Popular Woodworking

I get a lot of satisfaction from making things. There’s really not much that compares to starting with raw materials and ending up with a finished product. Helping someone else make something, though, doubles down on that ( just ask Jacob Nelson, pag

Tony was the first journeyman to take me under his wing when I started my apprenticeship. It was a large machine shop and Tony was the expert at final fitting and any work that required finesse with a hand file. An ex-boxer, his hands reminded me of

A lot of new spoon and bowl carvers are finding out how effective a hatchet can be for trimming and shaping stock. I’ve used hatchets in furniture work for 40 years now, and here will describe how I go about shaping and hewing stock prior to planing

Skill Level: Intermediate Time: 3 days Cost: $500 Our latest house, a 1970s fixer-upper, includes an open second level that doubles as a master bedroom and home office. We love the light-filled space, but it's hard for someone (my wife) to sleep wh

The bench hook is without question one of the most indispensable tools in my wood shop. The force of gravity and the force of using the tool up against a solid fence is all that it takes to keep the work from moving. It’s deceptively sophisticated an

Skill Level: Advanced Time: 1 Week Cost: $300 There used to be a store near my shop that sold vintage clothing and (honestly, pretty junky) furniture. But there was a coffee table in the window that always caught my eye. It wasn’t a particularly ni

Unlike most luthiers, the one sitting across the table isn’t content to simply make beautiful looking and sounding instruments. No. He needs to dream up and build beautiful instruments no one’s ever seen or heard. He needs to resurrect beautiful 16th

Skill Level: Intermediate Time: 2 days Cost: $75 When we’re moving back and forth between our home shops, the office shop, helping friends, taking classes and even going on vacation, there are always certain tools we want with us. Each of us has di