Give Trees a Chance

A small cherry in the center was pulled almost to the ground by numerous small vines.

It is early winter and snowless. Skiers will bemoan the conditions but not those of us who like to tend to trees. The landscape now offers a perfect window in which to deal with vines. The invasive […]

A review by TOOLS OF THE TRADE magazine.

It’s one of those unexpected gifts that lands in one’s lap, unforeseeable and very welcome. To read Chris Ermides’ review of me and my products in TOOLS OF THE TRADE magazine click here.

To see the products in person stop by Shackleton Thomas Furniture this Friday and Saturday in Bridgeport, Vermont. I’m looking forward to […]

There is a technique for everything.

Sometimes a tricky problem resolves after a few carefully thought out and tested steps. It then becomes “technique” and the original difficulty fades into distant memory.

When I redesigned the bearing strip on the Vogt Shooting Board the result called for a 1/8” x 3/8” strip of acetal to be positioned precisely on the upper […]

What’s a “Votator”?

“The list of Votator applications has grown very long in the more than 80 years since it was introduced, and I would say there is no one whose life has not been touched by a product heated or cooled in a Votator.” – Tony Mathis, application engineer and product manager for Vogt Freezers and the […]

Rattan Couch Repair

One of the missing pieces to the screen porch project of two summers ago was a couch. Looking around the net for suitable couches hasn’t been fun: most stuff is too fussy, grandiose, and/or costly. My wife found a simple offering on Craigslist which we bought for $65. It turns out that the owner hauled […]

The Vogt Drill Press Fence/Band Saw Fence

There is a new product from Vogt Toolworks, an after- market fence for drill presses and band saws. To read about it and see videos click here.

My production is limited at the moment due to my accident in July but I am back on my feet and making progress.

Basic […]

If a woodworker falls in the forest…

Two weekends ago a friend and I hiked to a wondrous section of the Johns Brook, a boulder strewn Adirondack mountain brook that flows into the Ausable River in the Keene Valley. Our destination was a section known as the “Devil Slides,” a run of waterfalls, pools, and flumes about three hundred yards long culminating […]

Puppy Objects to Hand Saw.

A puppy in the living room above my shop hasn’t whined, whimpered, or barked from the noises of a shop vac or high speed cutting tools. The sound of a back saw or coping saw sets him off, however.

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H.O. Studley’s Tool Sepulcher.

My take away from visiting the iconic cabinet is that it is a misnomer to call it his tool chest. Among the many viewers and commentators I heard the word shrine bandied about. Roy Underhill used mausoleum in his Saturday morning skit. The word that came to my mind was sepulcher, “a receptacle for sacred […]

A Custom Coffee Table with Chatoyance.

My customers sketched a top for their coffee table. I drew it out full scale for one half of the mirrored design and determined that the miter angle was 62 degrees.

An auxiliary jig platform for the Vogt Shooting Board was indispensable in fitting all the pieces.

The veneers were bandsawn […]