one tool to rule them all
perhaps the most common question i’ve encountered other than “what handsaw should i buy?” is “should i get a tablesaw?” — and this question has always confused me a little. isn’t the answer obvious? i mean, unless you’re a handtool-only woodworker or simply don’t have a workshop to put it in and are relegated to a picnic table in the backyard, the tablesaw is the heart of the modern hybrid…
breathing enlightenment
when i tell people i’m a buddhist, i get three questions — is that a religion (i thought you said you were against religion!)? what’s enlightenment? do you meditate? the answer to the first is a resounding no. it’s not a religion. not even close. a religion has beliefs. it doesn’t have to have a deity but it has to have a belief system. buddhism is specifically designed to combat…
precision is optional?
i was going to call this article “cut roughly but carry a big tenon” but i figured that would get me the wrong kind of search optimization… in a break with my usual perfectionism, today i’m going to take a little time to talk about why you shouldn’t worry about being imprecise in your joinery — sometimes. i’ve probably said and written a thousand times this month alone how fundamental…
the point of tradition
interestingly enough, for every five people i talk to about sharpening and convince to use diamond stones because they’re the better option, there seems to be one who says something like “i know this isn’t the smartest approach but i want to do it the traditional way — can you show me?” so here it is. i’m not anti-waterstone. but i’m pro-efficiency and i’m not in this to have fun…
