Woodworking Posts

My kids – even the 18-year-old in college – do not want their meats to touch their starches or vegetables. And so we have divided plates for them – just like at the school cafeteria. If they keep this habit up, I’m sure their weddings will be interesting, but I’m not one to mess around with their personal way of organizing their world. So this is my way of saying […]

The post The 9 Principles of Hand Tool Storage, Part 3 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This week we have the pleasure of working with Alf Sharp in the Popular Woodworking Magazine shop. Alf is a woodworker with one foot in period work and the other planted firmly in the realm of studio furniture. He’s also the 2008 Cartouche award recipient from the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. (A visit to his web site is time well spent.) Under the pressure of hot lights and […]

The post Alf Sharp in the Shop appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A friend recently asked me about the creeping white haze on the wooden cabinets over her stove. I told her the problem was caused by actually using the stove; she needed to quit cooking. That was an unpopular suggestion (she has two young boys, one of whom is reaching the hollow-leg stage of food consumption). So plan B: Reverse the problem, then stop it from happening again with a new […]

The post Stop the Watermarks: Don’t Cook! appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Before we launch into part 2 of this series, allow me to ask a question. Do you enjoy looking for a tool that you cannot find, but you saw just a couple days ago and you have looked for everywhere? If you answered “yes,” then you don’t need to read this article and can return to the eternal game of Where is My Tapered Bung-hole Reamer? For the rest of […]

The post The 9 Principles of Hand Tool Storage, Part 2 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

For the last couple days, there’s been an odd and slightly offputting scent lingering in the air wherever I go (and yes, I’ve showered). I’m pretty sure it’s the ripe smell of panic. It just hit me that Woodworking in America is less than three weeks away (Sept. 12-14 in Winston-Salem, N.C.). In my brain, the conference is still months from now. In reality, it is fast upon us. I […]

The post Can You Smell It? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

If you ever write a book on workbenches or tool chests, be prepared for this question: “Off the record and just between you and me, what’s your favorite chest or bench?” The easy way out would be to give them a direct answer: a Dutch Roubo Nicholson with Japanese planing stops and Krenov-style tills. But that answer would be a lie. Many of the strong opinions and hard-and-fast rules in […]

The post The 9 Principles of Hand Tool Storage, Part 1 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.