Wooden wing nuts are so much easier on your hands than metal ones. Plus, it’s a great way to use up shop scraps and leftover hex nuts while avoiding a trip to the hardware store. Start with a strip of wood that’s about 3/4″ thick, at least 1/8″ wider than the hex nuts, and long…

If you can build it yourself, why would you want to buy it? I’ve always gotten “in a mood” whenever my wife would buy something online – whether wooden, or not – that I could have built cheaper, faster and, in some cases, better since it would be custom-made just for her needs. This time,…

I find my stock band saw table too small to support many workpieces, so I outfitted it with a larger, auxiliary table. However, I wanted to be able to remove it quickly when I needed to utilize my saw’s maximum cutting height. The solution was easy. I simply cut a plywood table to the desired…

The key to good rip cuts is a good rip fence. The Biesemeyer table saw fence is so much a part of the modern shop that the name is almost an adjective: Even if your saw’s fence is designed by the maker of your saw, it’s probably a “Biesemeyer-style” fence. It’s a fantastic, trustworthy fence,…

Keeping warm: What jackets should you be wearing in the workshop? Every year as the days get shorter and the temps get lower, woodworkers emerge from pseudo-hibernation to go into their shops and build throughout the long winter months. There are a lucky few of you who have fully insulated, heated shops, but the vast…

Tool: Scriber Buy Now Manufacturer: Tooley Park MSRP: £28 20% discount on the scribers this week (ends Sat 8th Feb) with the code TPF1 at checkout! There are often times, where there’s simply no substitute for the right tool. A good scriber is one of those tools. Whether its leveling chair legs, scribing a cabinet, or…

Accidental musing on craftsmanship and building things to last. On a cold rainy day in December 2014, I was returning home from running errands in my Washington, D.C., neighborhood. Diane Rehm was discussing Russia on NPR. I was thinking about the leftover pizza I was going to eat for lunch before heading into the shop….

Tool: Robin Wood Axe Buy Now Manufacturer: Wood Tools MSRP: £69 (about $85) As a bowl carver, I am frequently asked about recommendations for beginner sets of tools. Though the Robin Wood Axe is always on that list, it’s not just a beginner’s axe. Weighing in at 1 pound, 9 ounces, it is a midweight carving…