Author name: Enthusiast

I’m spoiled. I’m in the enviable position of trying out new tools that come into Popular Woodworking. Sometimes I take them home for testing, if I’ve a project there where I’ll be better able to put a tool through its paces. (Ethics – as well as the need to take good pictures – dictate that I always return the tools right away.) Yesterday, I half took the day off. Yes, […]

The post The 2014 Would-be Sybarite’s Gift Guide: Day 7 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

You do not need a complete set of 11 chisels from the 1/8” up to the monster 2”-wide chisel. Sure, the part of you that also collects Hummel figurines really wants a complete set, but most of the chisel sizes will go unused – even if you are an active woodworker. Your work and your hands will eventually tell you which chisel sizes you really need at hand. That’s the […]

The post The 2014 Anarchist’s Gift Guide: Day 7 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Do you have a great woodworking story to tell? Do you like having a chance to get free stuff? I’m guessing the answer is “yes” to both questions. Your writing about woodworking could win you a copy of the four-volume set of “The Practical Woodworker” (a must-have foundation set of books for the woodworker interested in early 20th-century woodworking techniques, edited by Bernard Jones.) For the storytelling part, I am seeking submissions for our “End Grain” […]

The post What’s Your Woodworking Story? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Hand-forged hardware is a great way to make your projects that much more hand made – and if you can work with a blacksmith to “personalize” the hardware, so much the better (in the right circumstances, of course – cat heads might look a bit silly on a Stickley cellarette). The cat-head iron lifts above are on my tool chest. I’d asked John Switzer of Black Bear Forge to make […]

The post The 2014 Would-be Sybarite’s Gift Guide: Day 6 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Ask for a week at a woodworking school – any respected woodworking school – and take a class that includes at least a handful of other students. There is simply no better way to quickly improve your woodworking than to learn a few techniques and approaches from someone who knows what she or he is doing. And it’s doubly nice if the instructor is willing to share his or her […]

The post The 2014 Would-be Sybarite’s Gift Guide: Day 5 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I have owned several plant sprayers since Harrelson Stanley of Shapton USA introduced them to me in 2003 as a great way to keep your waterstones wet. Of all the sprayers I’ve used, this sub-$10 one from Home Depot or Lowe’s is by far the best. It’s sold under the “Project Source” label and is found in the gardening section. (Definitely skip the nicer-looking Flo-Master – that thing leaks like […]

The post The 2014 Anarchist’s Gift Guide: Day 6 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.