Shop Blog

Even if your wood has been drying in Uncle Joe’s barn for the past 100 years, the moisture content (MC) will be more than 15 percent. What you need is a MC of about 8 percent.

  Tip Number 2: Let a deadman give you a hand. Tip Number 3: Add a bench jack. Tip Number 9: Add a removable top for gluing. Find out the other seven things Christopher Schwarz recommends [...]

The first time I ever tried steam bending wood, it took two of us to pull the scalding hot ash against the bending form and then clamp it down before it cooled. While it was an amazing [...]

Summer is a great time for expanding your woodworking horizons via classes and workshops that take place at some of the best craft schools in the country. Peters Valley is one of these schools [...]

This post is less about the virtues of building a tote and more to do with some personal navel-gazing. Let’s deal with the tote first. I don’t think I’ve broken any new ground; [...]

Editor’s note: It’s not too late to sign up for  “Super Small Shop Strategies” – login and learn on your own schedule! Years ago, while walking the halls of the offices where I worked [...]

As I conclude this intro into marking knives and how to wield them, I wish to show you three knives that I recently began using. Two of them have the potential to become your all-around shop [...]

I recently had someone tell me that they thought I was a particular and precise individual. This caught me off guard because that‘s not the way I think of myself. My standard for “precise” [...]

I am new to the Popular Woodworking team and have a background in professional video production. Woodworking is a skill that I’ve always had an interest in and I am eager to get more practice. My [...]

I have a news flash for you…woodworking ain’t that complicated. It’s a learned craft at which anyone can become accomplished. How many of us have heard the sayings: “Draw a line, Saw the line,” [...]

Last week I talked about the first marking knives I owned and I showed one of the most practical ways to use them: making a knife wall to ensure accurate across the grain hand sawing. In this [...]

…that I would never put storage cabinets below my workbench. The open architecture of early benches is your friend. — Christopher Schwarz…