Acknowledgements And References

The new woodworking books are here, the new woodworking books are here! 20 copies fresh from the publisher.

I like to give credit where credit is due. These are the acknowledgements and references for the information in my book, Hand Tool Basics.

I'm a self-taught woodworker. That really means I had many teachers, the many live demonstrators and authors of books, videos, and magazine, online forum, mailing list, and website articles who have provided useful information.

Use the information I provide as a starting point. There's plenty more than what I cover; woodworking is a global activity with centuries of history, creating an infinite variety of techniques. I hope that I'll give you the skills and knowledge to be able to assess and incorporate any new information you find.

In general, the tools and methods I show in the book follow American and English woodworking styles. Continental European and Asian styles share many of the same techniques, but there are some differences in the tools. Where information is available, I strive to show historically accurate methods. In general it's safe to assume everything I show has at least 100 years of history. Some things have 2 or 3 hundred. Dovetails date back to the ancient Egyptians.

We are but the custodians of knowledge, passing it on to the next generation.

Acknowledgements

Below is the list of my teachers, in roughly chronological order. These are my primary references. They offer a range of perspectives that don't always agree with each other but still manage to get the job done, showing that it's worthwhile to look at the variety of techniques available.

If you'd like further information on any of the topics I cover in the book, I highly recommend seeking out their work, or even better, a chance to spend time with them in classes or demos. It's always good to have an opportunity to watch someone closeup and drink in the details. Just one new detail about an otherwise familiar technique can make it worthwhile.

My memberships in the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) and the Guild of New Hampshire Woodworkers (GNHW), as well as the Lie-Nielsen Open Houses and Hand Tool Events, have given me a number of opportunities to meet and watch some of them.

Don Weber: Don's cover story in the April, 2004 issue of Popular Woodworking is what set me off down this path. He built a table from a log using nothing but hand tools. I was absolutely enthralled. It took me a few years of fumbling around to gain traction, until I started following…

Christopher Schwarz: As the editor of Popular Woodworking, it was Chris' articles on hand tools that put me on the road to success, in particular his articles on sharpening and planing. His books and videos form the core of my woodworking library. He went on to found Lost Art Press, where he continues to publish excellent books and videos on hand tool woodworking. He changed my woodworking forever, and gave me the knowledge to start appreciating other teachers, like…

Roy Underhill: When I first saw Roy's PBS show The Woodwright's Shop, long before I knew anything about hand tools, I thought this guy was bouncing off the walls like a superball shot from a cannon. But once I started learning, I realized every episode was crammed with a breathtaking amount of pure gold. His books and DVDs are another core component of my library. While I'll never be the showman he is and be able to do a half-hour video in one take, I've taken a number of cues from his show in my instructional format.

Philip C. Lowe: I've been following Phil's articles for as long as I have Chris Schwarz's. He's what I call a museum-class woodworker, because when museums need to restore or reproduce a finely detailed period furniture piece, he's at the top of the list. He ran the furniture-making program at Boston's North Bennet St. School for 5 years before starting his own Furniture Institute of Massachusetts, and is the winner of the SAPFM 2005 Cartouche Award. I got to know him when he gave a series of live demonstrations to SAPFM members on building several magnificent furniture pieces.

Michael Dunbar: Mike ran the Windsor Institute in New Hampshire, where he taught chairmaking. He's published a number of articles in Popular Woodworking. He takes a very no-nonsense attitude, as exemplified by his "Sensible Sharpening" method of sandpaper on flat substrate. His repeated frustration at having students show up to classes with basic tools they didn't know how to sharpen or use was what led me to start teaching. My goal was to provide that basic knowledge so people could get on with the more advanced topics of the specialized classes offered by others.

Charles H. Hayward: One of Chris Schwarz's heroes, Hayward was editor and "one-man publishing phenomenon" of The Woodworker from 1936 to 1966. He wrote a number of practical books that are simply spectacular. Anything you can find by him, don't hesitate, just get it! In fact, Chris has since anthologized several volumes of his writings from The Woodworker.

Robert Wearing: Wearing, another of Schwarz's heroes and an acquaintance of Hayward in Hayward's later years, wrote an excellent book that has been re-released by Lost Art Press. This was the source of the three classes of saw cuts terminology.

Bernard E. Jones: Jones wrote two encyclopedic books in the 1910's-20's which have been reprinted several times, one of which is now available from Popular Woodworking.

Garrett Hack: Garrett is a professional woodworker and author in Vermont. I've always loved his designs. He's a master of unique stylistic details done with hand tools.

Jim Kingshott: Kingshott was a British woodworker who put out several outstanding books and videos in the 1990's. He's like your favorite uncle. But of course, Bob's your uncle!

Adam Cherubini: Adam's "Arts And Mysteries" column in Popular Woodworking was a huge influence on my work. With his emphasis on 18th-century work, he showed me I could do everything by hand starting from the raw lumber, and taught me how to use wooden handplanes.

Patrick Leach: Patrick is one of the Internet's premier antique tool sellers, with everything from $20 user planes to $10,000 collector's items. He's partly responsible for the unusually large number of chisels you see on my tool wall; his house is dangerously close to mine. But he's also the definitive reference for information on antique Stanley tools. His website www.Supertool.com is encyclopedic, covering the entire line from the late 1800's through the first half of the 20th century.

Pete Taran: Like Patrick, Pete is another encyclopedic source of antique tool information, this time on saws at www.VintageSaw.com.

Erik Von Sneidern: And like Pete, Erik is another antique saw specialist, focusing exclusively on Disston saws at his Disstonian Institute, www.DisstonionInstitute.com.

Aldren A. Watson: Watson was a professional woodworker, author, and illustrator in Vermont.

Lie-Nielsen Staff: YouTube videos from founder Thomas Lie-Nielsen and demonstrators like Deneb Pulchalski, along with live demonstrations at their Hand Tool Events, cover a great deal about how to use and maintain their tools. I think this educational component is an important part of the company's success, completing the connection with their customers.

Alan Breed: Al is another museum-class woodworker. He's the guy high-end auction houses call when they want a reproduction of an antique that's on the block for millions of dollars, so the sellers will have something to fill the empty spot. He runs the The Breed School in New Hampshire, and is the winner of the SAPFM 2012 Cartouche Award. For a number of years, he's been incredibly generous sharing his time and knowledge in a series of live demonstrations to the GNHW Period Furniture Group on building period pieces.

Paul Sellers: Paul is a British woodworker who put out an excellent book and DVD series. He used to run New Legacy School of Woodworking in Penrhyn Castle, North Wales, possibly one of the coolest school venues around. He's another very no-nonsense guy, attempting to demystify the craft and bring it to the masses without complicated methods.

Christian Becksvoort: Christian is a professional woodworker and magazine author in Maine who specializes in hand tool work.

Peter Galbert: Peter is a professional chair maker in Massachusetts. He's also an inventor, creating several very useful tools and versions of existing tools. He was the one who showed me how to get the most out of a wooden spokeshave, and watching his YouTube videos resulted in a huge improvement in my turning skills on the lathe.

References

Some of these may be difficult to find because they're out of print. But they may be available used or as reprints.

Books (including a few useful references from authors not listed above)

Bickford, Matthew Sheldon

Mouldings In Practice, 2012

Blackburn, Graham

Jigs & Fixtures For The Hand Tool Woodworker, 2014

Fine Woodworking

Working With Handplanes, 2005

Hampton, C.W., and Clifford, E.

Planecraft: Hand Planing By Modern Methods, 1934

Hayward, Charles H.

Cabinet Making For Beginners, 1948 (several editions)

The Junior Woodworker, 1952 (don't let the title fool you, it's for any beginner!)

Woodwork Joints, Revised Edition, 1979

Hoadley, R. Bruce

Understanding Wood, 2000

Hock, Ron

The Perfect Edge: The Ultimate Guide To Sharpening For Woodworkers, 2009

Jones, Bernard E.

The Complete Woodworker, 1920?

The Practical Woodworker, 1920? (reissued as a 4-volume set)

Kingshott, Jim

The Workshop, 1993

Sharpening: The Complete Guide, 1994

A Woodworker's Guide To Joints, 1998

Krenov, James

The Fine Art Of Cabinetmaking, 1977

Laughton, Ralph

Success With Joints, 2005

Popular Woodworking

Hand Tool essentials, 2007

Rae, Andy

Choosing & Using Hand Tools, 2002

Schwarz, Christopher

Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use, 2007

The Joiner And Cabinet Maker, 2009 (with Joel Moskowitz, update of 1839 anonymous original)

Handplane Essentials, 2009

Sellers, Paul

Working Wood, 2011 (also available as a set with 7 DVD's listed below)

Underhill, Roy

The Woodwright's Shop: A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft, 1981

The Woodwright's Companion: Exploring Traditional Woodcraft, 1983

The Woodwright's Work Book: Further Explorations in Traditional Woodcraft, 1986

The Woodwright's Eclectic Workshop, 1991

The Woodwright's Apprentice: 20 Favorite Projects From The Woodwright's Shop, 1996

The Woodwright's Guide: Working Wood with Wedge & Edge, 2008

Watson, Aldren A.

Hand Tools: Their Ways And Workings, 1982

Wearing, Robert

The Essential Woodworker, 2010

Whelan, John M.

The Wooden Plane: Its History, Form, And Function, 1993

Videos

Kingshott, Jim

Bench Planes, 1996

Special Planes, 1996

Mortise & Tenon, 1996

Dovetails, 1996

Schwarz, Christopher

Coarse Medium & Fine, 2005

Building Furniture With Hand Planes, 2007

Handplane Basics: A Better Way To Use Bench Planes, 2009

Sellers, Paul (available as a set with his book above)

Working Wood: Woodworking Essentials 1 and 2, 2011

Working Wood: Master Sharpening, 2011

Working Wood: Master European Workbenches, 2011

Working Wood: Master Housing Dadoes, 2011

Working Wood: Master Mortise & Tenons, 2011

Working Wood: Master Dovetails, 2011

Underhill, Roy

The Woodwright's Shop, Seasons 1-31 (and counting, starting in 1980)

Online Forums

These are an excellent way to join with like-minded people to learn and discuss hand tools, their use, and how to deal with problems. In fact, as my skills developed, it was seeing the questions posted on these from beginners struggling through the same learning curve I had climbed that motivated me to put together a video course and book.

Some forums are extremely active. Participation is global, with people coming from all different cultural backgrounds.

I found these to be a great asset in my learning. Just be prepared for a wide range of information, often conflicting! You'll have to learn to sort through it. That's where I came up with the concept for my "Fistfights And Fundamentals" segments.

These are moderated forums to ensure that everyone stays on their good behavior, but discussions can get heated and feelings can get hurt. Read their policies and spend some time lurking (Internet-speak for reading without responding) before you join in. Don't take things personally, and don't make things personal. Be polite. Remember that different people have different experience, training, and opinions.

There are others besides these, in English and many other languages, as well as Facebook groups such as Unplugged Woodworkers.

www.SawmillCreek.com (US) - Neanderthal Haven forum.

www.WoodNet.com (US) - Woodworking Hand Tools forum.

www.LumberJocks.com (US) - Hand Tools forum.

www.UKWorkshop.co.uk (UK) - Hand Tools forum.

www.WoodworkUK.co.uk (UK) - Hand Tools forum.

www.WoodworkForums.com (Australia) - Hand Tools - Unpowered forum.

Thank You To The MBTA!

Finally, I'd like to thank the MBTA. Other than the shop work and photography, I did nearly all the work for this book and the original video series while riding the Commuter Rail. Yes, I wrote a book on the train! I did all the video editing, photo selection, and writing on my Mac laptop an hour each way to and from work in Boston.

Thank you to all the folks who took care of my commute and gave me a safe, warm place where I could focus on woodworking!

Representing PW At Lie-Nielsen Open House 2015

My hand tool journey with Popular Woodworking, from Don Weber on the cover, through learning from people like Roy Underhill, to teaching for Popular Woodworking University.

The 2015 Lie-Nielsen Summer Open House will be July 10-11 at the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, ME. This is a free event open to all, a great opportunity to see behind the scenes, try all their tools, and meet a bunch of great woodworkers.

The list of guest demonstrators is headed by the superb Roy Underhill, host of The Woodwright's Shop on PBS, one of my woodworking heroes.

I'm honored to be representing Popular Woodworking Magazine at the Open House, not as an employee, but as an instructor for their online Popular Woodworking University. Look for the PW banner, say hello, and join me making some shavings!

My new PWU course Intro To Hand Tools starts July 15; registration is currently open. On the registration page you can watch a 3-minute introductory video. The cost is $59.

In nearly 40 short online videos, I cover a wide range of beginning hand tool skills to give you a solid foundation. "Fistfights And Fundamentals" segments help sort out the various arguments about different ways of doing things.

You can watch a free lesson below from Popular Woodworking's YouTube channel: Long Grain Rabbets (2 methods: chisel, and moving fillister plane).



The full course includes 5 additional ways to do this. Whether you're a first-time beginner with the barest set of tools, or already have some skills and a more extensive set, you should be able to find something here.

If you'd like to see the full range of topics covered in the course, you can watch my trade show trailer below that I'll have running on a TV at the Open House. It's silent to avoid disturbing other exhibitors and demonstrators, but it shows a montage of short snippets from the entire course.



And if you'd like some suggestions for expanding your set of tools while at the Open House, I'll have a complete list of all the tools appearing in the course, from anonymous antique to modern high quality premium brand name.

It's fitting that I'll be representing PW, because the magazine has been key to my development as a hand tool woodworker. Don Weber's cover story in the April, 2004 issue led me down the garden path. From there, then-editor Christopher Schwarz's articles, books, and videos gave me the background to start understanding what Roy and others were doing.

Then it was just a small matter of making shavings to develop the skills!

"Dad, I want to build a box."

"And I want to use dovetails." Brings a tear to my eye! What more proud moment for a father?

My daughter Shelby, a senior in high school, wanted to build a box to collect submissions for the school literary magazine. She had wanted to build the school box from The Joiner and Cabinetmaker over a year ago, but I kept putting her off, busy with other projects. In this way our children's lives flash by under our noses. Cue the Harry Chapin.

At least last year I was able to help out with her boat-building project at school. My son, in contrast, after finishing his Boy Scout Eagle project building picnic tables for the town park, swore he would never pick up a tool again. I think having to supervise a half-dozen other teenaged Scouts put him over the edge.

This time I was determined to get it done. In the workshop, I pulled out some pine 1x8 and we discussed how to cut around the knots and defects. She picked one bit of interesting knotty grain that she said looked like a galaxy for the front.

The design is a cross between the school box and a mailbox, the grain running across to dovetailed sides, with a sloped top. We needed to glue up wider panels to be tall enough to hold 8 1/2x11 paper dropped in through a slot in the top.

This was the first time Shelby had really used any of these tools, so for each operation I showed her how and then let her do it. Some of the handles were a little big for her hand, but she did very well handling them.


Crosscutting the pieces from the board.


Cleaning up the edge with a Lie-Nielsen #4. That's easier to handle than a full-size jointer.


Glue-up to make wider panels.

We watched TV for a couple hours while the glue dried (our favorite father-daughter shows are Criminal Minds, The Walking Dead, and Justified, good wholesome bloody fare; she says Timothy Oliphant is hot). Then she scraped the glue lines and dimensioned the panels.


Shooting the front panel end grain with a Lie-Nielsen #7.


Planing the end grain of the two side pieces ganged together with a Veritas small bevel-up smoother.


Cutting the sloping top of the side after knifing a line and chiseling a trough to guide the saw.


Ripping the front panel to match the height of the side.


Jointing the ripped edge with a Stanley #6.

Next I had Shelby do some dovetailing practice. First is sawing practice on a piece of scrap. She's never handled a joinery saw before, so this teaches her how to control it.

I'll be showing her Paul Sellers' method for dovetailing. But first I took some of his advice and modified my dovetail saw, filing the first inch of teeth back to remove the rake, turning them into little equilateral triangles. This means they form a trailing edge to the end grain, so the cut starts much more easily.


Making a set of repeated cuts to develop the required control.

Then I started a pair of tails in some narrow scrap for her to complete and transfer to the pin board. I didn't bother measuring anything, I just wanted her to see the different steps involved.


Sawing out the waste between the tails.


Chopping down to the baseline...


...and chiseling out the final bit of waste.

She made the pin board and we put the joint together, examining how it fit. Now it was time for the real thing. I showed her how to lay them out, keeping it down to three tails to keep the number of mating surfaces down, since each one is a place where things can go wrong.

Like anyone doing their first dovetail joint on a real piece, she worked slowly and carefully. This takes an enormous amount of concentration. The guys you see online banging these out in a couple minutes? They've done a few before to get to that point.


The pressure's on! Sawing the tails.


Sawing out the waste.


Chopping down...


...and chiseling out. She did this from both sides, meeting in the middle.


After chiseling troughs all around, making a Robert Wearing/Chris Schwarz first-class cut to remove the end pin waste.


Final paring using Phil Lowe's chisel corner method to clean out the end pin space with fine precision and control.


The resulting tail board, which will be the front of the box.

I told Shelby she had some nice looking tails there. She said that was inappropriate.

Next, we'll finish off the tails on the other side of the front, then do the pins on the sides. This is quality time beyond compare.

Intro Hand Tools: The Workspace

Go: Intro Hand Tools Main Page | Table Of Contents

A hand tool workspace is very simple to set up, requiring as little as 4'x6'. More room is better of course, but you can setup almost anywhere. The only power requirements are for lighting. You can use a corner of a garage or basement, a porch, a backyard storage shed, even a spare bedroom, since there's less noise and dust than with power tools. You can also use a portable setup and work under a tent or tarp, or completely out in the open.

Workbench and Appliances
Sawbench and Sawhorses
Tool Storage
First Aid Kit

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Workbench and Appliances

The characteristics of a bench for hand tool work are driven primarily by the requirements of planing. If you have a bench that allows you to plane comfortably, you can do any other operation on it. It needs to be the right height (most modern benches intended for use with power tools are too high), it has to be stable enough to resist the forces of planing, and it has to be able to hold the workpieces in several orientations. Work-holding features will affect your efficiency. Simple work-holding allows you to work quickly. Complex work-holding takes more time.

Height is personal, sized to you. Different authors vary on the exact relative dimension, but in general if you stand next to the bench with your arm at your side, the bench top should be between your knuckles and your wrist. It also depends on the planes you typically use; metal-bodied planes tend to be an inch or two lower than wooden-bodied planes. When the bench is the right height, you can get over your planes with your upper body as you work, so you can use body mass to move them, not just your arms. Too high a bench means your arms are bent while planing, and they'll tire quickly. Too low means you're working bent over, which will give you a sore back.

Stability comes from good structural design and from mass. Poor structure means the bench will rack and vibrate as you plane. Even with a solid structure, if the bench is too light it will move around. In general, the more massive, the better, unless portability is a requirement. A light bench can be braced up against something or secured to a wall or some kind of anchor to keep it in place.

There are many workbench designs. Realize that each is a compromise in one way or another, due to conflicting requirements. A bench that's perfect for one operation will be less than ideal for others.

Here are examples of large and small workbenches, and a portable work surface. You can read more about building the first two here: My Roubo and Portable Workbench.


Large Roubo-style workbench, with leg vise, crochet, sliding deadman along the front, planing stop, and Veritas Wonder Dog in place of a tail vise. Two Gramercy Tools holdfasts sit in dog holes. The entire front of this bench is coplanar, allowing the legs and stretcher to act as clamping surfaces.


Portable workbench. The legs fold down from the top on hinges, and are secured for use with angled braces. This bench features a frog (similar to the crochet above), planing stop with battens in dog holes, holdfast, and Wonder Dog. The front apron also has dog holes, and can act as a clamping surface.


Portable work surface, built from a quarter sheet of plywood. 2x4's are screwed to the front and left side to form an apron that hooks over the corner of a tabletop, turning any table into a makeshift workbench. Workholding is provided by modern T-track. The rear batten mounts flat in the tracks. This is for left-handed planing; for right-handers, attach the side apron on the right end.

You need to be able to hold your workpieces for face planing both across and with the grain, as well as edge and end planing. Sometimes you'll be planing small pieces, sometimes long boards.

Face planing: You can clamp the piece in place with bench dogs or some type of tail vise, or leave it loose and work it against planing stops. Both methods have their benefits; either way the piece is flat on the bench.

Clamped, the workpiece and bench form a solid mass. You just have to make sure the clamping setup doesn't get in the way of the plane. Using stops, you plane across the workpiece toward the stop, trapping the piece.

Some benches just have small narrow stops, so it takes more practice to learn how to direct the force of the plane always toward the stop. Other benches have wide stops, and may have stops in two directions, so you can plane generally into the corner they form. This is easy and fast, no fiddling with any clamp setup. You just have to get used to the workpiece sliding around a bit as you work it.

When face planing rough wood, you direct the plane at an angle that can be anywhere from straight across the grain to diagonal. For further flattening and smoothing once the rough work is done, you direct the plane at an angle anywhere between diagonal and straight with the grain.


Face planing against a narrow planing stop. The stop raises and lowers to accommodate different thicknesses.


Face planing against battens. The planing stop provides one support, while dowels in the battens drop into dog holes to provide the remainder.

Edge planing: You can secure the work across the front face of the bench, or rest it up on edge on the bench, stopped or clamped similar to face planing. Wide boards generally need to be secured to the front. Some benches have front aprons to accommodate this. Others rely on a thick top, and may have legs or other features coplanar with the front edge, so that they form a large flat clamping surface.

The board end may be trapped in a jam stop such as a frog or crochet, its lower edge simply resting on pegs inserted in the front of the bench, or it may be clamped more securely. Smaller, narrower pieces can be worked easily against a planing stop on the top of the bench once the bottom edge is reasonably square. As with surface planing using stops, this is fast and simple.


Edge planing the piece against the planing stop.


Edge planing a large piece with the end wedged into the frog, resting on holdfasts or pegs. If the piece wobbles, flip a holdfast up and knock it in to secure it.

End planing: You can secure the workpiece standing up against the front of the bench, or lay it down on a shooting board.

Many benches have a face vise and an end vise, but other configurations are also practical. A leg vise is a large vise that mounts to one of the front legs; the leg forms a clamping surface. There are various front and end-mounted twin-screw vises, where you place workpieces in between the screws and tighten down on each side. A wagon vise is a type of end vise that moves a bench dog against the work, and also provides an opening where you can clamp pieces.

Benches will usually have dog holes on the surface and along the front. In addition to using bench dogs and pegs in these holes, you can also use holdfasts, a simple and ancient method of holding work. Used on the top, they hold the piece down. Used on the front, they hold it up against the bench. Holdfasts should be of wrought iron or ductile steel, not cast iron, which is too stiff and brittle.


Workpiece secured with a holdfast. Bash it down with a mallet to set in place, bash it behind the crook to loosen it.

Dog holes will be in line with planing stops and vises to form one side of a clamping setup. Simple wooden wedges can be used to secure a piece between two dogs or between a dog and planing stop.


Using opposing wedges to lock a piece in place against a bench dog.

The one real compromise with a good planing bench is that it tends to be uncomfortably low for other operations. There are several appliances for raising your work: risers that slide under the feet of the bench to raise the whole thing; smaller auxilliary benches that sit on top of the bench, held in place with clamps or holdfasts; and removable auxilliary face vises that clamp on top. Most of the work-holding methods used for planing will be useful for other operations.


Bench-on-bench to raise the work to a comfortable height. In addition to clamping pieces for joinery, this provides an elevated work surface.


Moxon double-screw vise is another way to hold and raise the work.

After planing, chopping mortises with a chisel is the next heavy operation. This requires pounding with a mallet. But a bench robust enough for planing should be sturdy enough for mortising. Again, more mass is better.

The two primary appliances for working on a bench are a bench hook and a shooting board.

Bench hook: This allows you to hold a piece in place while crosscut sawing, without requiring clamps. It can be used for both rough and fine sawing. It's very simple and crude, consisting of a bed with a cleat on the front that catches the front edge of the bench, and a cleat at the back that stops the workpiece.


Bench hook.


The bench hook in use. Hand pressure keeps everything in place while sawing.

Shooting board: This is the precision secret weapon of hand tool work. It allows you to fine-tune the end of a board for angle or length with a plane. It can also be used to plane along the edge of a board; luthiers use this method for book-matching the pieces that form the body of a musical instrument. Similar in appearance to a bench hook, with front cleat and rear stop, it must be built carefully. In addition to the basic 90 degree shooting board for square ends, there are various versions or angle blocks for mitering at different angles.



Shooting board. This one allows shims to be placed behind the face of the stop for fine tuning to get the exact 90 degree angle.


The shooting board in use. The work is held the same way as the bench hook, while a plane is run on its side across the end. In this way the end of the board can be trimmed one fine shaving at a time for a perfect fit.

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Sawbench and Sawhorses

A sawbench is a low bench that comes up to your knee, used when sawing larger pieces of lumber. You lay your board flat on the sawbench and kneel on it with one knee to hold it in place while sawing. This puts the work at a good height for powering the saw with your arm. It also allows you to work quickly, because most of the time you don't need to clamp the board.

You can use the sawbench for both crosscut and rip sawing, in the space in front of your main workbench. Besides the workbench, this is what defines the minimum workspace you need.

As with workbenches, there are a few different styles. Some are designed to make ripping a little easier, supporting the board on both sides of the rip cut as you run the saw down the center of the bench.

Sawbenches work well in pairs or with sawhorses to catch the offcut.


Two sligthly different sawbenches right and left, and two styles of sawhorse in the center. Behind them is a shaving horse, a specialized bench for holding pieces while working with drawknife or spokeshave.

Like the workbench, the height of the sawbench is personal. Since it comes to your knee, it also makes a good sitting bench, for sitting at the workbench or  sitting on pieces to hold them while mortising.


Crosscutting on a sawbench, with a trestle-style sawhorse supporting the other end.

Sawhorses are simple work supports. Their narrow top means they must be used in pairs or with other supports. They can be sized to different heights for different needs, or used similarly to a sawbench.

There are two popular designs, trestle style, and the classic four legs splayed from the top piece.

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Tool Storage

You need to store your tools in a way that protects them and makes them easily accessible. Disorganization slows you down. Tools also need to be protected from corrosion. This can be a difficult problem in some workspaces that are constantly damp.

During the course of a project, you'll need to use a variety of tools. They need to be easily accessible so you can pick them up quickly without having to dig around or search for them. Just as important, they neeed to be easy to put away. This prevents things from piling up. Piled tools are messy, hard to locate, and an accident waiting to happen when something falls, damaging the tool or its edge, or injuring you.

I've come to prefer open hanging storage next to my workbench, so that I can reach a tool in a step or two, use it, then put it back immediately. I find it annoying and time consuming to have to walk across the shop or around things, reach over things, and open drawers or cabinets. I also tend to be a piler, so I'm better off not having horizontal surfaces to set thing down on.

I prefer to have everything to the side rather than over my workbench, because I have the bench out away from the wall for maximum accessibiliy. Since I have a basement workshop, positioning it near a window for natural light isn't a consideration.


Simple hanging panels to the side of the workbench.

For damp environments where you may prefer to close them up, hanging cabinets that can be opened up while you work are effective. Cabinets can also be locked to keep small children out.

In addition to the wall storage, I use a rolling shop cart with shelves to hold the tools I need for the moment. I model the use of the cart on my wife's job. She's a surgical nurse. In surgery, a patient lying on the operating table is like a workpiece lying on the workbench, and the instruments are the tools. The field of work needs to be kept clear, so all the instruments are laid out on tables and carts; this makes locating them and accounting for them easy. Similarly, this method keeps my workbench clear of loose tools, yet they are right next to me as I work. I just need to clear off the cart as I complete each set of operations so it doesn't pile up.

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First Aid Kit

Working with wood and sharp tools, splinters and minor cuts are inevitable. A simple first aid kit consisting of fine tweezers, antiseptic wipes, bandaids, and gauze pads is sufficient for most injuries. Butterfly closures are also useful for larger cuts.

The worst injury you're likely to encounter is a deep cut from a chisel that slips and sinks into your flesh. This can be quite serious. Other than wrapping with gauze to control the bleeding, this kind of injury requires professional care.

You should also be up to date on your tetanus shot, especially if you use old tools that are rusty.

Building A Moxon Double-Screw Vise

My Moxon double-screw vise, based on Chris Schwarz's design.

Chris Schwarz did several blog posts last year about building a version of Joseph Moxon's "double-screw vise". I immediately wanted to build one. He refined his initial design, resulting in an article in the December, 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking. The purpose of this vise is to secure and elevate the ends of boards when sawing dovetails at the workbench, so that you don't have to lean over. By now a number of people have built it.

I recently built a bench-on-bench, another solution to the same problem. So why build this one? I like to know the different ways of doing things. You never know when something will prevent you from working the way you usually have.

This can be made up from scraps around the shop. The hand-screws are turned on the lathe and then threaded with a thread-box. The corresponding holes in the vise rear jaw are threaded with a maching tap.

The screws were the main source of my delay in building this, since I had to work on developing my turning skills. I'm now able to rough a blank and smooth it, all with just a skew. I ordered the threading set from Garrett-Wade, using the gift certificate my parents had given me for Christmas.


This maple came from a co-worker's backyard along a stream in 2006. He had already cut it to firewood length. I split it with wedge and sledge, then quartered the halves on the bandsaw and stacked it in my basement. After 5 years, it's nicely seasoned. It's fun to be using wood I harvested.


Trimming up one of the quarters for a turning blank.


The blank mounted up. I could have put more effort into squaring it up for better balance, but there's really no need.


At lowest RPM, starting to rough it in with the skew.


Now at higher RPM, planing with the skew to smooth, uniform diameter.


The completed turning. Note the defect in the wood along the section to be threaded. This will cause some voids in a few threads, but shouldn't be a problem.


Using the thread-box.


The second blank did require a little more work to prepare. Using a jack to take heavy shavings and quickly square up the shape better. You can see the first screw finished, the defect in the wood wasn't too bad.

The second screw proved more difficult than the first. When I started the thread-box, it was too tight. I put some oil on the wood for lubrication, but it still took too much force to the turn the thread-box. It cut the first few threads, but then wouldn't advance. It ended up completely stripping out the threads.

I hadn't gotten the screw quite down to the proper diameter. Since I had already cut the ends off the turning, I had re-find the centers to remount it on the lathe. It had a bit of wobble, but not enough to be a problem. I took it down another 1/16" or so in diameter, then was able to thread it. So in general, it seems better to err on the side of too small.


The two finished screws. You can see the stripped out threads on the end of the one in front.


Ripping down some poplar 1 3/4" stock for one of the vise jaws.


Boring the 1 1/2" hole in the front jaw using an expansive bit and large Spofford brace. This worked fine...until the spur of the bit snapped off. The cutting edge still worked, but without the spur to cut the outer diameter, the cutter was gradually force into a smaller diameter with each crank of the brace. I had to switch to a forstner bit in a portable power drill.


Tapping the 1 3/8" hole in the rear jaw. The tap is lubricated with salad bowl oil. The gloves are necessary because this takes some force, and the small diameter of the cross-bar handle that provides the torque is hard on the hands.


Fine-tuning the first screw. It threaded into the jaws nicely with a little paste-wax on the threads, but the final unthreaded portion was a little too large in diameter. I rasped it down with a plane float as I rotated the handle.


With both screws in place and before adding the rear brace piece, planing the top of the jaws even.


Chamfering all the edges. Note the new pile of shavings!

I added the rear brace, secured with glue and screws, and tested it out. Secured to the bench with holdfasts, it works very nicely, holding the work piece solidly and presenting the end at a comfortable height.

However, the second screw continued to give me problems. It was much harder to turn than the first one. More paste wax didn't help. Looking more closely at the threads, I could see they weren't cut as well as the first ones; they were fatter, so bound up in the tapped threads.

I'm not sure why, maybe I was pushing down too much using the thread-box, making it advance too fast. Or maybe because I had reduced the diameter, the thread-box pitched a bit to one side as I turned it, leaving threads too wide.

I considered just making a new screw, since the end threads were already torn up, but I had an idea. Perhaps if I could file the threads down a little thinner, they would fit better. I mounted it back up in the lathe and used minimum RPM while running a triangular file down them. This worked great! After a few tries, the screw turned just as easily as the other one.


Chasing the threads with a triangular file to narrow them. As I run the file forward, the spinning threads carry it down the length of the screw in just a few seconds. It takes multiple passes, first angling the file to the leading face of the threads, then the trailing face. The file card sitting on the lathe bed cleans the file of dust and paste-wax.


The completed vise in action. Note my comfortable upright stance, with elbow just over 90 degrees. The workpiece is absolutely solid, no movement or vibration.

This was the last workbench appliance I've been wanting to build. Time to build some finished products! Unless Chris comes up with another gewgaw I just have to build...