Registration is now open for 2018 classes with Megan Fitzpatrick and Brendan Gaffney. The classes will be held in our storefront and are limited to six participants. To register for Megan’s April 7-8 class on building a Dovetailed Silverware tray, click here. The class is $250 plus a small materials fee. To register for Brendan’s April 21-22 class on making a Cabinetmaker’s Sector, click here. The class is $300, which includes all materials. Full details on the classes ... read more

Watch the video first to see how effectively it works. Go here:   After a class, most times, I notice that  two or three (some times more) of my cabinet scrapers have been filed and honed incorrectly and end up out of square, often with the bevels are far from 45-degrees, often to a bull-nosed […] Read the full post Filing/Honing Guide for #80 Scraper on Paul Sellers' Blog. ... read more

Here’s the second instalment of my archtop mandolin videos. In this part you’ll see all the work on the top plate; carving the shape, cutting the sound holes and fitting the tone bars. ... read more

Click, drag, cut, ripple delete, cross dissolve, fade to black. Look out the window, let your eyes focus on the horizon. Get another cup of coffee. Stretch that mouse arm. As I've been wrapping up the editing of our upcoming Apprenticeship: Tables video, a few observations have jumped out repeatedly. First and foremost is the irony of the fact that I can split firewood for hours with an axe, or rough out carving projects with a hatchet, and feel no ... read more

The motorhome is packed, the toad has the kayak on top and snorkel gear inside, all that is left to do is grab a couple of toothbrushes, hook the toad to the motorhome and we will rock and roll on down the road to Mexico for several days of relative debauchery. When you are our age putting two Splenda's in your morning tea counts as debauchery.The dogs will swim their hearts out, MsBubba will walk the beach, I'll have my ... read more

Look what just dropped, as the kids say.This past summer I had the great good fortune to spend a weekend in Frank Klausz’s shop filming videos on Japanese woodworking tools for Popular Woodworking. Yesterday a package arrived with some of the first copies of the DVD version. Although the original plan was to make four half hour segments, it turned out to be almost three full hours of video covering Japanese chisels (and hammers), saws, and planes, and an overview of why ... read more

Made a decision to send the new (to me) back saw out to be sharpened. I could probably do it but I doubt I would be able to do with any competency worth more than a bucket of spit. I do think that I can the follow on and maintain the saw afterward.  I got the email sent and I am just waiting permission to ship it.Making the box for it tonight is all I did. I gave up trying to find cardboard ... read more

I use hide glue when making up the blanks for the moulding planes, but I don’t like how the colour of hide glue at the join shows that it’s laminated. So I made a trial run with fish glue as I know it will dry to a clear finish and is just as strong as hide glue. Animal products is not a gap filler, but hide glue to a small degree will fill some small gaps. Fish glue on the other ... read more

Current workshopMy woodworking workshop measures a meager 10' x 6'; yet, despite the tiny size, it still serves as my woodworking oasis. Like most workhops, its function and appearance continually change.Take a virtual reality tour of the shop using the photo below. The original space was a walk-in closet that we used to store bicycles which shared space with the HVAC and hot water heater. Not enjoying DIY work in the garage during the cold winters and hot summers, I ... read more

We had our first inspection from the Covington fire department this week and were told to fix something I’ve been meaning to get around to for 18 months: an exit sign. We had a lighted exit sign when I purchased “The Blaze” more than two years ago. But the sign was super nasty, painted in glitter and covered (somehow) with hair. Hair? What the…? I ripped down the sign when I removed the odd ventilation fan (also covered in ... read more

I can’t believe anyone would be following The Daily Skep without also following the blog at www.mortiseandtenonmag.com, but just in case I wanted to mention that I’ll be posting over there on a semi-regular basis. You can read my latest entry here. ... read more

I’ve been slow to add stuff to the blog here. Time to correct some of that. Today’s chore is splitting up some leftover bits of oak, and some newly dropped-off bits. Here’s how I read these, and how I decide what to split from a few different bolts. the first one is an old one, been split & hanging around a long time, over a year I’d say. It was given to me about 2 months ago. Free wood is ... read more

The 'JonMac' Bushcraft Pocket Auger Set is back in stock by popular demand..... Click here to buy..... ... read more

I like the British housing joint name, plus my my phone keeps trying to autocorrect dado. Maybe it knows something I don’t know. Here it is holding it self off the bench. Self supporting as Paul Says. After cutting all the ones for my bookshelf I think I’m getting pretty good. Here she is. I still have to glue up, but I’m pretty happy. This is the largest dovetailed case I’ve ever made. Here’s my first dado/ housing joint ... read more

And other benefits to heating and cooling your shop ... read more

In the October 2017 issue of The Highland Woodturner, Curtis Turner takes a closer look at the Rotary Texturing Tools available at Highland. I have other types of texturing tools and enjoy using them, so I was eager to try out something new. I have only had these a short time, however, it is clear to me these tools can easily add new embellishments to a range of turned wood items. They are so simple to use and there ... read more

As someone with a few completed pieces of functional furniture under my belt, I've found that I've developed a chronic condition that causes me to look underneath every dining room table, and around the back of every sideboard to see how they're made. The other day at a wedding I even found myself waiting for an old lady to vacate her ladder-back chair just so I could turn it over and look for tool marks. Maybe madness is setting in, ... read more

Changing Our Looks and More I know many of you that have been with us through the years have noticed changes to my backdrop and also heard hints of changes yet to come too. We’ve not wanted to be secretive so much as make certain we carried you along the journey with us. Many of […] Read the full post Changes on Paul Sellers' Blog. ... read more

We are experiencing some strange weather, not our usual fall weather for sure. We still have the occasional mid 20s C temps then frost warnings at nite...Will you please make up your mind Mother nature already....You can just make up the dead brown tomatoes plants outside the protective dome on the left handside behind Rudy.In case you ever wondered, it sure works, look at the greenery still inside the dome.There are three big green tomatoes inside turning yellowThe furnace is back on, ... read more

I came across a website several  weeks ago on how to make liquid hide.  I copied it down but didn’t note which website I took it from. So, whomever you are I thank you in advance. What you need: Hide Granules Urea Water Container These three ingredients are mixed by measure of weight. Follow these steps to mix your own batch. 1oz (28grams) of 192 grams strength Hide granules .2oz (5.6grams) of Urea 1.5oz (42 grams) of distilled water Mix the Urea into ... read more

So, with Brendan’s mandolin having a black and red theme, there seemed only one choice for the fretboard markers.After a good few hours of carefully marking out, cutting and sanding; 6 red diamonds or is that rubies?Fast forward a couple of weeks and the fretboard is now glued on to the neck.And the finished fretboard. ... read more

I read Ken Hatch's blog post on the 140 trick but he didn't show the inside of the dovetails. Seeing that was what I wanted to see.  It was all I could think about at work today. When I got home I had to rush and make a sample dovetail joint. I got to see that it worked and then I went and did my errands. No since risking the wrath of the bride is there?my toe stubsIf I had continued to ... read more

A cutlist isn't that difficult to create by hand, but if you're modeling your projects in SketchUp, there's a far easier way ... read more

I've learned through experience that writing off architects and designers ideas is often a mistake. Perhaps because working within a trade creates such a practical mind or it could be that I'm just cynical, but giving room for unique idea and working hard to get the result our client needs is important. On the project shown here, both the site contractor and I were left scratching our heads, wondering why anyone would want to back light some rough old ... read more

Don't worry. This post is not about the Marvin Gaye song. Although it fits into the period my new project is about. The song is from 1962. So we are talking about the Mid-Century. Once again the Mid-Century is part of the story. I wrote about it a couple of times. My wife and I are real aficionados of this time. We are always looking for pieces out of this period, when we are visiting ... read more

Over the weekend my family and I vacationed as we always do in the Black Hills. My wife was looking for things for us to do that we hadn't done before when she ran across an advertisement for a replica Stave church in Rapid City. I was a bit skeptical at first thinking that this must be some kind of tourist trap. Boy was I wrong! It is a full-scale model of the Borgund stave church built around 1150 in ... read more

My latest project is a smaller version of a Moravian spring pole lathe. I've seen pictures of this lathe in some of Roy Underhill’s books, but I became really interested when I saw it featured on the Horn Guild’s blog. They have some great photos of a reproduction at Old Salem Village in Winston Salem.I had a spring pole lathe, but it got to be a pain using it at living history events because of the problem with transporting the ... read more

Sorry, I haven't posted anything in awhile, but life has kept me quite busy. My latest project is a rope bed for the Dederman Cabin in Norfolk, Nebraska. The cabin already had a rope bed, but this bed will be used to let visitors experience what it’s like to lie down in one.I wanted to make a bed that was similar to what an early settler could have made with materials available on the frontier. I was going to copy ... read more

I haven’t posted anything in a long time so I thought I would show a picture of a country farmhouse table I made for a benefit for my kids' school.The table is 72” x 48” with 3.5” tapered legs. The table and benches are built from construction grade lumber. Since the wood found at my local box store is complete trash I only used wood purchased from there to build the aprons and legs of the table and benches. I ... read more

I recently purchased a gas forge and needed a cart to place it on. I couldn’t find anything locally or online that I liked so I decided to build the cart myself. Since I didn’t want to place the forge on a wooden stand I needed to come up with a way of making a stand out of metal that didn’t require welding. The easiest although not necessarily economical method was to build the cart out of ¾ inch pipe ... read more