To finish up the tenon on the stretcher, I create a small flat spot for the wedge to fit. I simply mark the location with a gauge and use a sharp chisel to remove the waste. I check for square off the tenon as I go. It’s not critical how far down I go, I […]
Thanksgiving is over except for a little turkey soup in the fridge. Back to work tomorrow and time to start thinking about Christmas. Saw my first Christmas lights a week ago, actually. In the spirit of the season, here is my Wish List for the old wood shop. Heads up to my son, Jonathan, up there […]
I really enjoy Christopher Schwarz’s Lost Art Press and the books which just keep coming from there. One of the latest is “Grandpa’s Workshop” by Maurice Pommier. This book is pure magic. It looks just like a children’s bedtime story book with wonderful line drawings, dragons, sailing ships, geese chasing little boys in their dreams, […]
The blind mortise in the leg has angled ends on the top and bottom that create a dovetail-looking mortise. The tenon has a matching angle on the bottom (half a dovetail tail), so it slips into the mortise then lowers down into the matching mortise angle. The picture below is a cross section at the […]
Alright, I know I am a little late to this party. The Anarchist’s Tool Chest has already been out for more than a year, but I am just now reaping the benefit of its lessons this week. I finally snagged a copy of Chris Schwarz’s ode to the individual craftsman and I can honestly say that after […]
I invited Steve Branam from Close Grain to try out a couple of new Gent’s Saws from Veritas. He put them through the paces for a few weeks in his shop and then stopped by to give me his thoughts. We had a lot of fun chatting about the saws and I got some good […]
A while back I wrote about finally finding a great bandsaw blade, the Wood Slicer from Highland Woodworking. I talked about it doing a wonderful job ripping wood, and how it cut through the wood as if it was butter. One thing I didn’t include in my article was the physical properties of the cut directly from the […]