Latest Articles

We asked woodworker Dave Clarke, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2018, to take a look at an article Woodcraft Magazine published in Issue 44 by Pete Stephano – “The Wheelchair Woodworker Shop” – to see if he felt that the recommendations were still relevant and if he had any other advice for folks wanting to set up a workshop with modifications. Read more here...  

If anyone lives by the motto “No white flags,” it’s Dave Clarke from Sandy, Oregon. A retired firefighter and mountain rescue volunteer, Dave was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 2018. Once an avid skier and cyclist, Dave said his balance, gait and speech have mostly been affected by the disease so far. But every cloud has a silver lining and Dave’s was the push to revisit a long-postponed hobby: woodworking. Read more about this inspiring woodworker in this Woodworking Adventures blog. 

When you look at the furniture nearby, those decorative edges were probably created by a router.  You can make furniture, doors, boxes and other projects without a router, but they’re hard to beat when you want to add detail and take your project to the next level. 

It is important to take a few minutes to calculate the required inch-pounds for any lid to ensure proper and safe function of the hardware.  The lid supports are very popular with children’s toy boxes and blanket chests.  These usually have heavy doors, which we don’t want to slam shut and injure children.

When a new chisel with a hooped handle is received, quite often the hoop is loose. This is common to all Japanese chisels.

 The function of the hoop is solely to keep the handle from splitting. Therefore, the hoop should be properly seated prior to use. 

One of the values of choosing a systainer® storage system for your tools and supplies is being able to customize it.  Color coding by tool or use is easy enough by choosing a solid color systainer.  With eight colors available (anthracite, light gray/blue, carmine red, deep orange, daffodil yellow, emerald green, sky blue and sapphire blue), you can really make your shop colorful and organized.

The drawer slide weight rating is an important factor in selecting the right slide for many years of use. 

All calipers – digital/electronic caliper, dial caliper and Vernier caliper – can take the same measurements: inside, outside, depth and step. Read this article to learn more.

Setting our six-foot oak swing down off the hooks for winter is always a challenge.  We used to use empty five-gallon buckets and wood pieces to make a temporary stand, but this year I decided to make a more permanent and solid solution.

Good, functional workbenches are good and functional because they have mass, they are heavy, and they do not “move” when you’re working on them.  The mass and weight that provide the solid, stable platform for woodworking also make these benches difficult to move, or relocate in the shop. If your shop is a shared location like a garage, or even if you have a dedicated permanent shop, the ability to easily relocate your bench becomes a necessity, not a luxury.