of a [...]

Sometimes a little talking-to (and video surveillance) is all it takes. I have noticed three things about tools and kids. Kids can find tools even if it requires tunneling under the garage wall. [...]

When a family friend recently visited my new cabinet shop, he commented, “Your dad and grandpa would’ve loved this place. It wasn’t always like this!” He meant that although both men were pro [...]

Meet Reid Schwartz: artist, interested human, maker of tools, worker of wood and restorer of old things Crooked Knives & Curved Lines A canoe is a study in curved lines. The curves allow it [...]

Shocking Taste I turned on my shop vac to clean up the pile of sawdust that had accumulated while I ripped some pine boards for a cabinet. I live in Colorado, where the air is always dry, and my [...]

Different finishes look different on different species. There are many reasons to choose one finish over another. Usually the most important is for protection and durability – how well a finish [...]

No sick days, no paid vacations and no IT department – but it’s worth it. Ah, going pro – telling your boss to take your day job and stick it in his ear while you go off to earn your …

Whenever I admire a fellow woodworker’s finished piece of furniture, I never ask how they did this or that because, quite simply, I am afraid they are going to tell me. Listening to someone [...]

Today’s array of bits has nothing on historical practice. In my attempts to recreate period work, I’ve many times come across the need to make holes that no modern tool can practically create. My [...]

The best measure of success comes in the doing. I don’t know if I am alone in this matter, but I have to admit that quite often I consider myself a couch builder. Maybe you know the drill [...]

The critical parts are the fluid nozzle and air cap. As I have said many times, spray guns are pretty simple tools. By comparison, they aren’t any more difficult to use than a router. Still, [...]