I never knew how lame my cordless Skil drill was until I used a Makita. With a clutch. And the distinct absence of flames. So these last few weeks I’ve become frustrated and obsessed [...]
During my first story on coping saws this week I lamented it was difficult to trace the saw’s genealogy. And I cussed the modern form. Thanks to some readers, I have some more leads on the [...]
The coping saw is generally unloved, unheralded and under-appreciated. Yet as far as I’m concerned, I wouldn’t enjoy woodworking as much without one. When I started woodworking about [...]
There is great debate among the Saw Nerds (I’m a card-carrying member) about when the backsaw came into this world, kicking and screaming and whipping its lamb’s tongue to and fro. [...]
Don’t let anyone tell you that saws are just a hunk of wood plus a sheet of steel. The more that I work with different saws, the less I know about the tools. Saws are a remarkable [...]
Some Japanese saws don’t play nice with Western hardwoods. More than a decade ago, my wife bought me a nice Japanese dozuki that cost about $100, a fortune for us at the time. I took it to [...]
Today most of the magazine’s staff spent the day with Ron Herman, a seventh-generation housewright in Columbus, Ohio, who has spent the last 29 years building, remodeling and restoring [...]
Mark Harrell of Bad Axe Tool Works just launched his new website this week. And in addition to pretty pictures of his new Bad Axe saws and details of his saw restoration and sharpening services, [...]
In the interest of full disclosure, the following book , “The Perfect Edge” , is being published by my parent company, F+W Media. Also, I consider the author, Ron Hock, a good friend. [...]
There are some words we get in trouble for using in a woodworking magazine. Here are a few: “foolproof” (fools, we have found, are very clever), “holiday” (don’t [...]
You know, at our Woodworking in America event last week I didn’t get to talk to a lot of the toolmakers. In fact, I didn’t even get to see some of them. That is what a madhouse it [...]
In my book, there is one rule for buying vintage tools: Buy them from someone who will take them them back if the tool stinks. That rule keeps me on my toes on eBay, at auctions, flea markets and [...]
