Gottshall Block Follow Up
At last weekend’s Woodworking in America conference, I talked with several readers about projects I’ve made for the magazine. As expected, I was asked about my workbench and furniture [...]
Gottshall Block-Complete and Ready to Grade
If there were an award for the most words per board foot in writing about woodworking, I believe that this series of posts about the Gottshall block would win. And if there were an award for the [...]
Coping With Curves
Time for a show of hands. Have you ever said, “I can’t cut curves because I don’t have a band saw, a jig saw or an oscillating spindle sander?” If so, here’s a [...]
The Chisel-Hatchet and Scalpel In One
Here’s my theory: if you get good using one tool, learning the next tool you pick up will be easier. Good woodworkers connect a piece of wood on the bench and their brain through their [...]
And Now for the Chisel
Working on this little block has been an interesting experience, and I hope you’ll give it a try. Explaining it on the blog has made me think about a lot of basic things that have become [...]
You Can Really Do That
One of the greatest moments in marketing history was the mass adoption of power tools following World War II. Before then, the standard thinking was that just about anyone could pick up a saw and [...]
Better Than a Knife
When you work with power tools, machine set up is everything. The quality of your joinery, and your entire project is based on your level of accuracy at that stage. With hand tools, layout is [...]
Better Than a Pencil
One of the things that can overwhelm a beginning woodworker is the sheer number of choices to make about the simplest things. It doesn’t help that there is always someone waiting to tell [...]
Exercise in Layout and Marking
If you’ve taken the bait and are willing to make a Gottshall block, I suggest you ask yourself two questions before you start. What kind of woodworker do you want to be, and how will you [...]
One Old Exercise for Growing Skills
Yesterday’s post on developing basic skills generated a lot of response. In addition to the comments, I received several e-mails. One that got my attention came from saw-maker [...]
What Makes the Good Woodworkers Good
As complicated as we sometimes try to make it, woodworking isn’t that difficult. Or is it? Great woodworkers don’t possess magic powers or some great gift; they have mastered some [...]