Earlex SprayPort 6003 Test
Tool: SprayPort 6003 Manufacturer: Earlex MSRP: $499.99 I first became aware of High-Volume Low-Pressure (HVLP) systems about 20 years ago. At the time, it seemed like a great idea – reduce [...]
Perfect Shoulders
An 18th-century chairmaker’s saw makes 21st-century work easier The graveyard of obscure and forgotten tools is large, densely packed and many layers deep. Many of these tools richly deserve [...]
USNS Comfort and Mercy, A Scale Model, Part 3
After I finished shaping the hull of the USNS Comfort (read about it in Part 1 and Part 2) I turned to make all the elements that construct the superstructure. Below (Sketch #1) are a few of my [...]
Tool Test: Starborn’s Smart-Bit Depth Setter
Tool: Smart-Bit Depth Setter Manufacturer: Starborn MSRP: $18.99 Starborn Industries has set the benchmark for driving screws. The Smart-Bit Depth Setter allows you to sink screws to a consistent [...]
William & Mary Chest
Mortise-and-tenon joinery and side-hung drawers make for a simple but impressive build. Early in my career I met an avid antiques collector whose focus was objects from the William & Mary [...]
Soap as a Wood Finish
While this natural Danish finish looks beautiful, it’s high-maintenance. You may be surprised to learn that a quite popular finish for furniture and floors in Denmark, and other northern European [...]
Tool Test: Bosch CM10GD Glide Miter Saw
by Chuck Bender page 12 Bosch does it again, only smaller, with its CM10GD Dual-bevel Glide Miter Saw. Like its big brother (the GCM12SD), this saw has a hinged-arm system that creates a [...]
Greene & Greene-style Blanket Chest
A simple approach to a sublime design. I’ve been enamored of Greene & Greene furniture since my early days of woodworking, well before I possessed the skills to produce such a piece. Since [...]
End Grain: Blacker House Garden Bench
A gnarly old conifer finds new life on a recognized California estate. In 1908, architects Charles and Henry Greene built one of their most famous residences, the Robert R. Blacker House. In [...]
Safety Combo
Tool: Eye Muffs Manufacturer: Eye Muffs MSRP: $49.95 I know safety isn’t a topic that evokes that “must read” feeling in most of us, but when something new and innovative comes along, you might [...]
Danish Modern
Enthusiasm and people skills are the keys to Ejler Hjorth-Westh’s success. On California’s Mendocino coast, you really never know who you are talking to by looking. Institutional “costume” [...]
Blue Spruce Joiner’s Mallets
Tool: Rectangular Mallet Manufacturer: Blue Spruce Toolworks MSRP: $85 For some woodworkers, building your own mallet is a rite of passage. After using dozens of student-made mallets, however, I [...]