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Basic woodworking tools are different from beginner woodworking tools. For one thing, I don’t like to use the word “beginner” unless I am using it accurately. It’s not a very useful label, in my [...]

“So this is what they used to look like. Wow!” That’s what I told all my friends after spending hours completely disassembling, cleaning and polishing a Porter-Cable Model 507 Extra Heavy-Duty [...]

I like to use carpenter’s pencils until they’re worn down to stubs. Stubs aren’t very handy, though–they’re hard to dig out of a pocket. To solve this problem, I gathered up all [...]

I bought this old 18” bandsaw for a song from a used machinery dealer over 30 years ago. “It came from a local high school,” he said. “I heard that it was purchased by the school back in the [...]

Get more from your router and router table with these fantastic accessories. A router may be one of the most versatile tools in the shop. As a hand tool nut, that hurts me a little bit to say, [...]

I’m not sure if I qualify as a tool nut–machine crazy is more like it. I started out using a ShopSmith, but I now have 17 industrial-grade machines. It all started when my wife saw an ad in [...]

Tool: Magnetic Straightedge Shop Now  Manufacturer: Lee Valley MSRP: $7.50 Don’t have a drafting table? Can’t draw freehand to save your life? Here’s a tool from Lee Valley that lets you [...]

Here’s a surefire method to ensure flat glue-ups. Use cauls, top and bottom, made from Unistrut. This steel channel is used for light-duty structural support in electrical and plumbing [...]

I really like bright-colored speed squares because they’re easy to locate on the job, but I find them difficult to read. To solve this problem, I spray-painted my speed squares black. After [...]

Tool: Multiscribe Shop Now Manufacturer: Trend MSRP: $70 I like tools that can do more than one thing—they keep the clutter down. When I read that Trend’s Multiscribe performs 15 [...]

Match the size to the job–that’s the key Hand planes come in a bewildering variety of sizes. Why are there so many? I’ll help explain this mystery by dividing the field into four groups, in order [...]

Here’s what one pro always keeps in his toolbox. My favorite tools are the ones that I use every day—around the house, in the shop or at a jobsite. They’ve become old friends. They’re not [...]