Woodworking Posts

I came to the Popular Woodworking team with an interest in woodworking, but since working here, I seem to have been drawn specifically to woodturning. I find it fascinating, and as with any craftsmanship, it is inspiring to see the passion and care someone puts into a piece, regardless of its use or size. In fact, ever since Editor Megan Fitzpatrick offhandedly mentioned bringing in an experienced turning teacher to […]

The post Turn a Paper Towel Holder & More with Tim Yoder appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I learned how to make tools from two places: 1.With Hammer in Hand (The book about the Dominy workshop) and 2. American museum tool collections. When I looked at these collections, I saw an overwhelming majority of tools in which clearly aesthetics were an afterthought. Plain grain (stability), few decorative embellishments and apathy toward surface refinement were ubiquitous characteristics. There are always exceptions of course, but those exceptional examples are […]

The post Romanticizing Tools (Without Shame) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

London, 2012 – Usain Bolt runs the 100-meter dash in 9.63 seconds. Mexico, 1968 – Bob Beamon flies 29 feet, 2 inches in the long jump. Berlin, 1936 – Jessie Owens wins four gold medals. Impressive Olympic feats – but can they saw straight? Cut a dovetail? Forget the runners and jumpers and gymnasts – the real Olympic competitors will be at the Hand Tool Olympics at Woodworking in America 2015, set […]

The post The Hand Tool Olympics: Sawdust, Fun and $2K+ Worth of Prizes appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

It’s a “pride” of lions, “murder” of crows, “gaggle” of geese and “pod” of dolphins. So what, then, is the proper term for a gathering of woodworkers? We’re gearing up for the 2015 Woodworking in America conference next month, so whatever you call a group of woodworkers, you’ll find them Sept. 25-27 at the Sheraton Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo. You can still register for the classes, conversations and […]

The post What Do You Call a Gathering of Woodworkers? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I use round-head mallets almost all of the time. I find that they are very effective in driving my gouges and chisels decisively into the wood. There are cases where I prefer to use rectangular-head hammers and mallets, but most of the time I reach for one of my “rounds.” I bought my first rounds from William Alden back in 1998. They were turned from hard tropical wood and their […]

The post Improve the Comfort & Feel of Your Tool Handles appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I count myself among the luckier people in the world for having had the chance to hang out with Toshio Odate and Laure Olender for a couple of days in Connecticut. Sure, we were there to film “Woodworking Legends: An Interview with Toshio Odate” (and “Talking Japanese Tools with Toshio Odate“), but it felt quite a bit like a vacation with friends (except for that mike I had attached to […]

The post Toshio Odate: Woodworking Legend appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.