Blog — Videos RSS

Mike and I just posted a video about our upcoming online course on restoring antique tools. We’re on the home stretch with this thing – more information coming soon… -Joshua

In this new video, Mike walks through some basic saw troubleshooting. You don’t have to be an expert to get your saw working more smoothly – all you need is to pay attention and to apply a few basic adjustments. Or hit it with a hammer.  

  We’re pleased to announce that our newest course is now available for purchase – and we think this one is going to make a world of difference for every woodworker who signs up. Jigs can be valuable devices for guiding and aiding in repeatable, accurate cuts and joinery, but they can also become a hindrance to skill development. Just as training wheels can be useful for learning to ride a bike, eventually they should come off if you want to truly enjoy the experience. If you struggle with accuracy or efficiency without external aid – if your crosscuts dip and your kerfs wander, if you get paralyzed in laying out dovetails properly without a template, or if you just...

We are excited to announce that our latest production, The Makers’ Marks: An In-depth Study of Handmade Furniture, is now available for purchase. This online course is an ambitious investigation into a number of examples of chairs (Post-and-rung, Windsor, and stump chairs), tables (worktables, tea table, drop leaf), desks (slant-front and standing), a chest of drawers, and a hanging cupboard. It’s quite an assortment of workmanship that displays everything from refined precision to humble utilitarianism. This course covers the gamut. The course is the kind of thing we’ve hoped to do for a long time. Over the years of writing and teaching about authentic handwork, we’ve become convinced that people need to see it to really understand it. But without...

  Our latest in the “Getting to Work” video series. Essential skills…  

  Over on the YouTube channel, we’ve put up the first installment of our new “Get to Work” video series where we show you the ins and outs of cleaning up and using antique hand tools. In this video, Joshua walks through selecting, repairing, and cleaning up a wooden-bodied handplane. Sometimes you come across a beat-up old plane in a box at a flea market or antique store and you wonder if it can be saved – this video will help answer that question. These tools are meant to be used, not to decorate the walls of restaurants. Let’s get them back in service. -Mike  

This final video in the “Setting Up Shop” video series brings it all together and shows you where we’re heading next. These old tools are not just for museums – they’re for making real shavings. Stay tuned.  

This next installment in the “Setting Up Shop” video series takes a look at joinery planes: rabbet planes, dado planes, routers, and plow planes. Hand tool beginners often assume these are for specialty work, but they’re not. These are fundamental tools for enjoyable hand tool work.  

In this new video in our “Setting Up Shop” series, Joshua shows his shopmade wooden squares, straightedges, and winding sticks. These tools are always at hand when working wood by hand and Joshua tells us that it’s valuable to be able to make your own.  

Today’s installment of the “Setting Up Shop” video series is utterly, completely, 100%, boring. And after watching it, we think you will agree. Since time immemorial, woodworkers have been seeking the best way to make a round hole in a piece of wood. From the use of friction, to Roman-era spoon bits, to modern auger and twist bits, Mike talks us through an introduction to the boring technology available to hand-tool woodworkers today. You know the drill – check it out, and leave any comments below.