A tour of my mobile workbench built as a project in Hand Tool School semester 4

Next time you are planing a surface, turn the lights off and use the shadows to your advantage.

Its woodworker's safety day again and here are some more tips to keep you from doing dumb stuff around all those sharp and pointy things.

Cutting dovetails that look like they grew that way can be done, but the true mark of a woodworker is being able to make every joint they cut look that way.  We all have bad days and end up with gappy joints.  This episode shows how I fix the swiss cheese joint.

The dado saw or staircase saw is an interesting tool.  Admittedly it is not my favorite way of making dados but it does have its merits and deserves a spot in my tool box for when those arise.

Saw filing guides are really helpful for the average woodworker who is not sharpening his saws every day.  It takes time to build the skill to sharpen a saw and if you are only doing it once every few months a little jig like this is great to ease the pain.  Additionally you can play around with the saw tooth geometry and dial in the perfect saw for your specific application.

Another trip down to Colonial Williamsburg and more insights into 18th century trades.

A brief tour of my new post drill and using it to make a center finder tool

This is easily the coolest tool I have ever made.  It has changed the way I work wood and changed what wood I buy at the lumber yard.  After using this saw for more than a year I decided to sell my bandsaw because this frame saw outperforms my 14" bandsaw when it comes to resawing.  Here is a look at the saw in action.

I have a great saw vise made by Gramery Tools that I use for just about all my saw sharpening.  I have often thought about making a larger one for my 26" hand saws but frankly I just haven't been forced to do so.  Once I made my resawing frame saw I had to have a bigger vise to support my 36 and 48" long blades so I made this new saw vise specifically to accommodate it.  Now I also have a very fast way of sharpening my typica 26" saws too.