Tag Archives: tool primer

Tool Primer: Understanding Common Glues for #Maker Project

Sooner or later during a Maker project, you have to stick it together.  You need glue.  Better yet, you need the right glue.   Some glues are formulated to work best porous materials such as paper, wood, or leather.  Some are made to work between two different substrates, say plastic and metals.  Some are madeContinue reading “Tool Primer: Understanding Common Glues for #Maker Project”

Tool Primer: How To Finish Your Woodworking Project: Sanding

In the next two Tool Primer articles, I will discuss my process for finishing a woodworking project.   The finishing process is the difference between a good woodworking project and a heirloom piece of furniture.  When I want to really knock a project out of the park, I focus much of my energy on choosing and creating aContinue reading “Tool Primer: How To Finish Your Woodworking Project: Sanding”

Tool Primer: How to Select & Use Jigsaws

Some tools do only one thing well.  Some tools do a lot of things well if you know how to use them.  The jigsaw (or sabersaw), in my opinion, is unique in the pantheon of modern woodworking tools as it does nearly everything with equal parts of ineptness and frustration.  So why keep it around?Continue reading “Tool Primer: How to Select & Use Jigsaws”

Tool Primer: How to Select and Use Power Drills

The first power tool I probably ever used (and owned) was a power drill.  The lowly power drill can do a whole lot of things if you know how to use it.  A power drill can strip paint, drill big holes, little holes, create dowel joints, sand curves and screw stuff together.  It makes pocketContinue reading “Tool Primer: How to Select and Use Power Drills”

Tool Primer: How to Select and Use a Circular Saw

Invented in 1923 by Edmond Michel, the circular saw remains a basic portable tool for any homeowner/woodworker nearly 90 years later.  The Model 77 hasn’t changed much, but worm-drive saws such as the 77 have become the realm of framers, carpenters and other tradesmen and women who make a living with the tool.  For aContinue reading “Tool Primer: How to Select and Use a Circular Saw”