you know i love paring guides. this isn’t news if you’ve read any of my articles about sawing or chiseling basics. my view is simply this — if you pick up a tool and you’re not using a guide, you’re risking an imperfect result. if the result doesn’t matter (if… Read More »a dovetail in a pair tree

one of the most frequent questions i get as a teacher is “what should i read?” and i always have an answer. that might be why they ask me. i’m always reading at least a dozen books at any time (yes, simultaneously), usually closer to thirty or forty. while this… Read More »a hundred books (part 1)

nearly six hundred years before time restarted itself at 0 (the beginning of the common era), a child was born. many children were born, of course. but one in particular we’re interested in. his name was, loosely, as it wasn’t either in english or a latin alphabet, siddhartha gautama and… Read More »charting the middle path

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… Read More »one tool to rule them all

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… Read More »breathing enlightenment

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… Read More »precision is optional?