Author name: Enthusiast

Jacques writes: I have your workbench book, and I am currently working on my version of the French bench. I had soft maple cut down from my woods, so I had it sawn, and I am working with it for the top. For the legs, a friend of mine gave me four beams that are about 9″ x 9″, out of some resinous wood. They are cracked and dry (must […]

The post Can Workbench Legs be too Big? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

If cleanliness is truly next to godliness, then we are lords of the underworld. I took this picture (and shot the video below) whilst standing atop my bench…my bench to which one must take a wholly circuitous route past large builds, old projects, my pile of plywood, machinery…my fault for choosing the windows at the far side of the shop, I suppose. But the trip got a little harder after […]

The post If Cleanliness is Next to Godliness… appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Last year, I spent several weeks editing a museum book for Bridge City Tool Works: “Quality is Contagious: John Economaki & Bridge City Tool Works, 36 Years Through the Lens of Joe Felzman.” It might just be the most gorgeous woodworking book ever published – and I’ve published some pretty ones myself. As I was editing this book, I got an intimate glimpse into the mind of John Economaki, the […]

The post A New Cornerstone: The Bridge City TS-2v2 Try Square appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The first time someone showed me a photo of an infill handplane, it was bewilderment at first sight. “That’s a handplane?” I asked. All I could see were a bunch of odd lumps of wood and some steel. This was years before both the Internet and modern toolmakers made this form of tool a common sight in workshops again. After years of looking at other people’s infill planes, I became […]

The post Restoring an Early Spiers Smoothing Plane appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

As editors, we search our two web sites (popularwoodworking.com and shopwoodworking.com) constantly for information for the online extras portion of all  articles and most columns – the information, we hope, is both relevant and interesting. While searching the sites, I often come across books, articles and DVDs that have scads of interesting information, including tips and techniques. Because woodworkers are visual, we’ll provide a few short snippets of some of […]

The post Short Video with Christopher Schwarz appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’ve lately seen an uptick in discussions on woodworking forums and social media regarding protecting one’s own designs. And while it’s possible that some laws have changed since 2008 when attorney and woodworker Jon Shackelford wrote the article below, I think his explanation remains a good starting point for those concerned with the topic – whether it’s protecting your own rights or making sure you don’t trample on those of […]

The post Imitation Could be Illegal appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.