Shop Blog

I am fond of using acid brushes – sometimes called “flux brushes” – for spreading glue. And I have used the same acid brush for more than five years of daily work in the shop. I clean it after [...]

Sharp tools are essential to doing good work, but when I was getting into woodworking, I didn’t really know where to start. And I was scared of ruining chisels and planes. But I didn’t use [...]

My girlfriend and I closed on our first house at the beginning of July, so we’ve been busy packing up our worldly possessions, moving and planning. While the house is lovely (built in the [...]

Like pocket screws, traditional pinch dogs are a great way to join odd assemblies or to use them in conjunction with clamps. A typical use is to drive them into the ends of a panel while the [...]

Thanks to Popular Woodworking and Lost Art Press, many people are familiar with my last book, Making Things Work. In fact, Popular Woodworking’s store was the first business that ordered [...]

Woodworking, like many trades, requires a firm foundation of knowledge for a person to discover the potential of the craft. In my time at Popular Woodworking, I’ve sincerely enjoyed the [...]

Nancy Hiller’s new book, “English Arts & Crafts Furniture,” is an outstanding piece of research and writing. If you aren’t familiar with the English Arts & Crafts movement (it predated [...]

The first time I became aware of pocket screws I was standing in a Grizzly Industrial showroom handing out free magazines to a long line of customers – maybe 200 people. More than half of them [...]

I recently completed a 6′ long shaker settee that had a lot of spindles. This was my first project that depended on my turning capabilities. In the past, I’ve worked on small turned [...]

In May I got to spend two weeks working with Chris Williams, a Welsh chairmaker who worked with John Brown for many years. While Chris was teaching a class in building his Welsh Stick Chair I [...]

When my fourth grade students finish their first mandatory projects (making a mallet or a walking staff) I invite them to choose their next project by themselves. Obviously I help them navigate [...]

Just a heads up, we have a 50% sale going on over at Shop Woodworking on our project downloads to celebrate Independence Day through July 5th! This is a good chance to stock up on new project [...]