Posts in the «tools» Category

• Good Plane Advice – Good Physics

This video is amazing and clearly shows the effects of a chip breaker with a much steeper angle on the front of it (think snow plow rather than ramp) and setting it closer to the edge of the blade than “conventional wisdom” would have suggested. The video very clearly shows that the chip breaker works […]

• Vaughan Hammer – Sad Gloat

I am still suffering from a severe case of workshop withdrawal.  The entire contents of my workshop are still residing in a 5’x8’x8′ U-box pod waiting for us to move into a new house. Overall I have to say I am happy with the U-box service…just sad to be without a shop for the duration […]

• Band Saw Set-up Video

I have a Craftsman 14″ bandsaw that is a twin brother to the Rikon (the Rikon has a few more refinements).  I am not certain whether Rikon makes the Craftsman or some third company makes both the Rikon and Craftsman. Either way, I saw this video about fine tuning at setup and I wanted to […]

• Mallet Head Angle

I’ve seen this issue come up and get discussed on several forums.  A joiners mallet is pretty simple to make, so it is a quick and satisfying shop project to get one constructed, but then the question arises,  “what angle should be put on the head?”  This is an important question with advice ranging from […]

• Tuning Up a Cheap Spokeshave

For years I have been keeping my eye out for a rounded bottom spokeshave (convex, front to back).  I have an old Stanley 151M flat soled spokeshave that works quite well and I wanted a vintage round bottom Stanley 151R to match.  Unfortunately they seem to be kind of rare, or on eBay the photos […]

• Portable Chisel Rack

For years I have kept my chisels in a drawer.  I keep covers on the tips so they don’t damage each other, but as my chisel collection has grown, the drawer has gotten crowded and is just not the best way to store and access them repeatedly.  So I decided to make a chisel rack.  […]

• Old Tools Passed On

I was fortunate to spend several weeks around the holidays soaking up some sun in Florida and spending time with my family.  Time with my wife and son on the beach was gift No 1 and brings a smile to my face just thinking about it…especially as I look out the window now at the […]

• Making Chisel Handles

In the last post I showed off some newly made socket chisel handles and justified the use of octagonal shaping on the back section.  If you liked the finished product and wanted to see how I made them, then this post is for you.  Ideally, if I were some kind of master sculptor I could […]

• Replacement Chisel Handles

I have an odd collection of chisels ranging from a couple of modern plastic handled abominations to several old Stanley 750’s , an old Witherby, a PS&W and a D.R. Barton.  I am gradually replacing the plastic handled chisels as I find older socket handled varieties. I like my old chisels, some belonged to my […]

• Saw: Atkins 53

My son and I were on our way to the grocery store the other day, and on the way there, we saw a sign for a barn sale.  I got a big smile on my face and said, “Do you want to go see if they have any old tools?” … he answered… I’m pretty […]

• Clamp Handle Supersize

I have a few of the standard Bessey F-clamps.  They are well made and seem to hold up well.  My only real complaint with them is that the handles are too small in diameter.  The small diameter makes it more difficult to tighten them enough.  To improve them I needed to make a quick and […]

• Clamp Rack

My clamps have been pretty much an accident waiting to happen.  They’ve been hanging from various pieces of floor joist from the ceiling of my basement shop.  It’s been on my to-do list for a while to make a clamp rack.  It is funny how sometimes things just cause certain items on a to-do list […]

• Bungee Mini Lathe

When I was designing my first bungee lathe in my head, there was a competing idea kicking around in there.  I chose to build the lathe using the pipe clamps because it gave me unlimited length.  I was perfectly happy with that lathe and I needed nothing more, but this other idea, kept kicking around.  […]

• Saw Till with Balls

My current saw holder was troubled.  It was nothing more than a series of 10D nails pounded into a 2×4 mounted to the wall.  This was fine when I only had a couple of saws, but as I added more saws and began using them more, it became cumbersome.  It suffered from a few problems: […]

• Bungee Cord Lathe

My taste in woodworking has not yet taken me down the road of turned pieces.  I really have had no need of a lathe except for on rare occasion when I want to replace a handle on a chisel or some other tool.   So far I have muddled through with working the pieces into shape […]

• Zona Deluxe Razor Saw

Based on a recommendation by saw and handtool guru Christopher Schwarz, I ordered a Zona Deluxe Razor Saw for cutting some fine dovetails.  I have a couple of boxes I need to make and was looking for a dovetail saw that was a little more precise than the ones I had.   The Deluxe Razor Saw […]

• Hand Drill Refurbished

I have a Millers Fall No 77 Hand drill (eggbeater style) that was my Dad’s.  I use it for small diameter drilling as it is not one of Miller’s Falls more powerful versions.  It serves me well, but the handle on it is too small in diameter, and has always been a little wobbly.  My […]

• Dedicated Sharpening Station

I have contemplated the design of a dedicated sharpening station for over a year now. I have seen other examples of small benches used for this, and the idea made some sense. However, the thing that always struck me is that sitting out in a workshop a sharpening bench would get covered with sawdust and […]

• Scrub Plane Iron Cambering
Scrub planes are kind of interesting.  Their main purpose is to remove stock rapidly in order to flatten a twisted or cupped board as well as doing rapid removal (almost ripping) of the edge of a board.  The common scrub plane whether made by Stanley, Record, Lie Nielsen, Veritas or ECE is sort of short […]

• Bandsaw Milling Sled

I had a need to take relatively small diameter (~8″) logs and mill them into lumber.  I have a lot of fallen cedar trees in the area  and I wanted to be able to mill some logs for use.   I researched a lot of bandsaw sleds for re-sawing, but they all seemed to have the limitation of […]