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Good, better or best? Small details and design decisions make a difference. It’s every manufacturer’s dream to have “one size fit all.” Yet imagine a trip to the shoe store and upon arriving, you [...]

Turning woodworking into a pastime helped me love it again. There are two ways I hear the term “hobbyist” thrown around. The first is by “professional” woodworkers and, more times than not, it is [...]

The design journey isn't a straight line. However, there are some concrete steps you can take to achieving a great design.

To understand, you must do. Working by hand is a viable way for hobbyists to create beautiful furniture, yet it is often seen as slow, odd and antiquated. I choose to work by hand because I enjoy [...]

Proportion and structure outweigh ornament and showy materials. Have you ever found such a stunning piece of wood that you were almost afraid to cut into it? You know the boards I’m talking [...]

Why you’re better off to look this gift horse in the mouth. There is a trap lurking within the pages of our magazine. It is also in most woodworking magazines, and many books. It is called the [...]

Mr. Sheffield’s two-year writing slope. About a decade ago, I walked into my English professor’s office for advising and couldn’t take my eyes off of his homemade writing slope. He was talking [...]

About 30 years ago, my girlfriend led me to a dark, cluttered basement workshop to meet a sweet, 70-ish gem of a man: her grandfather, Hayes. He was surrounded by a lifetime’s collection of [...]

Woodworking with all the comforts of home. One glance in my shop reveals an unusual device—a reclining chair. But don’t get the wrong idea; things do get done here. It’s just that my 70-year-old [...]

Super Sander After years of hard use, my tablesaw’s 120-volt motor finally expired. Eureka! This was the perfect opportunity to acquire a more powerful machine. I purchased a new 240-volt [...]

Wedged Woodworker Winter comes early here in Oregon, a fact I’d forgotten as I carried a custom kitchen cabinet to my truck. This cabinet was long and slender, to go above an extra-wide range. As [...]

Ease and speed versus the idealization of the past – sometimes. When Lord Acton wrote that “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he was referring to politics, but he could as easily have been [...]