Shop Blog

Recently, I had an exchange with a friend who does woodworking as a hobby, and the exchange made me realize that the need to thin oil and varnish, especially varnish, and including polyurethane [...]

As a society, we throw a lot of things away. Yes, we feel guilty about it and we try to recycle when we can and where we can, but it’s not always “easy”. As woodworkers we [...]

As Chris recently announced on the Lost Art Press blog, we’re ending our official relationship at the end of November. He has decided to focus his efforts on Lost Art Press and other ventures. I [...]

Finding quality used hand tools in the wild can be a challenge in the Midwest. Usually the best strategy is to attend a regional or national meeting of the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association [...]

I am happy to share my latest I Can Do That! build with all of you! In this episode, I built a router bit storage case with removable shelves. There are couple unique features as well, the door [...]

I don’t believe Ron Herman would argue with his being described as somewhat obsessed with traditional hand tools. For someone who owns dozens and dozens of miter boxes (and uses them on a [...]

Every job has challenges, but some jobs involve a set of conditions that combine to create a challenge far greater than the sum of the parts. I recently completed a commission that qualifies; [...]

It’s been too long since I shared a PopWood Playback episode with our Shop Blog readers. As some of you know, I round up the best woodworking videos of the week on YouTube in a short [...]

There’s a funny thing about digital tools that use Cartesian coordinate and movement systems — these are tools that operate in three-dimensional space. Though digital tools may look different, [...]

I have long held the opinion that trying to learn motion from the printed word is at best a challenge and at worst a fool’s errand. If you think about what impulses your brain sends to your [...]

A while back I posted a trick for using blue painters tape to help adjust a router cut. The response was surprising and very strong. I know woodworker’s love their painter’s tape, but [...]

Last week we spent a 12 hour day in The American Woodshop with Scott Phillips. Our mission was to produce a series of advanced bandsaw techniques videos and I believe we got it done (David Thiel [...]