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Years ago, I made a corner cupboard from black walnut. I thought the wood was magnificent, but a can of rusty cut nails I used in building it proved to be far more important, taking me on an [...]

I often lubricate the soles of my planes with paraffin wax to make them slide easier. While ripping a board that was insistent on pinching just enough to make sawing difficult, it occurred to me [...]

A few weeks ago as I was ripping a board on our Grizzly band saw, I felt a kick and heard a bang, the saw blade slipped out of the track, and pieces of black stuff began snowing down …

To protect the edges of small carving tools, stick a wine bottle cork on them. Synthetic corks work best because they don’t break apart as easily as natural cork. Allow the cork to dry for a [...]

In my job as a woodworking teacher I do not only have command over the pedagogical content of our program, but also on the daily maintenance tasks of tool sharpening and general shop upkeep. Some [...]

Super-tune your table saw for absolutely straight, smooth and burn-free cuts.

Three years ago while teaching a woodworking class at Peters Valley I met Blacksmith Eric Dennis, who was at the time the studio assistant in the iron shop. When I entered the noisy, coal-smoky, [...]

Tool: WS3000 Tool Bar Attachment Sharpening on sandpaper is sure easy when the sandpaper rotates on a disc—you just hold the tool. That’s the idea behind the Work Sharp 3000, a machine that’s [...]

How a Collet Works • A collet is the steel sleeve that holds a router bit in a router. The collet works with the router shaft (connected directly to the motor) and the collet nut.   • [...]

Sharpen a Plane Blade There are many ways to sharpen plane blades, and woodworkers have strong opinions on the best technique. Here is a simple, reliable method to achieve a sharp edge. It takes [...]