Author name: Enthusiast

I have a love-hate relationship with “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” the book (now in its eighth printing) that inspired our new “Make a Traditional English Tool Chest” DVD set and download video with Christopher Schwarz. You see, that’s the book that gave him the impetus to step down as editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine, to devote all his work-related energy to Lost Art Press. And while I eventually got his […]

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Click here for Part 1 of the frame saw build, and here for Part 2. The central (compression) beam tenons are 5/8” long and 1-3/4” wide (see enlarged drawing at the bottom of this post). The thickness of the tenons, as well as their centric (or in the case of a mistake, off-centric) location should be traced from the mortise it will be housed in. The layout work begins when you […]

The post Build a Frame Saw Part 3: Lay Out & Cut the Tenons  appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

During my career refinishing furniture, Murphy’s Oil Soap has morphed from a regionally-available natural soap made with potassium hydroxide (similar to lye) and vegetable oil (instead of animal fat) to a nationally-available and very popular furniture-care product. I watched this transformation happen and find the story fascinating. I find it fascinating because furniture and woodwork don’t get dirty very often and washing them often with soap and water when they […]

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How we measure the world around us is a reflection of how our society interacts with the world. To wit: The metric system is, in my opinion, the most efficient way to gauge everything around us. And that is exactly why I dislike it so. It is a system based on base-10 efficiency and little else. If you spend any time investigating ancient measurement systems, you find that they are […]

The post You Can Own the Rulers of the Ancient World appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

As a kid I had every manner of toys that allowed me to build stuff, from my grandfather’s set of wooden blocks to Lincoln Logs, LEGO, Spinwelder, Girder and Panel, Erector sets and on and on. But I never had Crandall’s Improved Building Blocks for Children. This fascinating system of components is based on the machine-made finger joint to allow children to build anything in their imagination with the help […]

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I now have 99.9 percent of the speakers and sessions nailed down (and yes, we actually have a session on nails) for Woodworking in America 2016 (September 16-18 in Greater Cincinnati) , and the conference staff is busy getting the web site ready to launch for registration (which is projected to open at the tail end of March…but don’t hold me to that!) and getting all the top-notch marketplace folks […]

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