Author Archives: Dave F

Here’s a set of band saw guides made for my D&W 20″ saw by my friend and neighbor, woodworker/machinist Kim Thoma. We worked on the design together, and Kim did the work on his  Bridgeport and lathe. The configuration is … Continue reading →

Those who know me know that I prefer old machinery, almost universally, to new. So it will come as no shock to learn that I have recently acquired a 14″ Davis & Wells band saw, the smaller (and I think … Continue reading →

The first one-day Wood Bending Workshop occurred on Saturday, September 3, 2011, with two students in attendance. Marco Cecala is an accomplished woodworker and furniture maker interested in expanding his horizons, and David Keeling is a rehabilitated airline pilot who … Continue reading →

(* – apologies to the late Johnny Burnette … df) My introduction to steam-bending wood was in the mid-1970’s in northwest Alaska. We got into building dog sleds and boats, and making and repairing snowshoes. The Inuit people had always … Continue reading →

The first iteration of the class “Make a Wall-Hung Cabinet” (henceforth to be called simply “Cabinetmaking”) was held over three days in late August (26-28) 2011 with two students: Matt Vredenburg and Chip Hidinger, both woodworkers with some experience. It … Continue reading →

Another milestone in my lifelong quest for excellent hand tools: a Record #073 shoulder plane. A little rusty but complete and completely restorable, purchased from England via eBay. These are the classic production steel shoulder planes, made 1933-1994, based on … Continue reading →

‘Floats’ have been made and used for centuries. Simple tools, they are a cross between file and a saw, designed to remove material evenly from a surface while leaving it flat. You may be familiar with the ‘planemaker’s’ floats, used … Continue reading →

Krenov-style shop stands are strong, lightweight (unless you use, say, bubinga :-)) and nest neatly without taking up lots of floor space. Making them is a good exercise in basic mortise-&-tenon joinery, planing and assembly. In my ‘Mortise and Tenon’ … Continue reading →

The Stanley ‘transitional’ planes, combining a wooden body with a cast iron frame, frog and standard adjustment mechanism, were made between 1870 and 1940. You see these things pretty commonly in antique shops and flea markets. According to those in … Continue reading →

My old Davis & Wells horizontal boring machine is a great platform for making mortices, using machinists’ end mills, and boring holes in doweling and other operations. Knowing that the end mills like a little higher rotation speeds than most … Continue reading →