Author name: Enthusiast

I try to be transparent about my financial dealings in the woodworking world – that’s why I don’t take free tools, wood, classes or … anything. So how is this blog funded? Simple: I am paid monthly by F+W, the parent company of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Lee Valley Tools pays for advertising space – cast your eyes to the right. But my agreement with F+W is that I am free […]

The post Help the Blog; Help Yourself appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’m (theoretically) off work from now through January (I already know I’ll be popping into the shop a few times over the holiday, though, and I’ve a massive pile of editing to get through). But just in case I consume too much eggnog in the coming weeks and forget, here’s my holiday gift: a PDF collection of the articles on the three Shaker-inspired pieces I’ve built for my living room. […]

The post Shaker Living Room Suite – Free Plans appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Hilla Shamia’s work is among the most arresting marriages of wood and metal I’ve seen. Her pieces are made using a casting process Shamia developed while working toward a bachelor’s degree in industrial design at the Holon Institute of Technology in Holon, Israel. (She now has her own studio.) She calls it Wood Casting, and has trademarked the process. Shamia uses whole trunks of mostly local trees; they are cut […]

The post Hilla Shamia ‘Wood Casting’ – Very Cool appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

About a month after I joined the Popular Woodworking staff (so three weeks after I learned to spell “rabbet”), I traveled to New Jersey with then Senior Editor David Thiel (he’s now in charge of our videos) for a woodworking show. I remember three things about that 2005 trip: I’ve never been so ill yet still ambulatory than I was that weekend; Harrelson Stanley taught me his side-sharpening method; and […]

The post Frank Klausz – The First Master I Met appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Here’s a little something that kicked off my crazy over the last year: Wanting a home that has space for a nice shop. For those of you who are new to this blog, I had my house on the market for six months in 2013, because though I do like the place (and have a put a lot of work and money into making it a nice home), when I […]

The post The 2014 Would-be Sybarite’s Gift Guide: Day 8 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Since taking my hobby woodworking more seriously I’ve tried a few different honing mediums, but I always seem to come back to the venerable India combination stone that’s used by all the joiners in our workshop. It’s always had a dash of oil when in use and think no more about it. However, most of my hobby projects are much smaller than the general joinery products I’m involved with and […]

The post Dry Honing appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.