Woodworking Posts

It is not always the screw’s fault. Yes, home-center wood screws are too soft. Some off-shore screw manufacturers use substandard materials and manufacturing processes. But sometimes it’s your screwdriver that’s at fault (or the, cough, screwer). Many modern screwdrivers are too soft or poorly ground. It’s enough to make you reach for a nail gun or hammer. Here is the solution to both problems: Gunsmith screwdrivers. Grace USA makes excellent, […]

The post The 2014 Anarchist’s Gift Guide: Day 5 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

One tool I use on every build and every project in my house is a combination square. So it’s important to me to have good ones. That is, squares that are reliably square, and that lock tight and don’t slip. I have several inexpensive ones that are good enough for framing, but just a hair out – so I don’t use them for furniture work. For precise layout and measurements, […]

The post The 2014 Would-be Sybarite’s Gift Guide: Day 3 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

  With the Christmas season soon upon us there are currently two lists running on the Popular Woodworking web site to tantalize your woodworking taste buds. The “sensible” Schwarz list and the “I can dream” Fitzpatrick list. My one and only contribution to the festivities will be this £8 ($12.50) set of four chisels currently available from the European supermarket chain Lidl. I became aware of this set via UK […]

The post How Low Can You Go? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I have several matched hollows & rounds…but I don’t have a full set. Or a half set. Poor me. (That said, I do have the two sets I knew I would use, plus a couple unusable ones inherited from my grandfather.) Anyway…I don’t think a half-set is unreasonable for anyone who pursues hand-tool woodworking. So these aren’t really be an indulgence so much as something you might just have to […]

The post The 2014 Would-be Sybarite’s Gift Guide: Day 2 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Over on his blog, Christopher Schwarz has been writing the 2014 Anarchist’s Gift Guide since Dec, 1. I’m starting a little late with my 2014 Sybarite’s Gift Guide…because too much self-indulgence leads to blackouts (apparently), and causes one to not realize it’s already a new month. Like Chris’s, the woodworking-related gift ideas I’ll be presenting are 100-percent unsponsored. But unlike Chris’s, these are not items likely to be found in […]

The post The 2014 Would-be Sybarite’s Gift Guide: Day 1 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Woe is the poor glue scraper. There are no toolmakers crafting these tools with rosewood handles and German silver accents. No annoying forum threads that debate the merits of the different handle angles and blade widths. The glue scraper is the squirrel exhibit at the zoo. Once you get a Benchcrafted Skraper, however, the heavens will open up, you will hear birds singing and true craftsmanship will be revealed through […]

The post The 2014 Anarchist’s Gift Guide: Day 4 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.