Tool Review: Blue Spruce Ultimate Coping Saw
Tool: Ultimate Coping Saw Manufacturer: Blue Spruce Toolworks Price: $325, buy it here Coping saws are a bit of a divisive subject among woodworkers. Some folks swear that their $3 coping saw [...]
Veritas Pocket Plane
A few weeks ago Veritas tools (Lee Valley) released their most recent plane. The squirrel-looking plane (there are actually two versions of it: a limited edition stainless steel, and a continuous [...]
Hands-on With The Shaper Origin – Exclusive Review
The Shaper Origin looks like a router but acts like a CNC. Up to now, CNCs were large, heavy, complicated tools that take up a lot of space in a shop. The Shaper Origin is something quite [...]
Next-generation Bessey REVO Clamps
We love the original wooden-handled Bessey K Body clamps. But they became unavailable in 2008 when Bessey released the Revo clamps, which had a larger clamping surface (of about 30 percent) than [...]
Preview: The Shapeoko XL CNC
A Desktop size CNC at an Entry Level Price One of the questions I’m most often asked is “would you do a review of an affordable CNC?” Up to now, there’ve been few choices for woodworkers [...]
Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Honing Guide
by Christopher Schwarz page 16 Since the mid-1990s I’ve been married to my inexpensive side-clamp honing guide, sometimes called an “Eclipse” guide after the firm that developed it. So when [...]
How to Read & Write Tool Reviews, Part 3
For experienced woodworkers, it’s easy to ignore tool reviews and say: “I just buy the brands that have served me well.” But what if you know little about the different brands? When I was growing [...]
How I Read Tool Reviews (And Write Them), Part 2
Most tool reviews aren’t really reviews. They’re press releases dressed up with a lab coat and a clipboard to look respectable. For experienced woodworkers, these faux-reviews are easy to spot [...]
How to Read a Tool Review (And How I Write Them), Part 1
If I never write another tool review, I’ll be happy. But due to changes at Popular Woodworking Magazine, I’ve agreed to write a few for upcoming issues. Because I like nothing better than to pull [...]
The Uffy TH-T-1825XP 18 Gauge Brad Nailer
Part of my job at Popular Woodworking Magazine is to talk with tool manufacturers and get their newest innovations into the PWM shop to test and review. I tend to do things in a big way, which [...]
Devilish Diablo Deftly Dissects
We recently received some new Freud Diablo blades at the magazine to test (two of which will be featured in an upcoming Tool Test in the magazine). The blade is what Diablo calls its Ultimate [...]
Czeck Edge Goes Carbide
In preparing to review the new Czeck Edge birdcage awl for the February issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine (find out how to get the electronic version free by clicking here), I asked Bob [...]