With the holiday season approaching far too rapidly to be able to accomplish all the gifts I thought I would have time to make for family, friends, and good customers, I settle in on a rainy afternoon to give some thought to what I might like to receive as a gift, the creation of my […]
I have a large 1000 sqft shop full of tools and I am privileged to write a monthly tool review for Highland Woodworking so what tools could I possibly wish for? Well, there is always room for a new tool in the shop and there is always a ‘need’ for a new tool as well! […]
Recently I’ve been finishing a bench for a client. And I mean that literally: applying finish. The finishing process can be quite confusing but I find it enjoyable – watching the piece become what I had always had in my minds eye. During this process, I use quite a few shop supplies. So for this […]
My partner and I live in a large, sloppy rental whose chief merits are an excess of space and the low-stakes-no-stakes upkeep. One room has been entirely devoted to a collection of decommissioned fake Christmas trees (the Forest Room). A taxidermied bobcat lurks on the periphery. I am slowly assembling a hand tool workshop there […]
Well, it’s that time of year again, when thoughts turn to what I’d like to receive this holiday season. Holding my work has gotten to the top of my list. I’ve finally decided to install a leg vise on my workbench. I’m going to be hand cutting stopped tapered sliding dovetails and I need a […]
One of the earliest challenges I had in woodworking was deciding how to store sandpaper. Disks for random orbit sanders come in boxes. The disks curl, like all sandpaper, but it’s OK because the platen flattens them back out again. Sandpaper pre-attached to sanding blocks stays flat, but it seems to be such a wasteful […]
I recently started a log called, “What I learned during this project.” What was the inspiration for such a file? Mistakes. I suspect there are three kinds of woodworkers when it comes to mistakes: those who make a few, those who make a lot (yours truly) and liars. I was assembling the stool pictured below […]