Castile Soap Cream for FinishingI advocate using Castile soap for finishing some pieces of furniture. It’s non-toxic, easy to repair and gives light-colored woods a whitish glow. Never heard of soap finish? I’ve written and recorded a lot about it. Here’s an introduction. The only problem people ever have with soap finish is making it….
Read moreJapanese ‘Bank Paper’I write a lot of stuff down every day on paper – sketches of future projects, notes on joinery, Megan’s lunch order, and dimensions, dimensions, dimensions. For the last decade I’ve mostly used the free throw-away pads that our lumber supplier would bring us every month for my scratchings. When the pandemic hit,…
Read moreThe Sharpie PRO (or the Fancy-pants Sharpie T.E.C.)I feel like a fool for having used regular Sharpie markers in the shop. They are…OK. As long as you don’t expose them to water, alcohol, pretty much any solvent or even a stern look. Face it: The ink in regular Sharpies is not durable enough for workshop…
Read moreThe Anarchist’s Gift Guide – comprised only of stuff I have bought and used in our shop – starts today and runs over the next two weeks. I started this “gift guide” years ago (read past recommendations here) after watching a woodworking TV personality’s “gift guide” for one of his sponsors. Clearly, he’d been given…
Read moreI am always looking for ways to make workholding simpler and less expensive. It feels like a duty after writing 36 books on workbenches. I love my Benchcrafted Hi Vise – we own five of them. But not every woodworker can afford the hardware. And you have to build the vise with wooden components, which…
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