Pins First Pal - As I slowly work through the projects for my upcoming book Go, Go, Go I’ve been trying to do as many things the same way as Tage Frid did. It has been an interesting experiment. Most of Tage’s advice has been sound and reproducible. Once in a while a given technique may want to induce fits. … Continue reading Pins First Pal 
Making Things Work: Tales from a Cabinetmaker’s Life - On a recent flight to and from Denver Colorado for the Open Source Hardware/Maker Summit I finally had some time to myself to sit down and read “Making Things Work: Tales From a Cabinetmaker’s Life” by my friend Nancy R. Hiller. The book had a great buzz from a lot of my woodworking friends and … Continue reading Making Things Work: Tales from a Cabinetmaker’s Life 
Festool PRO 5 LTD Sander - Back in early October of 2016 Festool offered a special edition of their new Sander for an amazing $99 which also included a $50 off coupon towards another tool. It seemed too good to be true given how expensive all my other Festools are. Within hours of the announcement I placed my order. I would … Continue reading Festool PRO 5 LTD Sander 
Eating router bits for breakfast - Not all router bits are created equal. On a recent project I had to make a lot of 1/4″ wide and 1/4″ deep dadoes. In my 20+ years of using an electric router I’ve only lost a handful of bits, most due to the carbide chipping out or something similar. (Or using a poor quality … Continue reading Eating router bits for breakfast 
Flexner’s Danish Workbench - Yesterday evening in the weekly Popular Woodworking ‘Week in Review’ email summary I saw a nice post by Bob Flexner — Contributing Editor to Popular Woodworking and well known Finishing Expert — sharing his thoughts on Danish Workbenches. You can read Bob’s post here. Bob shares his thoughts on this form of bench along with … Continue reading Flexner’s Danish Workbench 
Sinister Workbench - I haven’t seen a lot of left-handed, or ‘sinister‘ workbenches out in the wild. I suspect most are from the mid 20th century or later with the assumption that earlier southpaws were likely forced to work right-handed much as a lot of the left-handed folks in my family were forced to learn to write … Continue reading Sinister Workbench 
Side Clamps Revisited…Already - Workbench side clamps are not something I think anyone would generally use on a daily basis, but when the job calls for the sort of clamping they provide, they do a great job. I think one of the reasons they were not used often is the time it takes to affix them to the workbench … Continue reading Side Clamps Revisited…Already 
Deadman With a Tale - In building my workbench I also built a simple traditional deadman to help support long boards at the bench. This simple to build workbench accessory is as a great addition to any bench with a tail vise. If you’d like to learn more about this bench and how to build one for yourself, please check … Continue reading Deadman With a Tale 
A little clamping on the side - Have you used your side clamps lately? Wait, what are side clamps? Side clamps are a pair of adjustable wooden blocks that mount on the outside of a traditional continental workbench with one block mounted to the tail vise and one mounted to the fixed portion of the bench top. In this experiment the blocks … Continue reading A little clamping on the side 
Go, Go, Go: The Life, Influence and Woodworking of Tage Frid - I have some big news to share with everyone today, I’m proud to say that I am the process of writing a book for the Lost Art Press tentatively titled “Go, Go, Go: The Life, Influence and Woodworking of Tage Frid” You can read more about my background and the premise of the book in … Continue reading Go, Go, Go: The Life, Influence and Woodworking of Tage Frid
Rainford Restorations 