The two most influential people in my life as a woodworker have been Charles H. Hayward, the finest woodworking writer of the 20th century, and Carl Bilderback, a union carpenter and tool collector in La Porte, Ind. I count on Hayward to guide me in the shop. I count on Carl to tell me…
OK, please stop calling the hide-glue manufacturers and demanding cruelty-free hide glue. The post on liposuction glue was a joke. I have received a couple of angry e-mails from industry representatives who are trying to set me straight about my misinformation on how liposuction from cows could make hide glue. Apparently I didn’t do any…
We have so many things coming down the birth canal this month that we should install stoplights? Next week we will release our embroidered SuperWoobie™* on the world. This is our favorite microfiber cloth embroidered (here in Covington) with “Don’t Despair – Nothing Without Labour” on one corner. It’s a small, encouraging reminder you’ll see…
While I’m the public face of Lost Art Press, this company wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for a network of independent woodworkers, writers, editors, designers, indexers, researchers and proofreaders. Every book we publish is vetted by a team of people – some paid and some volunteers – who clean and refine our authors’ work. Our…
I’ve never been a fan of battery-powered woodworking tools – except for a begrudging acceptance of cordless drills. (And only because of their clutch technology.) Tool manufacturers, however, have been trying to introduce cordless everythings – routers, sanders, jigsaws, nailers, miter saws, circular saws – into furniture-making shops since batteries were invented. Heck, one year…
“He is a writer for the ages – the ages of four to eight.” — Dorothy Parker When people ask us about the books we are working on, they usually say something like: “That’s nice, but you should really get <insert name here> to write a book. That would be awesome.” I can tell you…
I know it’s too late to convince you to come to Handworks. But it’s not too late to make you feel bad about skipping it to attend your daughter’s wedding. In addition to the H.O. Studley tool cabinet in nearby Cedar Rapids, Jameel “Jamal Alabama” Abraham of Benchcrafted will be exhibiting the traveling tool chest…
This week I am in the “Land of Tolpin” – Port Townsend, Wash., which is where Jim Tolpin lives and works as a woodworker, instructor and writer. Port Townsend is an odd little corner of the world in many ways, and it is unusual in that many of the woodworkers here are familiar with the…
It’s been about 20 years since I’ve built an infill plane. But when I saw this miter plane kit from Daed Toolworks, I knew I wanted to make another. It’s a miter plane that is sized similar to Bill Carter’s small miters. And Raney has figured out how to make the kit as easy as…
For the last two years, Lucy and I have been looking for the right urban storefront for the next stage of our lives, which will begin as soon as our daughter Katy, 14, goes to college. We’ve looked at dozens of properties in person (hundreds online) and have come close to making an offer on…