The new Speedbor (right) and the old pattern (left). Please let me have my teeth back. Because we make tools, I hesitate to criticize other toolmakers. Today I am making an exception because the manufacturer is Irwin Industrial Tools, which is owned by Stanley Black & Decker, a company that is worth $28.4 billion (that’s …
My city editor put down the phone, pursed her lips and looked at me, a scrawny and green 20-year-old newspaper intern. “That was the Klan,” she said. “They are pissed at you.” That summer I was an intern at my hometown paper, the Southwest Times Record, a small daily in Fort Smith, Ark. Most of …
One of the most important early books on woodworking has been indecipherable to everyone who cannot read 18th-century French. Andre Roubo’s landmark five-volume “L’Art Du Menuisier” is difficult to find – reprints are available mostly in Europe and at Tools for Working Wood – and even harder to actually use. To my knowledge, no one …
Andre J. Roubo: Translation of “L’Art Du Menuisier” – Read More »
Circa 1650 from “Cries of London.” If you are a diligent woodworker you have a sharpening station, all your edge tools are clean and sharp and your sharpening stones nice and flat. How about your mind? Sharp, or nice and flat? What about your truthiness? It turns out the lowly whetstone has a few lessons …
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During the last two decades I’ve entered the orbit of many chairmakers who make Jennie Chairs (from “Make a Chair From a Tree”) and Windsor/Forest chairs. Years ago, I was in a gaggle of them, and they started talking about how little their chairs weighed. I learned that Jennie Chairs that have been stripped down …
For those of you who have enjoyed the Sharpen This series of blog entries, we offer this new set of stickers with a special full-color sticker featuring the expression “Sharpen This.” For those of you who are disappointed or disgusted by my juvenile behavior, I ask you to simply look away. Scolding me will …
New Stickers (Rated PG) from Lost Art Press – Read More »
Despite our best efforts to track inventory, we ran out of copies of “The Anarchist’s Workbench” and “Kitchen Think” in our Indiana warehouse. We’ve ordered more copies from the printer, but it will be about five weeks before we are back in stock on both titles. In the meantime, you can still buy these titles …
‘Anarchist’s Workbench’ and ‘Kitchen Think’ Sold Out – Read More »
Shawn Graham needs to decorate the walls of his woodworking school, Wortheffort in Austin, Texas. So I cleaned the scanner of drool after dealing with the cover for “Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker!” and have four new posters for you. These are all suitable for 18” x 24” at 600 dpi – just perfect for the …
4 More Unprofitable Posters (Free for You & Shawn) – Read More »
We’ve just added 23 Crucible Sliding Bevels to the store – our biggest batch yet – and Crucible Card Scrapers are back in stock. We’re working slowly but steadily to keep up with demand on the sliding bevels; as Norm Abram says, “we’re gaining on it.” We hope by June to be far enough ahead …