Popular Woodworking Editors' Blog

Everyone knows about Chris Schwarz’s affinity with hand tools and readers know that David Thiel was the power tool counterpart here at Popular Woodworking. With David’s move to the books division (thank you David – because that made way for me to join the staff), we had an area that needed to be filled. This past week it was decided that we fill that vacancy with a new contact for power tool information and questions – that contact would be me!

Where else could a guy who enjoys building furniture, writing and talking about woodworking get a chance to converse with the company reps about their tools and bring in a selection of products to test in our shop so that we can pass along that information to you? I am the lucky dog! And, I get paid to do this!

But, that is not the only place where this new responsibility will become such fun and interesting work. If you, the readers of the magazine, have any questions, comments or concerns about tools, you now know where to direct those messages. If you write, I will get back to you with an answer or comment as quick as I can.

I will tell you that there will be a learning curve for me. I have spent a lot of time in my own woodworking world. I would read the magazines, but I also had my shop set for many years, especially for large tools. Not many reasons popped up that would compel me to delve into buying new tools. I now not only have the reason, I have the directive to do just that.

I had a comment one night in our Woodcentral chat that the reviews are only as good as the guy that writes them. That got me wondering how Pop Wood conducted these test. Here at the magazine all the editors partake in the testing of the tools and that will continue in the future.

But we are even going one better. We are have asked Contributing Editor Troy Sexton to take some of the tools into his shop to test them in the real world. What better evaluation can be done on tools? It is always better to get a number of informed opinions versus one opinion. However, I will be charged with the writing and the follow-up on the reviews.

Glen D. Huey

Before I knew Bob, one of our senior editors here at Popular Woodworking, I knew him as Robert W. Lang, the author of two landmark books I owned that were chock full of shop drawings of Craftsman furniture. Those dog-eared books (and two more he's published on Craftsman interiors and inlay) were books that I gladly plunked down my own money on. They are books that I built three projects from. They were books that I referred to almost every week as I was teasing out a detail on a piece of Arts & Crafts furniture. I was a fan.

However, when Bob gave me a copy of his latest book, "Shop Drawings for Greene & Greene Furniture," which just hit the streets this week, I was a bit reluctant to write a review. I've watched Bob slave over these drawings. When we all went to Las Vegas for a woodworking show last year, Bob slogged off through the desert after the show to spend time in Southern California researching pieces for this book. He's been agonizing over the details in the drawings for the 23 pieces shown in the books. It has been a difficult project. I'm admittedly biased because I've watched the guy push himself hard to research, write and draw this book on his own time (It's being published by a competing publisher, not Popular Woodworking Books).

But when I cracked open his book and started reading it, my hesitation disappeared. This is a landmark book and deserves your attention. If you have even a passing interest in the work of Charles and Henry Greene (and their builders, John and Peter Hall), you will be thrilled with the projects in this book. The Greenes, architects working in California during the Arts & Crafts heyday, were two of the most talented designers in the 20th century, though their pens produced only about 400 pieces of furniture.

I've seen a fair number of the pieces that Lang has chosen for this book – either in photographs or in person – and I think he's accomplished what few other people in our profession can do: These shop drawings capture the true spirit of the Greenes without dumbing anything down. The furniture of the Greenes was subtle and full of detail, and Lang does the pieces justice.

These drawings are the missing link for the craftsman. There are countless books about the Ultimate Bungalows produced by the Greene brothers with sumptuous photos, sketchy dimensional details and highly romanticized copy. And there is great affection among woodworkers to produce these pieces, which are well-suited for the home woodworker in their construction details and joinery methods.

But until now, there was no easy way to go about building any of these works without a trip to California, looking both ways for the museum guards and ducking under the ropes with a tape measure.

The projects chosen for "Shop Drawings for Greene & Greene Furniture" are an excellent cross-section of the Greene's work and represent pieces of varying difficulty. Beginning woodworkers can cut their teeth on the Gamble Mirror, the Blacker Medicine Cabinet and the Thorsen Plant Stand. As you learn the vernacular of the style (the mortise-and-tenon joints are particularly unusual), you'll build confidence to tackle the stately Robinson Dining Table, the Gamble Kitchen Cabinets (I will build these someday) and the Blacker Hall Seat (ditto on this).

The Blacker Hall Seat, a masterpiece of design, detail and craftsmanship.


Then you can give the Gamble Chiffonier a shot before you leave this earth. It combines all of the details of the Greene Brothers – cloudlifts, proud-finger-jointed drawers, inlay – into an astonishing package.

This is not really a how-to book. Lang provides some important details on construction techniques he's used to reproduce some of the important details. And he gives a workman-like history of the work of the Greene and Hall brothers. And Lang explores some of the nagging work-method mysteries that remain about the work, such as why the Halls built their drawers the way they did. These details add to the corpus of knowledge about these four brothers, rather than just hyping it.

However, if the complete shop drawings aren't enough for you and you'd like enlarged shop drawings with full-size details, Lang sells those as well on his website.

The book will soon be available everywhere, but I urge you to buy it directly from Bob. He has it in stock right now, he gets a bigger cut when he sells the book directly, and I hear his son, Hunter, also gets $1 for every book he packs up and mails.

You can purchase "Shop Drawings for Greene & Greene Furniture" for $22.95 at craftsmanplans.com or by sending an e-mail to info@craftsmanplans.com or calling 513-531-2690 x 1327.

— Christopher Schwarz

One of our year end traditions is to pick our favorite tools of the year. Usually this list contains 10 or 12 tools, but this was no ordinary year. Our December issue has our choices on the 16 best new tools. Here is a brief excerpt from the article:

Steel City Machinery

We’ve never given a “Best New Tool” award to a company’s entire line of machinery, but this is an exceptional year, and Steel City makes exceptional tools. Elsewhere on the blog are reports on our first impressions of their small table saw.

These tools are serious, as evidenced by the close look we gave the company’s table saws. The trunnions on the company’s three styles of cabinet saws look like the trunnions on older beefy machines we’re familiar with. The T-square-style fences on the saws glide smoothly across the table – thanks to some clever engineering. And what is also nice is what the saws don’t have: a lot of bells and whistles. Instead, the company’s engineers upgraded what was important, such as the optional titanium nitrite coating for the top, which reduces galling and rust.

This was the same level of attention to detail throughout the line. The 15" planer comes standard with a clever Wixey-brand digital depth gauge – the only upgrade a machine like this needs.
The Steel City steel-frame band saws (a 14" cast-iron saw is in the works) are thoughtfully designed with a tensioning system that uses two springs. Plus, on the band saw as well as all the other machines, many of the handles are metal instead of the plastic we’ve come to expect.

And the prices? You’ll be pleased. The machines aren’t a low-price leader, but they do seem a lot of machine for the money. Additionally, we just received a report that Steel City will be offering rebates of $50-$200 on their machines from Nov. 1 to  Jan. 31, 2007.

Of course, the proof will be in how these machines perform, and we’re making plans to test several more of the tools in the line. But after inspecting the entire line machines like a customer would in a store, I can honestly say I was ready to get out my checkbook and plunk some serious money down on these tools. And after 10 years of seeing more new tools than I can count, that is saying something.

Lie-Nielsen Shave Horse

I’ve gotten to work on a lot of shave horses at chairmaking classes and at other woodworkers’ shops. This one is the most comfortable, easy-to-use and versatile one I’ve ever straddled.

Designed by Kentucky Chair-maker Brian Boggs, this shave horse from Lie-Nielsen Toolworks lets you quickly move the head up and down for different stock thicknesses. And the leather on the head grips the stock with remarkable tenacity – it is almost impossible to pull your spindle stock out of the jaws, even in a heavy cut with a drawknife. The sculpted seat, which is nice for long spindle-shaping sessions, adjusts back and forth with ease so you can apply just the right amount of pressure to your work without straining your legs.

There are many plans for making your own shave horse out there, but if you’d rather just giddyap and get on with chairmaking, this shave horse belongs in the winner’s circle.

– Robert Lang