Brian Boggs is a chairmaker, artist, designer, and engineer extraordinaire. He is also quite a philosopher on the nature of work and workmanship, the value of excellent work, and how tooling affects design.

Practice is what brings us first to competency and then to mastery. Listen to some stories of discipline that allowed practitioners to work through their own limitations. Quality doesn’t have a shortcut to it.

The scraper is a small wonder. It is capable of cutting in most any direction without tear-out. How to get one sharp can be frustrating. Listen to one simple tip that will change your method and make sharpening a scraper a snap.

An interview with Ron Hock of Hock Tools, maker of plane irons and knives. This is a fascinating discussion about starting a business, metallurgy, and the rise of civilizations.

Drilling and screwing a box together. What could be simpler? But it often turns out to be a test of your patience, your dexterity, and your ability to forgive yourself.

All block planes are not created equal, even ones with sentimental value.