This year I tried to keep my teaching and traveling schedule fairly light so I could spend more time tinkering with our magazines, assembling books such as "Handplane Essentials" and hanging out with my wife and two girls.

For 2010, my failings as a spouse, parent and diligent editor are your gain.

I've decided to teach a few select classes in 2010. I really missed teaching, the close contact I get with readers and the stuff I learn from them. Teaching helps me with my job at the magazine. I would have never written the book "Workbenches," for example, if I hadn't watched students struggle on sub-par benches.

Here is a quick roundup of my calendar for 2010 in case you want to do a drive-by heckle.

February 26-27: Atlanta Woodcraft in Alpharetta, Ga. I'll be teaching two one-day classes. One day will be on precision sawing. The other class is still up in the air. The classes aren't posted yet on the store's web site. I might also get to see one of my sisters during this trip – she and her family split their time between Atlanta and St. Louis.

March 27-28: Northeastern Woodworkers Association's Showcase in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. I love this woodworking show. It's the perfect blend of education, demonstrations, a gallery and commerce. I've been asked to teach short seminars this year on two topics: "Mastering Joinery Planes," which are the essential planes for cutting and refining joints and how to choose, sharpen and use them. And "Why Ancient Workbenches are Better," which is a slideshow trip through history to understand how many modern workbenches are failures at some important workholding tasks.

April 24-25: Handplane Weekend at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking: I love this class. Essentially, I assist Thomas Lie-Nielsen as we introduce students to the basics of choosing, setting up and using handplanes. Plus we have a few fun planing contests.

Sept. 13-17: Hand Joinery at Dick Gmbh – Fine Tools in Metten, Germany: I don't speak a lick of German (OK, I can order beer), yet, the nice people at Dick, a very large supplier of woodworking supplies, have asked me to come teach a class in basic hand joinery. We'll be building a small cabinet from the Hancock community as part of the class. Also, David Charlesworth will be teaching at Dick that same week. I'm either going to have to bone up on some German or start practicing mime.

Sept. 25-26: Nine Essential Handplanes at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking: This is a new course I developed this year that I'm quite excited about. We're going to take a deep dive into the details of the nine most essential planes of the craft: the jack, jointer, smoother, fillister, plow, shoulder, router, scraper and block planes. Each plane has its own personality and is sharpened, set up and used differently. We're going to take two days to master these tools so you can use them with complete confidence in your shop at home or work.

Oct. 23-24: Hand Tool Boot Camp at Kelly Mehler's School of Woodworking: This is another new course I developed this year. It is, in essence, how to get started in hand tools in a fairly painless way (by that I mean how to do it without spending tons of money). The course focuses on learning the basic skills with a few select tools and then gradually expanding your reach until you have a serious problem and need professional help. We also will build the Hancock cabinet shown above.

My other goal for 2010 is to take a class myself. Since the day I started woodworking I've been hankering to take a Windsor Chair class from Mike Dunbar at The Windsor Institute. I've visited the school on a couple occasions for photo shoots and just love it. And Mike is one of my heroes. A great teacher, a scholar and a funny guy. This is the year.

— Christopher Schwarz

You know, at our Woodworking in America event last week I didn't get to talk to a lot of the toolmakers. In fact, I didn't even get to see some of them. That is what a madhouse it was. So that's why I'm particularly pleased to announce a couple additional toolmakers who are coming to the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event Oct. 16-17 in Indianapolis.

Jameel Abraham from Benchcrafted (and hopefully his brother Fr. John as well) will be there demonstrating their awesome bench hardware, including their cool tail vise and their Glide face vise. They also sell my favorite scraper called (cleverly) the Skraper. It's a carbide-tipped tool that is great for removing glue, paint and even wood.

If you haven't met Jameel, you owe it to yourself to get to know the guy. He's an amazing craftsman (ask to see one of his ouds). And funny (ask him about Harbor Freight).

I'm also going to take the opportunity during the event to twist his arm about writing some stories for us. (Sheesh, I hope Fine Woodworking doesn't read this blog. I blab too much.)

Also, Andrew Lunn from Eccentric Toolworks is coming to the Indianapolis show to demonstrate his saws. I've spilled so many pixels on Andrew already it's hard to add to my long list of superlatives about his saws. Simply put: Try Andrew's saws. They will make a believer out of you. They are beautiful to look at (photos don't do them justice) and they are tuned to an almost ridiculous level.

And, as I mentioned before, Kevin Drake from Glen-Drake Toolworks will be there, plus design guru George Walker and staff from the Marc Adams School of Woodworking.

One more thing to tempt you that I neglected to mention in my first post about this event: Martin J. Donnelly is holding an auction and tool sale nearby at the Ramada Inn East in Indianapolis those same days (Oct. 16-17) It's a 10-minute car ride from the Lie-Nielsen show and well worth seeing. Click here for details on that.

If you need directions or more information on the event, click here.

— Christopher Schwarz

I've had my head plunged deep into the cracker barrel of the 19th century this year while working on the forthcoming book "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker."

One of the things I really like about writing books is the research. I have, for example, learned more about the history of pencils this year than during any other period in my life. In fact, I'm considering making some for my own amusement if I can get some graphite from Cumbria.

Of course, all this research has also made me one of the most boring people to be around in our neighborhood.

During my research I've also become fascinated with the benevolent societies of the 18th and 19th centuries. These were, in essence, clubs that had several aspects to them. They would provide insurance in case you died or your tools were stolen. They provided a social network – there are many accounts of parades and celebrations (think Shriners with sharp tools). And these groups sought to further their education. Many of these societies hosted traveling lecturers to speak on the craft.

So this morning I'm cleaning off my 350-pound French workbench to load it into the truck for Valley Forge, Pa., and the Woodworking in America conference. I swore I'd never move this bench again. (Actually, that was my back that was doing the swearing.) But despite all the grunting ahead of me, and some anxiety about my lecture on bench planes, I'm looking forward to Woodworking in America in a way that transcends the fact that it is part of my job.

You see, I've never been one to join clubs. I wasn't in a fraternity. I never attended the French Club meetings (except when they had those Toblerone candy bars). Heck, I don't even belong to the Society of Professional Journalists.

But this weekend, I know I'm going to get to see all the people who make my job so rich, including both toolmakers and readers I have known for more than a decade. I'm going to get to meet people I've always wanted to know – Toshio Odate and Peter Follansbee to name only two. And I'm really looking forward to the Hand Tool Olympics. Wait until Mike Siemsen gets his claws into you -- you're going to love it, too.

This event, for me, almost captures the spirit of these benevolent societies. If you went to Berea last year, you know what I mean. If you're going to Valley Forge, you are about to find out.

All we really need now are some funny hats and a secret handshake.

Back in June, some of you might remember that I was building an Ohio copy of a fascinating three-legged Chinese stool. And some of you might also remember how I flamed out at the very end of the project, cutting a single tenon at the wrong angle, ruining the entire thing with no time to recover before the scheduled photo shoot.

Well I got pulled into another project, and Senior Editor Robert W. Lang started building two of the stools last month for the Winter 2009 issue of Woodworking Magazine. Bob is just as interested in the stool and its joinery as I am, so he seemed happy to take up the challenge.

Until today.

As I was cutting through the shop to get to the copier Bob was at his bench working on the stool and I stopped by to check his progress. During the last month I've watched as he ran into the same challenges that I did. And he's recovered nicely each time.

But today he got one of the stretchers flipped over as he was marking it and he cut its shoulder at the opposite angle he was looking for.

But Bob is smart. He has that second stool already in the works, and I'm sure he'll pull it together in time. Meanwhile, I've got that Shaker bench to build – and I better get cracking at my presentation at Woodworking in America.

Couple quick notes on that event next weekend in Valley Forge:

1. We will have copies of my new book "Handplane Essentials" there to sell as well as our reprint of Joesph Moxon's "The Art of Joinery" with my commentary.

2. We will not have copies of the new book we're publishing with Joel Moskowitz titled "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker." However, I hope to have a printout of the book to share there and will be discussing the 1839 bench plane techniques there in public for the first time.

3. It will be a bench-lover's paradise: The Roubo, the Holtzapffel, the Gluebo and Bob's 21st -century Workbench will all be there and in use.

I hope you can stop by Oct. 2-4.

— Christopher Schwarz

The free Marketplace area of our Woodworking in America shows are – hands down – the best woodworking shows I've attended since I started in the craft. The exhibitors are top-shelf (no ShamWow) and are hand-picked. (We say "no thanks" to several sellers.) See the complete list here.

And, I might add, the Marketplace is totally free. Check it out Oct. 2-4 in Valley Forge, Pa.

What's more, I think you can visit the Marketplace and learn an astonishing amount about woodworking. Many of the exhibitors are also A-list craftsmen and are happy to walk you though using the tools in the booths – almost everyone brings workbenches and wood. Both the tools and the exhibitors are sharp.

I will warn you, it's hard to escape without buying something. And that's because you are going to see stuff that you never ever see in person. How many of you have used a saw from Eccentric Toolworks? Where are you going to find "new old stock" files and Starrett stuff if you don't visit Slav at Mustang Designs. (Watch out for Slav. He always gets me for a couple hundred bucks.)

Get Don McConnell of Clark & Williams to show you how to use moulding planes. See the incredible Glide vise in person from Benchcrafted. Custom toolmakers such as Sauer & Steiner, Brese Planes, Bad Axe Tool Works and D.L. Barrett & Sons will be there. See their wares, try them out and try to resist.

Plus you'll find exhibitors who don't traditionally do shows. The Best Things? You gotta meet Lee Richmond there. Gramercy Tools? Meet Joel Moskowitz himself. And how often do you see Lee Valley Tools and Lie-Nielsen Toolworks at the same shows? Not too often.

And it's not all hand tools. MicroFence and Woodpeckers will be there – they make some of the best darn router accessories around.

I'll be there (and so will my credit card). Just don't get between me and those Starrett wing dividers in the Mustang Design booth. I'll poke you good.    
Woodworking in America exhibitors

Clark & Williams

The Acanthus Workshop

Adjust-A-Bench

Bad Axe Tool Works

Benchcrafted

Blue Spruce Toolworks

Blum Tool Co.

Brese Plane

Bridge City Tool Works

Czeck Edge Hand Tool

D.L. Barrett & Sons

Di Legno Woodshop Supply

Eccentric Toolworks

Gramercy Tools

Hock Tools

Horizon Wood

Lake Erie Toolworks

Lee Valley Tools

Lie-Nielsen Toolworks

Manny's Woodworker's Place

Medallion Toolworks

Micro Fence

Mustang Designs

Philadelphia Furniture Workshop

Phoenix Lock Company

Powell Manufacturing Company

RJR Studios

Robert Larson Company

Sauer & Steiner Toolworks

Society of American Period Furniture Makers

The Best Things

Woodpeckers, Inc.

(as of Aug. 31, 2009. Subject to change)

– Christopher Schwarz

I mean, who doesn't like a good girl fight?

In high school, fights among the boys were boring. Lots of posturing. Maybe some shoving. At best they might clasp into some Greco-Roman grip that would immobilize both of them for up to five minutes. Yawn.

Give me Heather "Cat Food" Barker vs. Tammy "Runs With Scissors" Gentry any day. There was always some hair pulling. The occasional dirty punch. And, if you got lucky, some good bloody fingernail scratches.

And that is exactly what you are going to see at Woodworking in America in Valley Forge, Pa., on Oct. 2-4. Heather Griffin, the conference's organizer, and Megan Fitzpatrick, our managing editor, have vowed to compete head-to-head in the boring competition at the conference's Hand Tool Olympics.

The two first met in boring battle at the Hand Tool Olympics in St. Charles, Ill., where they vied for last place (Megan came in third from last. Go Megan!)

This week in the office, things are getting ugly.

Heather stopped me in the lunch room and said she had three (printable) words for Megan: "Game on, girl!"

I took the message to Megan. She replied:

"Oh, she is going down!"

Quick side note: Megan issued this counter-challenge while snacking on a little spreadable goat cheese that was blended with Vermont butter and spread on a freshly baked herbed mini-baguette.

But before you put all your money on Heather, rest assured that Megan is going to practice at boring. I told her she didn't need any practice.

I am so dead.

— Christopher Schwarz

As someone who works in a shop every day with a bunch of bright and talented woodworkers, let me say that the craft is a lot more fun when you can compare notes, tease each other and work together. And you learn new skills a lot faster as well.

Woodworking clubs around the world are a great way to get a taste of this. For some nominal annual dues you get to tap into the club's expertise, usually get a discount on equipment and the chance to bond with fellow woodworkers. I've been to a lot of club meetings, and I recommend you seek one out in your area.

Now Marc Spagnuolo (aka the Wood Whisperer) has launched an online woodworking club called The Wood Whisperer Guild that offers many of the same benefits of a local club, but with members all over the world and content that is accessible all the time. Plus, Spagnuolo has come up with some additional cool ways to use technology to add features you don't see in physical meetings.

One of the cool things the Guild does is to build projects together. They can share ideas and help each other make design modifications. Recently, the Guild tackled a project from Popular Woodworking's "I Can Do That" column – a magazine rack built by Senior Editor Glen D. Huey. Spagnuolo built the project following our plan (above, left), then he built the project using his own design sensibilities.

Spagnuolo said the Guild was considering tacking the Knife Block project featured in the August 2009 "I Can Do That" column. And I think that's great. We publish the "I Can Do That" column to encourage woodworkers to get into the shop and build (no matter what their skills). And it's clear that the Guild is full of builders. So my hat is off to you.

In addition to getting in on the building fun, Guild members get additional Wood Whisperer videos, live demos, coupon codes to save money at online vendors (such as Rockler and Eagle America) and you get to bend Spagnuolo's ear if you need fast assistance with a woodworking project.

You can read all the details on The Wood Whisperer's site. Even if you don't sign up for the Guild you should take some time to watch some of the videos there. Spagnuolo is a good teacher, a funny guy and a fine builder. You can try out the Guild for six months for $48. Or you can get a year for $84. Check it out.

— Christopher Schwarz

One of best ways to learn how a piece of furniture is put together is to take it apart. Many of the best furniture makers I know who work in historical styles have done a fair bit of restoration or conservation work

Last week at the Woodworking in America: Furniture Construction and Design conference, all the attendees got a chance to dive deep into how American casework is built with the help of Jeff Headley and Steve Hamilton of Mack S. Headley & Sons cabinetmakers.

Jeff and Steve brought an entire van load of reproduction furniture they've built that could be completely disassembled. And during the three-day conference, they took pieces apart, put them back together showed us every single trick we asked about.

Want to know how to make a curved French foot? They showed us how. It's so simple that I am now crazy to give it a try myself.

They explained how they do complex angled work. In a nutshell: Don't angle the tenons. Angle the mortises. And when they passed the pieces around, the scales fell from my eyes.

I attended one of their lectures on Saturday where they assembled a Chippendale chest of drawers, a Hepplewhite chest of drawers with a French foot and a gate-leg table with some incredible angled work. Plus they disassembled a scale highboy (I think it was Queen Anne).

But that wasn't the half of it.

At the two-hour-long question and answer sessions, Steve and Jeff worked with everyone one-on-one and showed us even more pieces, such as a Winchester drop-front desk with 13 secret compartments and a tall clock. And they had dozens of examples of carving and joinery to pass around for us to inspect.

They explained why they use white glue almost exclusively in their shop. How they finish their pieces. All the carving tools they use (by brand, number and sweep). In two hours I think I took in about as much information as I can gather by hunting myself in a year.

This is the same format (lectures plus extended hands-on/question-and-answer sessions) that we're going to be using for our hand-tool conference in October in Valley Forge, Pa. If you liked our conference in Berea, you'll be blown away by our conference in Valley Forge. I can't wait.

— Christopher Schwarz

 “The machines need the numbers. We don’t need the numbers.”
 — Jim Tolpin

After attending almost two days of lectures at our Woodworking in America conference, my head is swimming with both big ideas about the craft and the fine details of joinery.

Each of the lectures I’ve attended reminds me of a snake eating a pig. I have taken in a huge amount of information, but it is going to take me weeks or months to digest it. I hope that we’ll be able to do this construction and design conference again in a future year because this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever attended.

Now until I can get that pig past my gallbladder, let me try to give you a taste of one of the interesting themes that have been running through the seminars.

Jim Tolpin: Measure Once or Not at All
Tolpin is one of my woodworking heroes. He’s been a professional cabinetmaker all his adult life and built his career on how to make a living making furniture. His approach was machine-centric. (Heck he wrote the “Table Saw Magic” book.)

But now Tolpin is going through an interesting transition. He’s given his power equipment away to his stepson and is working with and teaching others about hand tools almost exclusively (and he’s writing a new book about it).

Tolpin’s lecture explored the different furniture design approaches that result from working with machines vs. working with hand tools. Both have advantages and disadvantages. When working with machines, Tolpin contends that furniture design becomes constrained by the machines. You’ll create details and joinery that machines can produce. You will rely more on glue. And that changes or advances to a design cost a lot of money (new tooling; new tools).

“Your stuff tends to look like other people’s stuff because you have the same machines,” Tolpin said.

The advantage with the machine approach, he said, is that you can make a living at it.

When you work with hand tools, then sketches and mock-ups drive your design. You use graphic geometry instead of calculus. Scaled drawings and cutlists are unnecessary. And you can use an analog recording system, such as a story stick.

This approach, which Tolpin calls the “artisan” approach, is best suited for home woodworkers, studio furniture makers, prototype development and museum-grade reproductions. It is very difficult to make a living making furniture this way.

After he explained the woodworking world using these terms, he designed a stepstool on the whiteboard without using any measurements. Instead, he based the components off of the human body with the goal of creating something functional, durable and beautiful. He used the measurements of his hands, shoulders and feet to create the stool (at one point he pulled his shoe off and held it up on the board).

The result was really quite nice and really did meet the requirements of a human body instead of a machine. As we got up from our seats I started thinking about trying out the concepts on a future piece of furniture. I then had to head down to our computer lab to check up on the SketchUp clinic we’re running continuously there. And I wondered if Google could add a “draw foot” tool to its menu bar.

Probably not.

Next entry: Don Williams dispels the myths of the machines in the 19th century. This one kinda made my head explode.

— Christopher Schwarz

Today I was standing in line at our hotel waiting to check in, when I did a foolish thing.

“Oh my gosh,” I said (OK, I actually kinda squealed.) “It’s Thomas Moser!”

And sure enough, there was Thomas Moser, checking in at the hotel in style. I felt like a total furniture dork and turned a shade of crimson. Then I felt a lot better when the guy in front of me turned around and said:

“I know! It is him!”

Welcome to the Woodworking in America: Furniture Construction & Design Conference in St. Charles, Ill. Today the entire staff of the magazine drove from Cincinnati to Chicago to help set things up for the three-day conference that begins tomorrow.

As always, there is lots to see as the vendors unpack their boxes. Here are a few tidbits.

At the Lie-Nielsen booth, they had a couple interesting things to see on one of the sample workbenches they’d brought along. First, off, they added a sliding board jack to a European trestle-style workbench. The track for the board jack (sometimes called a “deadman”) was attached to the legs with finger joints and hex-head bolts. It is a welcome upgrade to the fine Lie-Nielsen benches.

But the bigger news was getting to mess with the new Lie-Nielsen twin-screw vise. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks has started making its own vise hardware, and this new twin-screw vise looks like a real winner.

For starters, it has only one handle to turn. It wracks very little. And it is adjustable when you set it up so you can have up to 24-1/8” between the screws. The whole setup is very tidy. Very tight. Very impressive.

Also cool: I saw one of Andrew Lunn’s new saws that are minus the etching but with the addition of a new medallion. Sweet. (Sorry, no photos.)

The Benchcrafted folks had their new carbide scraper, which is branded the “Skraper.” It’s a cool little tool – a glue scraper with a carbide tip. It might be the last glue scraper you ever buy or sharpen.

The Lee Valley booth was already set up when I arrived and covered in blankets. And I didn’t have the courage to peek underneath.

And then there’s Slav, the file-monger. Slav showed up with a van full of new-old-stock files and rasps and a bunch of other tools.

Even though I’m on the clock here, this is going to be an expensive weekend for me personally.

— Christopher Schwarz

Many woodworkers think that the ability to design a beautiful piece of furniture from scratch is a God-given talent. Either you have the knack or you should just make knock-offs.

I'm here to tell you that idea is crazy talk.

While there are some people for whom design comes naturally, I insist that anyone can learn to design well-proportioned, inspiring pieces that are built to last generations. Building things that endure is not just about using the right joinery – it's also creating a form that transcends the shackles of contemporary taste so that it will never be kicked to the curb.

Like any woodworking skill, your eye for design needs to be developed so it can flow through your hands, onto the page and into the wood. And that's why we created the Woodworking in America: Furniture Construction & Design conference.

This three-day event in St. Charles, Ill., will bring together the very best minds on furniture design and construction. And through a carefully orchestrated series of lectures, question-and-answer sessions and hands-on training, you will make serious advances in your ability to create furniture that looks good now, will look good in 100 years and is stout enough to endure everyday use.

The program, which runs from Aug. 14 to 16, is divided into three parts:

• Mastering the mechanics of the design process
• Gaining a deep understanding of the predominant American furniture styles
• Learning to create the right joinery, mouldings and details to execute your designs.

Mechanics
During the last few years, Google SketchUp has changed the world of designing furniture. This free 3D drafting program works on virtually any computer and can be mastered by anyone willing to learn the ropes.

During the three days in St. Charles, we'll show you how Google SketchUp can be used for designing all kinds of furniture, and how you can harness its astonishing power to create designs that can be quickly modified. In addition to interactive lectures, we'll have an open SketchUp laboratory where you can bring your laptop and get hands-on instruction and advice from SketchUp wizards who are also dyed-in-the-wool woodworkers.

And with the help of Jim Tolpin – author of the seminal "Measure Twice, Cut Once" – you'll learn how to take those designs and execute them in a power-tool or hand-tool shop.

Furniture Styles & Details
Though there are many furniture styles, woodworkers tend to build in early American, Shaker, Arts & Crafts and Contemporary styles. So we gathered the foremost experts on the last four centuries of furniture styles to deepen your understanding of them.

Jeffrey Greene – author of "American Furniture of the 18th Century" – will show you how you need to understand regional details to create period furniture that looks right. Robert Lang – author of several books on the Arts & Crafts style – will help you explore this misunderstood era and realize it's not all about dark oak and straight lines. Jerry Grant, curator of the Old Chatham Shaker Museum, will dispel the many myths about Shaker furniture and show you what it really looks like so you can build more authentic, better-looking pieces. And Oscar Fitzgerald, author of "Studio Furniture of the Renwick Gallery," will take you on an inspiring tour of contemporary furniture styles that will open your eyes to the work of the last 100 years.

Construction
Good design is worthless without sound construction. So we brought together some incredible woodworkers who can tell you exactly what joints are appropriate and how to scale them.

For 18th-century furniture, Jeff Headley and Steve Hamilton from Mack S. Headley & Sons will explore authentic casework joints and mouldings, which they reproduce daily in their shop (they've even done work for the White House). Conservator Don Williams will explore the joinery of the 19th century and how it went from being cut entirely by hand to almost entirely by machine – and what that means for your work.

For the Arts & Crafts era, we've brought on Jim Ipekjian, a professional woodworker from Pasadena, Calif., who has built hundreds of pieces in the Greene & Greene style. Jim has an unrivaled mastery of the incredible joinery of this era. And for the contemporary woodworker, we have enlisted Brian Boggs to help you unlock the secrets to composing your projects using wood grain – one of the defining aspects of modern design.

To top it all off, the keynote speaker will be Thomas Moser of Thos. Moser Cabinetmakers. Moser, one of the most successful designers and builders of contemporary furniture, will explain how he started as a home woodworker and became one of the premiere designers of the 20th and 21st centuries.

And if this is not enough, we also will have a Marketplace area filled with vendors selling the finest tools available now. This really is a weekend not to be missed.

The cost of the three-day conference is $375. You can read more details of the conference and register at woodworkinginamerica.com. I'll be there this summer, most likely sitting next to you and taking it all in.

— Christopher Schwarz

If we haven't yet convinced you to abandon your family/job/comfortable retirement and head to Cincinnati on May 16-17, I hope this blog post will help you come to your senses. That weekend is the free Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event here at our magazine's editorial office.

But it's not just going to be me and Thomas Lie-Nielsen cooking weenies and shooting the shinola about bedding angles. The local chapter of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) has volunteered to give free demonstrations during the two days on a variety of topics. Here is the schedule:
 
Saturday, May 16            
Time    Demonstrator        Topic           
noon      Robert Crouse        Hollows & Rounds    
1 p.m.    Dave Heyer           Carving Acanthus leaves on a period chair
2 p.m.    Charles Murray     Bench Planes    
3 p.m.    Dan Reahard       Carving Fluted Quarter Columns
4 p.m.    Donna Hill            Inlay: Preparing Inlays and Sandshading
5 p.m.    Bob Compton
             & Jim Crammond    Chairmaking: Windsors
            
Sunday, May 17
Time    Demonstrator        Topic           
10 a.m. Mark Arnold           Inlay & banding    
noon     George Walker        Scratch beader    
2 p.m.   Donna Hill              Inlay: Preparing Inlays and Sandshading
4 p.m.   George Walker       Design: Incorporating Ornament in a Design

And lest you forget, we'll also have other toolmakers in addition to Lie-Nielsen at the event, both showing off their wares and showing you how to use them (the real heart of these events, I might add).

John Economaki of Bridge City Tools. See the Jointmaker Pro (which we awarded a Best New Tool of 2008 award) in action.

Ron Hock of Hock Tools. Ron is a long-time bladesmith who is extremely knowledgeable about steels and sharpening. Ask him about his forthcoming book on sharpening tools.

Kevin Drake of Glen-Drake Tool Works. Kevin builds my favorite marking gauge of all time (the Tite-Mark), plus other thoughtful tools, including chisel hammers, plane hammers and the thought-provoking double-handled dovetail saw.

Ron Brese of Brese Planes. Ron makes incredible infill handplanes at down-to-earth prices. If you're in the market for an infill, he's should definitely be on your short list.

Bob Zajicek of Czeck Edge Hand Tool will be showing off his wares. He makes fantastic marking knives, awls and other tools.

Jameel Abraham of Benchcrafted will be showing his awesome wagon vise, plus I hear he has a new product in the works that is very interesting.

Need ideas for things for your family to do while you are enjoying yourself? Click here.

Again, you don't have to register. The event is free. Give up your will.

— Christopher Schwarz

Make plans to be in Cincinnati on May 16-17, 2009, for a free woodworking show at our offices here at Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine.

Lie-Nielsen Toolworks' traveling Hand Tool Event is coming to Cincinnati. There will be free demos, tours of our shop and plenty of time to ask questions about setting up and using hand tools.

In addition to Lie-Nielsen, there are several other toolmakers planning on exhibiting at the show, including:

John Economaki of Bridge City Tools. See the Jointmaker Pro (which we awarded a Best New Tool of 2008 award) in action.

Ron Hock of Hock Tools. Ron is a long-time bladesmith who is extremely knowledgeable about steels and sharpening. Ask him about his forthcoming book on sharpening tools.

Kevin Drake of Glen-Drake Tool Works. Kevin builds my favorite marking gauge of all time (the Tite-Mark), plus other thoughtful tools, including chisel hammers, plane hammers and the thought-provoking double-handled dovetail saw.

Ron Brese of Brese Planes. Ron makes incredible infill handplanes at down-to-earth prices. If you're in the market for an infill, he's should definitely be on your short list.

Bob Zajicek of Czeck Edge Hand Tool will be showing off his wares. He makes fantastic marking knives, awls and other tools.

Jameel Abraham of Benchcrafted will be showing his awesome wagon vise, plus I hear he has a new product in the works that is very interesting.

And the entire magazine staff will be there. Senior Editor Glen D. Huey will be demonstrating how to hand cut dovetails (pins-first). Senior Editor Robert W. Lang will be demonstrating how to cut through-mortises. And Managing Editor Megan Fitzpatrick will be reciting bawdy early modern poems on the hour.

I'll be there, too, showing off drawboring, advanced nailing (yes, it exists), sharpening, sawing, stock preparation and running at the mouth (my best skill).

As a bonus, we'll have some great workbenches there for you to examine and use. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks is bringing some of its benches. Plus there will be Glen's Shaker workbench, Bob's modern workbench and my Roubo. And if Megan gets her act together, you'll be able to see her new bench that we're helping design that uses a very unusual material.

Be sure to bring the family. We're one block from the area's biggest upscale mall. And Cincinnati has lots of excellent attractions (Megan has written about them here), good watering holes and great restaurants (I'll follow up with my favorite list in a couple weeks).

You don't have to register. Just show up. The hours are noon-6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; admission is free. So set your GPS for 4700 E. Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH, 45236. Or use this handy Google map to plan your trip. We hope you can make it.

— Christopher Schwarz

Cincinnati is a great destination for vacations, whether you’re feeding your tool habit at the Lie-Nielsen show May 16-17, or your tummy (the Queen City is home to Graeter’s, Oprah's favorite ice cream, and Montgomery Inn Ribs, Bob Hope’s favorite, as well as several world-class restaurants).

Just a block away from our office is Kenwood Towne Centre, Cincinnati’s premier shopping destination with 180 specialty retailers including Williams-Sonoma, J. Crew, Coach, as well as three department stores. But if antiques are more up your alley, it’s a short trip to both Waynesville and Lebanon where you’ll discover architectural gems as well as many of the best antique shops in the metro area.

For family fun, visit the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden (rated one of the best zoos in the nation), pet the sharks at the Newport Aquarium, or spend the day at the Kings Island amusement park or the Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park. Cincinnati is also home to a wide range of museums, including three at the historic Union Terminal: Duke Energy Children’s Museum, Museum of Natural History & Science and the Cincinnati History Museum, and the Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater.

The Cincinnati Art Museum, located in beautiful Eden Park, offers free admission to see more than 60,000 objects, spanning 6,000 years of world art. Also in Eden Park is Krohn Conservatory, a nationally recognized showcase of more than 1,000 plant species from around the world. And in downtown Cincinnati, you’ll find the Taft Museum of Art, The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, The Cincinnati Fire Museum, the Contemporary Arts Center and more.

For more information on Cincinnati and her attractions (and a hotel locator), visit cincinnatiusa.com. And to return to the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks Traveling Hand Tool Event post, click here.

— Megan Fitzpatrick

Like most woodworkers, I've been to my fair share of woodworking shows. I've bought the $5 router bits that fell off a truck. I've been wowed by the Sham Wow. I've eaten too many cheese fries.

So here's a word of advice: The best all-around woodworking show I've attended is the Northeastern Woodworkers Association Showcase in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. I've attended this show twice, and I'm bummed that I can't make it this year.

What makes this show special? The association has really found the right balance of education, inspiration and commerce. You can easily spend two days at the show soaking up a ton of information. Here are some details of the show, which runs March 28 and 29.

Education: Except for the time they hired me to demonstrate, the Showcase brings in real top-shelf demonstrators who are running lectures the entire weekend. This year you can meet (and learn from) W. Patrick Edwards, a brilliant and talented marquetry expert. Also, Jim Tolpin, one of my favorite authors. Adam Cherubini will be there to talk about period woodworking (let's hope he brings along some of his saws and chisels). And turner Molly Winton.

But that's only some of the education offered at the Showcase. In past years, the members have set up booths where volunteers were demonstrating carving, turning and a whole host of jigs and fixtures.

Inspiration: Almost one-third of the floor space at the Showcase is devoted to displaying the work of the members. There are hundreds of pieces to look at, everything from casework, to canoes, to guitars, to pens turned from corncobs. Some of the work is done by beginners; others is done by people with extraordinary skills. I spent about six hours browsing this area of the show.

Commerce: The show floor is great. There are lots of local and national vendors. Lie-Nielsen and Veritas have been there. JapaneseTools.com. DMT. Several local lumber dealers. Plus guys selling vintage tools.

Ah, two more things: If you go, be sure to check out the bar attached to the hotel restaurant. It has – hands down – the best selection of Belgian ales I've ever seen (except for one place in Philadelphia where I spent a bleary evening with Cherubini).

And finally: Saratoga Springs is beautiful. It's a charming old town in a bucolic setting. The main street is dotted with excellent shops and restaurants. In other words, your family will be glad you took them.

For more details, check out the event's web site.

— Christopher Schwarz

The afternoon is quickly fading to evening in Roy Underhill’s shop in Pittsboro, N.C. And as the shadows across the workbenches grow longer from the windows facing Hillsoboro Street, Underhill announces he is going outside to do some sharpening.

He pulls a foot-powered grindstone out onto the sidewalk and fetches a coffee cup filled with water to drip on the stone. And as the evening car traffic builds in the street, he cranks the stone and sharpens a wide firmer chisel.

About 30 seconds into the job a mother and her toddler wander up to the grindstone. The little boy stares intently at Underhill as he grinds a new bevel on the chisel. Then Underhill stops and looks up – not at the mother, but at the boy.

“This is sandstone,” he tells the boy, as if he’s addressing an adult. “I use it to sharpen things like scissors. Or maybe an axe so I can chop down a tree.”

The boy says it must be hard – really hard – to sharpen. Underhill just smiles.

That’s because if Underhill’s plan works, his latest endeavor will make it easier for the next generation to enjoy hand-tool woodworking.

“This is not about the past,” Underhill says, his arms spread wide toward the 10 beech European workbenches lined up on his shop’s floor. “Well yes, of course it’s about the past in one sense. But it’s really about the future. The objective is the future.”

Then he pauses for a moment, and you know that something important is coming.

“If you have a hobby,” he says, “why not make it an ethical one – as opposed to one that is noise-making, planet-damaging and waistline-expanding?”

Roy Underhill, host of “The Woodwright’s Shop” TV show, has opened a woodworking school in the small but artistically inclined town of Pittsboro, N.C. The hamlet of about 2,500 is right outside the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle and is a nice assemblage of tidy old homes and active storefronts.

Next door to Underhill’s place, called The Woodwright’s School, there’s an ice cream parlor. Unofficially they have the best chocolate malts ever. To the rear of the school is a cozy bar that serves Red Oak, a locally brewed beer. Plus, there are antique shops, a music store, barber shop and photographer who has Barbie issues (ask Mr. Underhill about that).

“Even the people who live here say it’s Mayberry,” Underhill says. “How about another piece of cherry pie?”

The Woodwright’s School is an ambitious venture. Not only is it a tough time to start a business, but how about a school that focuses on hand work exclusively? All the woodworking tools in Underhill’s shop are powered by cholesterol (or alcohol). The closest thing to a table saw you’ll find is a Graves foot-powered treadle circular saw (want one) and a treadle lathe and scroll saw.

“This should look like you have stepped back into a shop class in the 1930s,” he says.

There are 10 German Hoffman and Hammer workbenches, and each is equipped with a basic set of tools for joinery (and everything is sharp – I looked). The walls are decorated with old prints and photos (FDR). There’s a huge old radio at the back of the shop. If you can ignore the digital camera attached to one bench, it really does look like an old shop.

As a result, there are a few rules for students when they bring tools to his classes. No tape measures are allowed. Or plastic-handled chisels. Or Japanese-tooth saws.

“We’re going to be doing English-style joinery,” he says. “You wouldn’t build a shoji screen with a big Disston. That would be like stir-frying grits.”

Then he thinks about it for a second.

“We’re trying to do early music with the original instruments,” he says.

The first music is being made this weekend (February 2009) with a series of one-day classes on basic joinery. Those will lead to classes on building a tool chest. And Underhill says he’s going to bring in other instructors as well.

Those people will teach a class for a week and then Underhill will shoot a segment with them during the weekend for “The Woodwright’s Shop.”

The other different aspect of Underhill’s school is that he wants to ensure that locals, especially young locals, get plenty of opportunity to take classes. That’s why he’s planning shops that will run on weekends or, for example, on consecutive Thursday nights.

“We’ll see,” he says. “We’ll see if I can get people to do this sort of stuff.”

— Christopher Schwarz

P.S. The school doesn’t have a web site yet (hey, it’s the 1930s OK?). If you want to get on Underhill’s mailing list to learn about future classes, send your request to woodwrightroy@gmail.com.

First the bad news: All of the spots at Roy Underhill's new woodworking school in Pittsboro, N.C., are all filled. But here's the good news: He'll be scheduling more classes soon, as soon as he gets the next television season's shooting schedule finalized.

And more good news: I'm traveling to the school next week to shoot some photos for an upcoming article that Underhill is writing for us, and I'll give you a full report on the facility, the tools and the workbenches.

The school – called The Woodwright's School – has been in the works for some time now, and Underhill says it is a logical extension of what he's been doing his entire adult life.

"I began teaching woodworking over 30 years ago and continued – in a way – when I was master housewright at Colonial Williamsburg," Underhill wrote in an e-mail. "Now I'm returning to it with my own place equipped with vintage hand tools and an atmosphere that takes you back to the 1930s.

"The Woodwright's School will give me a chance to learn from my students and from the other craftsmen who join me there. I look forward to working with folks of all ages, and I'll know that the school is a success when I have as many young people as I do retirees in the classes. Another step forward for subversive woodworking!"

If you want to sign up for his e-mail newsletter so you can be notified of future classes, click here. In the meantime, enjoy these photos he sent along of his facility.

— Christopher Schwarz

One shot of the exterior of The Woodwright's School.

Roy Underhill looking ready to work in the new school.

A nice romantic shot of Pittsboro, N.C.

There are still some spots available in the class on handplanes that Thomas Lie-Nielsen and I are teaching in April at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. This is the only class I am teaching in 2009.

The weekend class is April 25-26 at the school, which is just south of Indianapolis. The class is fast paced because Thomas and I cover a lot of ground about the history, theory and use of handplanes. And students get plenty of hands-on time to put the lessons into practice on the excellent Lie-Nielsen cabinetmaker's workbenches at the school.

Here, in a nutshell, are the major areas we cover.

• Handplane anatomy and geometry. Thomas and I dissect the different types of bench planes and explain their differences and similarities. We also debate the practical differences between bevel-up and bevel-down planes. We also delve into the geometry of the tool and explain the trade-offs you'll have to make with your angle of attack, the effort to use the tool and the amount of tear-out you're experiencing.

• Sharpening. We show you what real (not theoretical) sharpening looks like in the shop. We take a new plane iron from the wrapper and prepare for use it in about five minutes. We also show you how to get a curved cutting edge (essential to bench plane work), and how to get extremely straight edges on your chisels and joinery plane irons. After the lecture, all the students put the knowledge to use by sharpening their own plane irons.

• Use. Learn to flatten a board with handplanes, whether it's rough from the sawmill or fresh from an electric planer. We show you how to detect and remove twist and cupping from a board using historically accurate techniques. Then every student gets to put these principles into practice on their own board.

• Your questions. Every year, the students' questions also fill up a significant amount of time. Some years we emphasize joinery planes. Other years we discuss moulding planes, specialty planes, tool maintenance, rust, manufacturing tolerances, rehabbing old tools, tools in the works at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks and so forth.

• A Tour of the Toolworks. Thomas always brings a great video that shows how he makes his tools, from casting to polishing and assembly. He narrates the whole thing and takes questions as he goes. If you've ever wondered how your planes are made, you'll find out. Plus Thomas is always happy to sign your tools. (And me, I'll sign anything.)

The class is $300. You can register online at marcadams.com through this link or you can call 317-535-4013. You can learn more about the school and other excellent classes there through this link.

— Christopher Schwarz

Truth is, I barely remember our Woodworking in America conference in Berea, Ky. The whole thing is a blur. And that has nothing – nothing – to do with all the beverages that people thoughtfully brought to me (one bottle of whisky, two cases of Canadian beer and very special bottle of Belgian ale – thanks Blaine).

All of us were working hard to keep the conference running smoothly that we had little time to sit down and listen to all the fantastic instructors we'd assembled there. Thank goodness for all the bloggers who brought their video cameras. I've been watching every filmed seminar (except mine, ugh) during the evenings.

If you want a list of links to people who are blogging about their experience in Berea, jump on over to our special page for that event. We're updating it regularly.

Today I actually got a chance to review the 500 or so photos we took during the conference. Associate editor Drew DePenning has whittled them down (how many photos do you really need to see of Managing Editor Megan Fitzpatrick with a drink in her hand?) and assembled them into a slideshow on Flickr. Jump here to take a look.

It's an interesting tour of the events of that long weekend, and it made me wish I had been an attendee instead of a staff member. Oh well; maybe next year. At least I have my St. Bernardus as a souvenir.

— Christopher Schwarz

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For the last few weeks I've been joking around that our woodshop has turned into a sweatshop. As of this morning, I don't think that joke is funny any more.

For the last few weeks the staff, lead by Senior Editor Robert W. Lang, has been building all the appliances and jigs that the instructors need for the hands-on clinics at our Woodworking in America conference next week. Oh, and we've also been milling the lumber that the attendees will be sawing, chopping, paring and planing.

There are bench hooks, planing boards, saw-filing vises and myriad other jiggery piled up everywhere in the shop. The jigs were built using poplar we had in the wood rack, ash left over from Lang's "21st Century Workbench" and even some cherry buried in the bottom of the rack that I'd bought to build my wall-hung tool chest.

I'm glad to see that cherry go, actually. As part of the deal I struck with the seller years ago, I bought 90 board feet of low-quality stuff to buy a load of amazingly wide, clear and beautiful black cherry.

We've enlisted everyone, from Publisher Steve Shanesy on down to Drew DePenning, our associate editor for the web, to help screw, nail and glue parts together. Thanks to all the help, I'm sure we're going to make our deadline. That is, as soon as I get my hinder away from the computer and screw together about 38 saw-filing vises.

Or maybe we're not done yet. This morning 250 board feet of poplar arrived at our loading dock. Maybe there are more jigs to build.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Hand Tool Events put on by Lie-Nielsen Toolworks are a great place to pick up new skills, learn about hand tools and test drive a wide variety of serious ductile and bronze beauties.

I've attended a good number of these events and have met some great people and learned quite a few things myself. I got to watch Michel Auriou make a hand-stitched rasp. I saw how Steve Latta makes stringing. I test drove Konrad Sauer's infill planes. And I lost a sawing contest with John Economaki of Bridge City Tools.

What I quite like about these free weekend events is that they are not just about hawking merchandise. There's no guy trying to sell you a magic broom or hustle you to buy some $4 router bits. The events are low-key – it's more like attending the opening of an art show than buying a used car.

This year, Lie-Nielsen has expanded the show schedule, including an event at our offices at Popular Woodworking in May. We'll also be exhibiting and demonstrating at the Chicago show. The Lie-Nielsen folks are still lining up the demonstrators for each show, so check in with the company's web site for details from time to time.

This weekend, the first event of the season will be at Fine Woodworking magazine in western Connecticut. If you go, be sure to stop by Mike Pekovich's bench and check out his demonstration on dovetail joinery – he's got some really interesting things to say about stance that I think you'll find interesting. Also, Matt Kenney, also from Fine Woodworking, will demonstrate shooting boards and miter jacks. Bob Van Dyke, director of the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, will demonstrate saws and chisels. Chris Becksvoort will demonstrate at the Hand Planing Interactive Station. And John Economaki, the founder of Bridge City Toolworks, will have a display of tools to try.

Here's the schedule for the rest of 2008 and 2009. We hope to see you this spring.

2008
Newtown, Conn., Oct. 3-4, Taunton Press
Lancaster, Pa., Oct. 24-25, Thadeus Stevens College
Sturbridge, Mass., Dec. 5-6, Sturbridge Host Hotel

2009
Austin, Texas, Jan. 9-10, TBD
Costa Mesa, Calif., Jan. 23-24, Orange Coast College
Oakland, Calif., Feb. 13-14, The Crucible (Date may change)
Calgary, Canada, March 6-7, TBD
Vancouver, Canada, March 27-28, TBD
Toronto, Canada, April 17-18, TBD
Chicago, May 1-2, Jeff Miller Handcrafted Furniture
Cincinnati, May 16-17, Popular Woodworking magazine

— Christopher Schwarz

This fall, our magazine is sponsoring the first-ever weekend conference devoted to hand tools and learning to use them.

We're calling it the Woodworking in America conference, and we'll be bringing together the country's best hand-tool woodworkers and manufacturers for a symposium in Berea, Ky., on Nov. 14-16.

There will be more than 40 short classes on tools and techniques during the long weekend, plus a marketplace where toolmakers can display (and sell) their wares, social events with the demonstrators and toolmakers and more.

So who is going to be there? Here's the list of people who have agreed to teach seminars during Woodworking in America as of this date (with more to come):

Roy Underhill: Known as "St. Roy" to the legion of fans who watch "The Woodwright's Shop" on PBS, Roy worked at Colonial Williamsburg and then launched his show about traditional hand tools.

Frank Klausz: One of the country's consummate craftsmen, Frank is a professional New Jersey cabinetmaker who trained in Hungary and has a lifetime of experience with the full range of handwork.

Michael Dunbar: Founder of The Windsor Institute, Michael has single handedly revived the craft of building Windsor chairs, has trained thousands of woodworkers and is a passionate student of the art and history of handcraft.

Adam Cherubini: The author of Popular Woodworking's popular "Arts & Mysteries" column, Adam is a devoted 18th-century woodworker who builds period pieces using period tools.

James Blauvelt: A Connecticut cabinetmaker, joiner and carpenter, James owns Bluefield Joiners and is a student and teacher of Japanese tools and traditions.

Robin Lee: The president of Lee Valley Tools in Ottawa, Ontario, Robin has been a driving force behind the expansion of the Veritas line of premium handplanes and a caretaker of the company's immense tool collection.

Thomas Lie-Nielsen: The founder of Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, Me., Thomas has been making and selling premium traditional hand tools for 27 years. Thomas's company was the trailblazer in reviving many traditional forms of tools that had been lost.

Larry Williams and Don McConnell: Two of the principals behind Clark & Williams in Eureka Springs, Ark., Larry and Don are bottomless wells of information about traditional tools and their workings. Both are accomplished woodworkers, planemakers and tool historians.

John Economaki: The founder of Bridge City Tool Works in Portland, Ore., John has long been a pioneer in developing new (and very beautiful) forms of hand tools for woodworkers.

Konrad Sauer: The owner of Sauer & Steiner Toolworks in Ontario, Konrad is one of the leading makers of custom infill handplanes.

Wayne Anderson:Wayne specializes in designing and building custom infill handplanes that are deeply rooted in the past but are each a completely original work of art.

Ron Hock: One of the earliest and most important players in the revival of handtools, Ron makes high-quality replacement plane irons, chipbreakers and marking knives in Ft. Bragg, Calif.

Mike Wenzloff: The founder of Wenzloff & Sons sawmakers in Forest Grove, Ore., Mike is a long-time woodworker and expert in saws and saw sharpening. His premium saw business has exploded in the last two years.

Joel Moskowitz: The founder of Tools for Working Wood and an expert on woodworking history, Joel has recently been making many traditional hand tools, as well as selling them through his catalog and web site.

Clarence Blanchard: The publisher of "The Fine Tool Journal" and the president of Brown Auction Services, Clarence sees more old tools in a week than most of us see in a lifetime.

Kevin Drake: After studying under James Krenov at the College of the Redwoods, Kevin founded Glen-Drake Toolworks, where he combines woodworking, toolmaking and education. His innovative tools have received numerous awards; we named his Tite-Mark one of the "Best 12 Tools Ever." 

If you are interested in attending, please visit the web site that is dedicated to this conference at WoodworkinginAmerica.com and sign up for the conference's newsletter (the sign-up box is on the top right of the page). You'll then be the first to be notified of when registration will open (it will be before July 1) and the pricing for this event.

Attendance will be limited to a few hundred people (we want to keep the event intimate and manageable), so be sure to register as soon as slots become available. We are expecting the conference to sell out.

There are more announcements and surprises ahead that I cannot share with you right now, so please stay tuned to the blog and the conference's newsletter.

— Christopher Schwarz

A few years ago, I attended the Woodworkers Showcase show in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and I was amazed. It was the most perfect woodworking show I had ever attended. Why? Because of four things.

1. The free classes and seminars were extraordinary. That year I learned more about cold-bending from Jere Osgood and furniture design from Garrett Hack in a single day than I'd learned by reading (too many) books.

2. An amazing display of furniture, turnings and other objects (even a canoe!) that were built by the members of the club who put on the show, the Northeastern Woodworker's Association.

3. Hands-on displays and demonstrations of jigs, fixtures, carving and sash-making that were ongoing the entire weekend.

4. And, of course, booths and booths of vendors selling new equipment and vintage tools.

And amazingly, admission for all this was just $7 for adults.

This year, I was asked to demonstrate at the Woodworkers Showcase – a huge honor – on April 5 and 6. It's this coming weekend at the Saratoga Springs City Center. Click here for information on the event.

I'll be demonstrating the scraper sharpening technique I developed after plumbing the historical record, and I'll be showing off the three kinds of handsaw cuts that I discuss in the newest issue of Woodworking Magazine.

In addition to my demonstrations, you can also catch demos from chip-carver Wayne Barton, box-maker and instructor Doug Stowe (ask him about Sloyd if you see him) and Peter Korn, who runs the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship and is a talented woodworker. Plus, there will be demonstrations from members of the club on every topic imaginable, from marquetry to miniatures to turning to rustic furniture construction.

When I'm not teaching, I'll be in a booth selling a few books, magazines and DVDs. If you're at the show, do stop by and say hello.

If you live anywhere in the northeast, this is a show that shouldn't be missed. People drive from all over the eastern seaboard to attend the Woodworkers Showcase. It's worth it (heck – I flew up from Cincinnati when I first attended).

Hope to see you there.

— Christopher Schwarz

There are still spaces left for a week-long summer course in handsawing at the Northwest Woodworking School in Portland, Ore. It is the only class I'm teaching this year that has not sold out.

During the five days of instruction I'll be diving deeply into saws and joinery – weaving together the historical facts about the art that I've dug up with the hands-on exercises I've been practicing since I picked up my first handsaw at age 8.

Unlike my other weekend classes on sawing, I'll be covering the entire gamut of the craft, from breaking down rough stock with an 8-point crosscut handsaw to cutting dovetails that are tight and made with a minimum of fuss. (I've actually just posted a blog entry on dovetail cutting angles on my personal blog that you might find interesting.)

The other interesting aspect of this course is we explore the joinery planes that are used in conjunction with handsaws to make perfect – and I mean perfect – hand-cut tenons, half-laps, dados, notches and sliding dovetails. (In other words, you'll finally learn what your router plane is really good for.)

Plus, we'll be building two projects: a traditional English sawbench for your shop and a hand-dovetailed silverware tray for your family.

The class runs from July 14 to 18 and costs $725 plus the materials for the sawbench and silverware tray. You can read more information about the class at the Northwest Woodworking Studio's web site. Or you can drop me a line via e-mail if you have any questions.

Hope you can join us. If you'd like to see photos of past classes I've taught on sawing, check out this link to a weekend class I taught recently at Kelly Mehler's School of Woodworking and a one-day seminar at the Woodcraft in Sterling Heights, Mich. Also, there's a short podcast about the class at Matt's Basement Workshop you can listen to. Matt Vanderlist, the host of the shop, was one of the students in the Woodcraft show. (He made some wicked-tight half-laps.)

— Christopher Schwarz

Thanks to the maturing of my two daughters (and the waning of the “Days of Dark Diapers”), I’ve decided to teach two more rounds of handsawing classes in 2008 – two one-day classes in Sterling Heights, Mich.; and a one-week intensive class at the Northwest Woodworking Studio in Portland, Ore.

As of now, there are spaces available in all of these three classes. Here are the details and link to the schools where you can register:

Hand-cut Dovetails
Saturday, March 15
Woodcraft, Sterling Heights, Mich.
To register, send an email to: sterlingheights-retail@woodcraft.com or call 586-268-1919.

Learn to saw dovetails by hand while building a cherry Shaker silverware tray with through-dovetails. You'll learn to lay out your dovetails so they look nice, saw them accurately, chisel out the waste quickly, and fit them right the first time (plus, how to hide any mistakes). This is a great class for first-time dovetailers or anyone who has struggled to learn this classic hand-cut joint.

The Forgotten Art of Handsawing
Sunday, March 16
Woodcraft, Sterling Heights, Mich.
To register, send an email to: sterlingheights-retail@woodcraft.com or call 586-268-1919.

In this class, you'll learn to use handsaws and backsaws to track a line like a bloodhound. With a series of special exercises, you will learn to make the three different classes of sawcuts: rough cutting for dimensioning stock, standard cutting for final sizing of casework pieces and fine cutting for precision joinery. You'll learn the proper stance, grip and body motion for accurate sawcuts and receive the instant feedback and corrections from an instructor that will make you develop your skills quickly. You will also build a basic sawbench - the most important workshop appliance for handsaws.

Handsawing, Handsaws and Sawbenches
July 14-18
Northwest Woodworking Studio, Portland, Ore.

In a traditional shop, sawing was reserved for the most skilled cabinetmakers on the floor. Most anyone could use a plane or chisel, but it was the sawyers who transformed the timber into furniture with rips, crosscuts and joinery.

And though we now have accurate power equipment in our workshops, sawing by hand is still a tremendous skill that – when done properly -- can save time and effort. That’s because handsawing can be done without jigs or guides and without regard to the angle of the cut or its bevel. In short, if you can see the line, you can cut the line with a handsaw.

Honing this simple skill allows you to easily cut compound angles, angled joinery and cuts that might take hours of jig-building and test-cutting on a table saw. And, as a bonus, learning basic sawing trains your hand, eye and mind to cut any sort of dovetail joint you can imagine.

In this class, you’ll learn to use handsaws and backsaws to cut joints as precisely as any power tool. With a series of special exercises, you will learn to make the three different classes of sawcuts: rough cutting for dimensioning stock, standard cutting for final sizing of casework pieces and fine cutting for precision joinery.

You’ll learn the proper stance, grip and body motions for accurate sawcuts and receive the instant feedback and corrections that will make you develop your skills quickly. During the first part of the class you will build a basic sawbench – the most important workshop appliance for handsaws – and a bench hook – the most important appliance for wielding a backsaw.

With your appliances built and your handsaw skills in place, we’ll dive into dovetails during the second half of the week. We’ll explore both English and Continental styles of making this joint (both are valid) so you can find the approach that is right for your work. And at the end of the week we’ll build a simple dovetailed Shaker silverware tray.

— Christopher Schwarz

Kelly Mehler has opened the registration for his 2008 classes, including three classes that I’ll be teaching on precision handsawing, planecraft and building the Holtzapffel workbench from Issue 8 of Woodworking Magazine.

There are still spots available (as of this posting). If the classes fill up, I encourage you to sign up for the waiting list. People’s schedules change and so many of the people on the waiting list get in.

Before I drone on about the classes I’m teaching, I also want to point out that Larry Williams and Don McConnell of Clark & Williams will be teaching a class on making wooden moulding planes at Kelly Mehler’s school on Feb. 25-29. I would take this class if I had the time in my schedule available. These two gentlemen are a living treasure, and the way they build these tools is without compromise or shortcut.

OK, now for the self-serving part of the entry that helps keep my children in Nikes.

Precision Handsawing: March 1-2
This is one of my favorite weekend classes to teach because I think there is so much to learn about sawing and sawtooth technology. During the weekend, we’ll be learning all about an English-style of sawing (though you don’t have to use Western saws to do it). And we’ll be building a traditional sawbench. That’s a good thing, because I keep giving my sawbenches away to woodworkers as gifts.

Building Furniture With Handplanes: June 14-15
This is a new weekend class that I’ve developed based on requests from other woodworkers. Many handplane classes focus on the bench planes but they ignore the joinery planes and how to actually use the tools to build furniture. In this class, we’ll learn a bit about sharpening and a great deal about using both bench planes and joinery planes, such as rabbet planes, plow planes, router planes and shoulder planes. And we’re going to use all these planes to build a Shaker silverware tray.

Build the Holtzapffel Workbench: Sept. 8-13
This six-day class is going to be the highlight of my fall. We’re going to build the Holtzapffel Cabinetmaker’s Workbench, the bench on the cover of Issue 8 and the bench I use in my shop at home. I’ve modified the construction process slightly so we’ll be building benches that can be knocked down and shipped back to your home when we’re done. You’ll be able to build the bench in ash, yellow pine or maple. We’re going to source all the wood for you and do the brutal machining before you arrive so the first day we’ll be gluing up the top.

If you have any questions about the classes, feel free to drop me a line. Also, I’ll soon be posting my schedule with the Marc Adams School of Woodworking as well.

— Christopher Schwarz

During the last few years I’ve begun to teach classes at schools that I really like, such as the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Ind., and Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking in Berea, Ky. But the funny thing is that just because I’m now a teacher, I also really like to take woodworking classes.

In fact, if it weren’t for woodworking classes, I might not be the editor of this magazine.

In 1992, a close friend and I started building furniture in his basement. We were really, really serious about it, but we really, really stank at it. No matter how many books or magazines or TV shows we consumed, our cutting boards, side tables and umbrella stands looked like dogmeat.

Then my buddy, Chris Poore, twisted my arm to take a night class in woodworking at the University of Kentucky. Taught by Lynn Sweet in a big industrial building (probably a converted tobacco warehouse), the class was a completely intimidating idea. But Chris can be persuasive. He even talked his wife, Lee, into taking the class with us.

After one week, I knew that this was going to be my life’s work.

Classes are a fantastic way to learn. You can ask questions. You aren’t interrupted by life. You can focus on the task at hand and get immediate feedback. So I’ve continued to take classes, including a couple chairmaking classes, a class in advanced dovetails and a class in boat-building. In 2008, I really, really want to take a class at Mike Dunbar’s Windsor Institute.

If you’ve ever wanted to get a small taste of what a class is like, I highly recommend you check out a weekend seminar at a local woodworking store, or (at the least) take a gander at this slideshow Kelly Mehler posted on his site from our class last week. Good stuff.

— Christopher Schwarz

Most woodworkers I know aspire to cut their dovetails by hand. It is, for many of us, a self-imposed rite of passage to good craftsmanship. I’ve always tried not to encourage this attitude, because I think most woodworkers go about learning dovetails all wrong.

I’m not talking about cutting pins-first or tails-first, I’m talking about tenons-first. Or how about cutting straight lines first? Then maybe cutting some slanted lines? Instead most woodworkers buy a dovetail saw, read a magazine article (or 10,000 magazine articles) and try to cut them – typically with miserable results. It’s no wonder that there are hundreds of jigs out there today that help our power tools duplicate joints that could be cut simply with a good sharp backsaw.

This week I wrapped up teaching a class on the fundamentals of hand work at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking in Berea, Ky. And though we spent an entire day learning about handsaws and two days cutting joints, we didn’t cut a single dovetail. Heck we barely discussed them.

Instead, we worked on learning the historical tricks and techniques for cutting straight and true. And on the second day of sawing we held a little contest: The students had 30 minutes to cut a perfect tenon and put it on my bench. (The best tenon won its sawyer a cutting gauge.) Most of them had never cut a tenon by hand, but after 30 minutes, almost ever student placed a tenon on my bench that any router woodworker would be proud of. I put the dial caliper on them and found them all consistent within a few thousandths of an inch.

So how can you learn to saw? I’ve written an article for Lee Valley Tool’s newsletter that will introduce you to the three classes of sawcuts and how to accomplish them. Most woodworkers make it difficult on themselves to cut perfect tenon shoulders and cheeks. Your knife and a chisel can make things much easier. Lee Valley has archived the article on its web site.

I’ve also developed a list of nine rules for sawing that might also help. These are tricks that other people have taught me or ones I’ve found in books.

Nine Rules of Sawing
1. Use a relaxed grip on the tote. Clenching the handle will push you off your line. Pretend you are holding a baby bird and that you are trying to keep it in your hand without crushing it. That’s about right.

2. Extend your index finger out on the tote. The handle was built for a three-fingered grip, and extending your index finger is good to do with any user-guided tool.

3. Always work so your sawing elbow swings free like a steam locomotive. Don’t work with your arm rubbing your body or move it at an angle to the back of your saw.

4. Whenever possible, work so you can see your line. Try not to let the blade of the saw obscure the line.

5. Use minimal downward pressure. Allow the saw’s weight to carry the cut.

6. Always imagine the saw is longer than it really is. This will fool you into using longer strokes, which will allow you to saw faster and wear your teeth evenly.

7. Whenever possible, advance on two lines (tenons, crosscutting, dovetailing at times). This increases your accuracy.

8. Always work right against a line. Never saw a certain distance away from a line.

9. Lifting the saw a tad on the return stroke clears your line of sawdust.

I was excited to see the results of the 11 students when they obeyed these rules. Even more exciting was that Kelly Mehler agreed to let me teach a weekend course this spring dedicated to sawing. More details to follow.

— Christopher Schwarz

One of the best and worst pieces of advice in woodworking goes something like this: Do the very best job that you possibly can.

On the one hand, you get just one shot to build your project. And then you (plus your family or customer) has to live with the furniture until it goes into a museum or the city dump. Of course, when you are first starting out in the craft, getting things perfect can be paralyzing.

This last week I spent a week teaching 18 students at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking the fundamentals of handplanes, saws and chisels. It began, like all classes on hand work, with a day of sharpening. And the sharpening continued all five days as we worked our way through the basic steps.

As a result, I got to observe dozens of edges of chisels, scrapers and plane irons from (mostly) beginning sharpeners. All day long, students would hand me tools and ask: “Is this edge good enough?”

The edges weren’t perfect. There would be a few coarse scratches running through the polished bevels. The edges looked like the ones I’d sharpened during my first class on hand work 14 years ago. So I’d point out the scratches to them to help them train their eyes to spot them. But then I’d almost always tell them to stop sharpening and put the edge to work.

“Really?” they would say. “That’s a decent edge?”

They answered their own question when they went to work. Modern waterstones make it easy to get a good edge with just a handful of stokes. The edge might not look like a mirror, but it will cut great.

I write all this not to be boastful about my sharpening skills. I’ve seen edges from other woodworkers, such as Harrelson Stanley of JapaneseTools.com, that are in the same neighborhood where perfection lives (I think I might live in the same state). Instead I write all this to show how it has absolutely terrified me as I assemble a sideboard in my shop in my basement.

Tonight I’m going to glue up the carcase, and so I’m examining the project with care, looking for imperfections that I should remedy before glue gets involved. Everything looks perfect. The joints are airtight. The surfaces are gleaming – nay, luminous – from my smoothing plane. But after a week of teaching I know that the case has problems somewhere, but that I simply cannot see them.

So I have to take my own advice: Get out the glue bottle and go to work. The carcase might not be as perfect as the ones I’ve seen in the galleries and museums, but it is perfect today.

— Christopher Schwarz

Mr. Peel was shaped exactly like one of the Fisher-Price Little People, he jangled his keys in his pockets nonstop and he had a reputation as a tyrannical shop teacher at Chaffin Junior High School in Fort Smith, Ark.

My friends would talk in the school's lunchroom about how every student had to get a single board straight, square and flat using hand tools before they could proceed to building anything in shop class. Creating this "perfect board" was daunting for most students, and I was glad at the time that I was exempt from shop class (and Spanish class – whew) because I was in the journalism program.

Since junior high, I've heard about other shop class teachers who had a similar exercise, and the "perfect board" is part of the teaching at The College of the Redwoods and Rosewood Studios. During the last few months, I've added this exercise to the classes I teach on handplaning and it has been illuminating for me – and I hope for the students.

We don't start with rough wood (these are one- or two-day seminars). Instead I start with pieces of mild cherry or walnut that is ¾" x 6" x 14" and has been accurately jointed and planed on both faces. I quite like using machined wood for the exercise because it points out how machining a board might not make it flat enough for some work.

I instruct the students how to plane a true face using a cambered iron in a jointer plane and then how to use the camber to true both edges to the true face without creating a big hump in the middle. They don't have to smooth the faces and edges to perfection (though extra points are awarded for those who do) – so it's a good exercise even if you have only a jointer or jack plane.

Then the students submit the board to my straightedge and ruler. I show them the problem areas – where the light is leaking under the measuring equipment– I mark the high spots in chalk and send them back to the bench. It usually takes them a few attempts, but I'm always amazed that they manage to correct the problems once they can see them marked in chalk on the board.

If you've never tried this exercise, I think you should. Give it a shot and report back here on the Comments section below.

Now I'm not yet shaped like Mr. Peel; though after pizza last night and the endless web site coding of the last two months I am heavier and balder. And I hope never to twitch like he does, which was why he kept his hand on his keys I suppose. But I am entirely sympathetic to his "perfect board" exercise.

I just hope my students aren't talking about me in the lunchroom.

— Christopher Schwarz

Designing or purchasing a good workbench is one of the most vexing problems facing woodworkers. The correct combination of materials, overall dimensions and vises is the difference between a workbench that will add speed and fluidity to your work and one that will stand in your way of doing anything with ease.

For the last 10 years, I've been studying workbench design, construction and use; and I've built more than 10 different workbenches to test the theories and historical research. I've written a book on the topic that will be published in late 2007, but you can get a preview of the work at a seminar devoted to workbenches at 10 a.m. July 14 at the Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, Maine.

During this four-hour seminar, I'll present the findings using a combination of historical photos and modern recreations of centuries-old workbench designs. I’ll be demonstrating my latest workbench endeavor, a late 19th-century design from Charles Holtzapffel. And I’ll be critiquing workbench designs from attendees at the seminar – so please bring photographs of your current workbench or drawings of the bench you plan to build. I'll try to show you how to improve your existing bench or alter your design to make it ideal for working with power tools, hand tools or a combination of the two.

In addition to the personalized critiques, all attendees will receive a complete printed plan and drawings for the Holtzapffel bench, which won’t be available to the public until the fall.

If you’ve ever been stymied by the vast number of workbench designs available, this seminar will help you understand workbenches in the simplest terms possible so that the next bench you build (or buy) will be your last bench.

To register or for more details, visit the Lie-Nielsen web site.

— Christopher Schwarz

Last year I got to spend a couple days in the tool collection of John Sindelar, an Edwardsburg, Mich., tool collector and professional woodworker. It's one of the most unusual tool collections I've ever seen – the sheer number of world-class one-of-a-kind tools in the collection is staggering.

You know those drool-inducing books on fine tools by Sandor Nagyszalanczy? Well Sindelar owns a lot of those tools and tens of thousands more like them. I've written an article on his collection for the August 2007 issue of Popular Woodworking, but you don't have to wait that long to see it for yourself.

Sindelar is opening his doors to the public for two-day complete and utter blowout June 9-10 at his shop in southwest Michigan – a very beautiful patch of the world near Lake Michigan. I'm going to be there showing off my latest workbench (and no, it's not the English Workbench – but more on that later) and doing hand joinery demonstrations.

But I'm just an insignificant sideshow compared to what else is going on. Konrad Sauer, the infill maker, will be there showing off his planes and doing sharpening demos, as will legendary plow plane maker Jim Leamy (Sindelar probably has more Leamy planes than anyone on the planet). Dexter Adams from ChemCraft will be doing demonstrations on finishing. Plus there will be tailgating. Not "eat a bratwurst" tailgating. I'm talking about tool tailgating. Where you can buy hand tools for better-than-eBay prices from dealers who know what they are talking about.

All this hullabaloo is part of Sindelar's effort to open up a tool museum for his collection, which could be located in Virginia, North Carolina or Pennsylvania. He's raising money and interest for the museum right now.

This is a fantastic vacation idea (I'm hoping to bring my family). That area of Michigan has lots of nice beaches for the family to enjoy while you are knee-deep in brass and rosewood. And Chicago is just right around the corner for a day trip. And if you are really into old tools, then you'll want to head up to the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association meeting June 14-16 in Milwaukee.

Below, you can download a flyer with more information and instructions on how to register (there's a measly $10 fee for the whole event).

Tool Meet Flyer 2007.pdf (592.13 KB)

— Christopher Schwarz

One of my favorite things to do is teach basic hand skills. Unlike some other aspects of the craft, face-to-face instruction is the fastest way to teach sharpening, planing, sawing and chiseling. That's most certainly the way I learned it. After reading extensively about all of these skills and trying them in my own shop at home, I always seemed to be missing something critical, and my success was always limited.   

What was missing? Immediate feedback from someone who knows what they are doing. Hand skills rely on body position, grip and subtle tool adjustment far more than routers or table saws do. Don't get me wrong, table saws can be used in an extremely subtle way, but the basic operations are easily learned by reading a manual or a book.

Not so with a hand saw. How tight is your grip? Where is your thumb and index finger? How much downward pressure are you using? Can you see your cut line? Where is your elbow? Your right foot? Your left eye? Those are just a few of the important details you must tend to in order to make a straight cut. Once you are shown the basic steps, however, you get it, and your skills start to rocket forward at a breathless clip.

When I taught at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking earlier this year, even I was astonished at how quickly the students (many of whom had never picked up a tenon saw) could cut tenons that were world class. Their success had nothing to do with their previous woodworking experience. I had one student who had been building highboys before I was born and another student who was just getting started in the craft that week. Both succeeded brilliantly.

This year I am teaching three classes that will focus on these basic skills with planes, saws and chisels. Two of the classes are at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in the spring of 2007 and one is at Kelly Mehler's School of Woodworking in the fall. All of the classes are a little different. The class with Thomas Lie-Nielsen focuses on handplanes.

• Hand Planes and Their Uses With Thomas Lie-Nielsen
May 5-6
Marc Adams School of Woodworking
I helped teach this class with Tom in 2006 and it was an intense and challenging experience. While Thomas and I see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues, we are different plane users and both bring different perspectives to sharpening, setup and use. During the weekend class, we go deep into the topic of plane setup. We deal with sharpening angles, back bevels, sole flatness, chipbreakers, you name it. We also discuss what each plane is good for in the shop. I think that some planes are kind of useless for the majority of us, and it's always interesting to hear that debate and decide for yourself. The students bring their tools and we help them tune and sharpen them during the two long days. This year David Charlesworth will be in a classroom next door teaching a class on dovetails and I expect that he will be involved in some discussions. By the way, it's easy to tell me and David apart (despite the teasings of Robin Lee, wink). He's the one with the British accent that makes our female editors swoon.

As to the other two calsses: "Hand Tool Fundamentals" at Marc Adams explores planes, chisels and saws with a very special emphasis on the workbench. And "Hand Tools: Saws, Chisels, Handplanes and Scrapers" deals with the tools in handwork and in building the appliances that make it far more accurate. For detailed class information, you can visit each school's web site or read all about it here at WKFineTools.com.

Whenever I teach classes, I do everything I can to make sure the students get a complete education. I am the first one in the classroom in the morning and the last one to turn out the lights at day's end. Plus, I am always up for a beer after class if you have more questions about anything in the realm of woodworking. If you have any questions about the classes, please feel free to drop me a line.

— Christopher Schwarz

One of the first projects I built for Popular Woodworking was an adaptation of Benjamin Seaton's tool chest. The chest is most notable because of what its owner did not do, which was to use the tools in the cabinetmaking trade. After completing the chest in 1797 and filling it with a nice kit of tools purchased a year earlier, Seaton turned his attention to other areas of business and worked as an upholsterer, auctioneer and undertaker.

Thanks to luck and a prosperous family, the chest and its contents now reside in the Guildhall Museum in Rochester, England, and are likely the best surviving example of what a kit of 18th century tools looked like.

There have always been some tools in the chest that have fascinated and confused me. The most vexing was the tenon saw, made by John Kenyon. The saw's blade is a whopping 19" long, yet the sawplate is quite thin: .026" in many places. By way of comparison, Lie-Nielsen's small dovetail saw has a sawplate of .020". The largest Lie-Nielsen saw, a 14" tenon saw, is .032" thick.

And this huge saw wasn't likely a custom job, either. The Sheffield Key, a catalog of English tools published a few years after Seaton built his chest, lists tenon saws as 16" or 19" long.

For years I assumed that a 19"-long saw would be difficult to use. It would weigh quite a bit, and the wide and long blade would be difficult to balance on the work and steer straight. And the thin sawplate would likely buckle if pushed too hard. Perhaps that is why modern tenon saws are smaller and thicker.

The last week or so has caused me to re-evaluate all that.

I asked sawmaker Mike Wenzloff to make me a copy of the Seaton tenon saw, as close a copy as we could manage. We had nice photographs of the saw, plus additional photos of another early Kenyon saw from an eBay auction. Another help was that The Tools and Trades Society took lots of measurements of the saws for the book "The Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton" (which is now out of print in the United States as far as I can tell).

When the saw first arrived I cut a half-dozen tenons with it, both big and small. The saw was remarkably well-behaved. It was easy to start. And the weight of the tool did most of the work – I just had to steer the thing. But the real revelation came last week while teaching a class on hand-tool fundamentals at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. None of the students was comfortable with hand-sawing, and so I gently encouraged some of them to give the Seaton saw a try to cut some of the joints we were working on. After all, they didn't know it was a freakishly huge saw.

To my surprise, every student that tried it took a shine to it. Each student got the tool to start easily, and had no difficulty tracking a line dead-on, despite its weight and size. Some of these students had never even attempted hand-sawn joinery. The sawplate did heat up in heavy use (these tenon cheeks were 2-1/2" x 2-1/2"). But the plate stayed true even in the hands of these beginners with less-than-perfect sawing skills. I did keep the saw lubricated with a little oil just in case.

So tonight I have my copy of "The Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton" out on my desk and am looking through it for other clues and revelations. I think I found another one: string.

—Christopher Schwarz

Everything I know that is worth a darn was taught to me by someone else who knew their stuff – planing, sawing and all my machine skills came from other woodworkers to whom I owe a huge debt. I try pass this knowledge on to our readers in the magazine, but sometimes it's quite frustrating because of the limited space and the format – words and still photos. Showing someone face-to-face how to shoot an edge square is simple; telling them about it in words and pictures is a challenge.

That's why I'm particularly pleased to tell you that I'll be teaching a class May 8-12 at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking outside Indianapolis. In this five-day class we'll be exploring how to blend hand and power tools to add accuracy and speed to many woodworking operations. These techniques work. The cabinet on the cover of the newest issue was built in less than 20 hours of shop time. And I was proud to sign the work as my own.

Despite the bravado of my sentences above, I'm a bit humbled by this teaching job. If you browse around the list of instructors that Marc Adams hand picks, you'll see what I mean. Heck, there are about a dozen class at the school in 2006 that I want to enroll in. But I'm going to give this my all. I've put a lot of thought into a curriculum that ties together many of the threads and themes you've seen in Woodworking Magazine. For information about the details of the class, visit this page about the curriculum.

As a preview, here are objectives of the course. If you have any questions, you know that you can of course email or call me. I'll be happy to chat with you about it.

Course Goals & Objectives
Wielded correctly, hand tools can make your work faster, your joints tighter and your sanding chores almost non-existent. The key is to select the right tool for the job, set it up correctly and use it properly. In this class you will learn to blend hand tool and machine operations in a way that fully exploits the strengths of every tool and machine. During the five days we are going to focus heavily on the bench plane system, mortise-and-tenon joints, drawboring, wedging, nailing and some curved work. To learn all of the principles of this system, you'll build a traditional sawbench/mortising stool from longleaf pine that will – at the end of the class – unlock yet another frontier of woodworking for you to explore in your shop at home.

Woodworkers of all skill levels are welcome; the only prerequisite I ask is that you have very basic sharpening skills. In a nutshell, here is what we will be covering during our five days together:

• Understanding bench planes. How to set up a fore plane, jointer plane and smoothing plane properly. We'll cover proper blade shapes, how to use the tools in the correct order, when to switch from one tool to the next and the proper strokes to develop flat stock. You'll learn how to incorporate machine jointers and planers into our work with bench planes so that your stock is flatter than most machines can make it, and it does not require power sanding. We'll also cover sharpening and using card scrapers and the politics of hand sanding.

• Advanced bench plane techniques. You'll learn to flatten glued-up panels, plane frame-and-panel assembles in a smart manner (no need to learn to plane around corners), fine-fit cabinet components with your bench planes, make tapered cuts for door and drawer fitting, lengthen moulding, planing identical widths/thicknesses, edge-jointing and springing joints.

• Forgotten tools. You'll make your own drawbore pins and wedge-cutting sled, which will unlock two of the hot-rodding tricks used by traditional woodworkers that virtually eliminate the need for a shop full of clamps and downtime waiting for glue to dry. Plus, these two techniques produce joints that are mechanically superior.

• Mortise-and-tenon joinery. We explore the most fundamental joint in woodworking and learn to blend hand and power tools to make these joints extremely fast, fit like a glove and stronger than necessary. We'll explore five traditional methods for making mortises by hand and two that incorporate machinery.

• Sawing. With your sawbench complete, you'll learn to properly use a Western saw, which will unlock the next phase of your journey.

— Christopher Schwarz