the Woodworking Blog

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The Unplugged Woodshop needs a new sharpening bench. There are two sharpening benches at the ‘shop already. Tom has one in his studio.  The other one was built for the students early on at the school. The school sharpening bench was built to fit under one of the windows. As the school has grown, and […]

READERS PROJECT I received a letter from Bruce ( on Instagram: the52sqftwoodshop ) last week and wanted to share it with you. Bruce recently finished his Funeral Chair build, following plans from my book The Unplugged Woodshop. The chair turned out great Bruce! Thanks for sharing these photos with us~ I got it finished! It […]

READERS PROJECT I received a letter from Marshal in Minnesota this week and wanted to share it with you. Marshal recently completed work on a Kerfing Plane and Frame Saw following plans from my book, The Unplugged Woodshop. Great job on the tools Marshal! I hope you get many years of use from them- Hi Tom, […]

Over the past few weeks we’ve been working on a set of custom dining chairs based on a Harvey Ellis design from 1903. Using quarter sawn white oak, this video gives you a glimpse into a bit of the process. Enjoy~

This week at the Unplugged Woodshop Toronto, we’re working on a set of Arts & Crafts dining room chairs for a private commission. The chairs are inspired by a Harvey Ellis design for Gustav Stickley. These chairs are typical of the form and are mortise and tenon construction. For a set of 6 chairs, that […]

Follow this link to download a pdf: http://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Workshop-Appliances-Shop-Bents.pdf “Working in a small woodshop can be a challenge when we’re forced to address storage issues, work space, an assembly area, sharpening station … the list goes on and on. I decided when I moved from my larger shop out East to my small space here in […]

http://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Workshop-Appliances-Winding-Sticks.pdf “The shooting board of ‘chute’ board is another one of these bench top appliances that you really shouldn’t be without. When I walk into a woodshop without one I’m astonished – why on earth wouldn’t you take an hour or two at best and with a small amount of wood and off-cuts make yourself […]

Whenever you make a sawcut in any woodworking project, follow it up with a quick joinery check. Use a reliable square and make sure everything looks good. it sounds strange but I see it all the time: People saw a joint and never bother to check to see if it’s square. Do this for all of […]

http://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Workshop-Appliances-Shooting-Board.pdf “The shooting board of ‘chute’ board is another one of these bench top appliances that you really shouldn’t be without. When I walk into a woodshop without one I’m astonished – why on earth wouldn’t you take an hour or two at best and with a small amount of wood and off-cuts make yourself […]

Exercise caution if you decide to use higher gram strengths of hide glue they may be stronger, but they have a much shorter working (or open) time, making them unsuitable for many joinery applications. There are many modern alternatives to traditional hot hide glue that can provide the appropriate working strength for furniture makers. We use […]