Author name: Enthusiast

From today on, expect to see a side bead on just about everything I build; I’ve recently received the 3/16″ beading plane I ordered from Phil Edwards of Philly Planes. And she’s a beaut – quartersawn English beech fully boxed with English boxwood and an 01 iron (at I believe a 50° pitch…I can’t find … Read more »

The post Side Beads – The Gateway Moulding Plane appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The portable “Milkman’s Workbench” from the June 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine has attracted a lot of attention, judging from the e-mail piling up in my Inbox. The No. 1 question: How can I build the bench without wooden bench screws? One answer: wedges. Reader Ilkka Sivonen of FInland built the bench without wooden … Read more »

The post ‘Milkman’s Workbench’ Without Screws appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When it has been several months coming, and the rectangular outline of a new full-time job’s first paycheck is appearing on the horizon, every man gets ideas. I don’t know about you, but I had only one thought last month, when I was in that position: tools. The most logical – if not the most … Read more »

The post Paychecks, Tools and Independence appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Last Saturday was an interesting day. My son, Hayes, and I delivered a large, private banquet room table to a popular restaurant that’s moving to a new downtown location in a couple weeks. He landed the job as part of an order for 15 or so other various-sized dining tables in the public part of … Read more »

The post Big Table Delivery appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’ve collected tons of drawings of old workbenches, during the years, and most fall into two categories: 1. A typical workbench with typical vises that looks like lots of other workbenches. 2. Workbenches that were drawn by an artist that have vises that would never work and that are put in stupid places where vises … Read more »

The post German Workbench: Artistic License or Pure Genius? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The most important skill in woodworking is problem-solving, and you don’t develop that skill by following spoon-fed, step-by-step directions. It is also extremely difficult to learn that skill all by yourself. I try to visualize what the results should look like, then apply the tools I have and the techniques I know to get there.Then … Read more »

The post Plan B Might Be Better – The Value of a Second Opinion appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.