Making a Drawer That Slides
Most people think you need a table full of expensive, noisy machinery to get a clean fit, but that's a load of rubbish. I’ve spent forty years on sites and in classrooms, and I’ve seen more men struggle with a drawer because they relied on a vibrating router instead of a steady hand and a […]
Flattening a Sole Without Overdoing It
I spent thirty years on-site watching lads buy expensive, brand-new planes only to curse the tool when it left them with wavy, uneven shavings. They’d blame the iron or the wood, but the truth is much simpler: the sole wasn't flat. Most people think you need a machine shop or some fancy jig to fix […]
A Box Whose Lid Fits
Most people think you need a table saw and a high-end biscuit joiner to master how to build a box with a lid, but they’ve got it backwards. I spent forty years on site watching lads rely on loud, vibrating machines only to end up with joints that gape like a broken tooth. I remember […]
Choosing a Battery Family, Not a Tool
I remember standing in a workshop back in the nineties, watching a lad struggle with a corded jigsaw that kept tripping the breaker, while I sat there quietly working a fine bevel with a hand saw. It was cleaner, faster, and didn't require a trip to the fuse box. Nowadays, everyone thinks they can just […]
Patching Veneer With a Matching Piece
Most people think that once a piece of furniture has a gouge in the surface, it's time to buy a new one or reach for a tub of plastic wood filler. They spend hours trying to sand out a mistake, only to end up making the hole twice as big and the finish twice as […]