On Wood Selection
Both fast- and slow-growing wood present good opportunities. Wood selection is an important part of any woodworking project. I sometimes feel like I take it to an extreme, like I’m some kind of [...]
Cutting & Carving Plastics with a CNC Router
Add this flexible material to your shop repertoire. Plastics are amazing materials. Their lightweight grain-less structure gives them uniform strength in all directions making it an ideal [...]
Nails for Woodworking
This much-maligned fastener has a place in the finest furniture. Here’s why. Among furniture makers, the reputation of the simple nail is somewhere south of expired glue and tacos made from [...]
The Way Wood Works
by Nick Engler Wood is a cantankerous substance; there’s no two ways about it. Its virtues, of course, are legendary. It’s attractive, abundant and easy to work. Pound for pound, it’s stronger [...]
Where to Buy Big Wood for Big Workbenches
During the last few years, I’ve been using giant 6×6 softwood timbers to build workbenches for classes and customers. These big hunks look old school and make the construction process quick [...]
What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Internet woodworking forums are great places. You can observe or enter into a debate about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, and you can follow that on a tangent about what’s [...]
Too Much Lumber is Never a Bad Thing
Whenever we convene a meeting of the “Should We or Should We Not Print Cutlists Debating Society”, we get tons of responses. In the latest instance an overwhelming number of poll [...]
My Chisel Handles are Older Than Yours
Exotic woods don’t blow my skirt/kilt/skort up much. In small doses they can look beautiful, but for the most part I find them oily, difficult to work and far too wild looking for full-size [...]
Compwood Unleashed and…
I must get off my hinder and start beavering on these two Welsh stick chairs I’m making for a friend. The arm bows are bent, the seats are glued up and…that’s all I got. Until this moment, [...]
It’s Not Just for Bears Anymore
To transform a pile of 6″ x 6″ x 8′ yellow pine beams into 10 workbenches, the first step is a chainsaw. This morning I drove down to Berea, Ky., to help Kelly Mehler and his [...]
Bench Building in Berea with Big Wood
The biggest challenge in building a workbench isn’t the design. It isn’t the joinery. And it isn’t even the physical labor. It’s finding the right wood. This May I’m teaching a class in building [...]
How to Make a Quick Kiln
When I released my Compwood arm bows from the clamps this morning, I saw a little bit of springback. It was less than I’d get with other bending techniques, but it was more than I expected. [...]