Michelle (10) and Emily (8) Campbell invited me into their father's wood shop where they had prepared a series of demonstrations to illustrate basic safety precautions for kids working with wood.They walked us through the differences in various types of eye protection, insisted on providing heari...
Fastening to concrete or masonry? We've got three problems: choosing the right fastener, choosing the right tool and then doing it right. Here is some product information and trouble shooting tips.Power Actuated nailingExplosive shot nailling is the most common but the weakest of the serious ...
Dan caught our camera in a store and asked just what is "scribing a counter top"?When you have a wall that is not flat, like you see our exaggerated wall in the first photo, the kitchen counter will not fit tightly up against this wall. If you look at the second photo you will see that all forme...
For years the standard framing saw has been a big heavy powerful thing called a Worm Saw. The name originally came from a special Worm Gear that gave it the shape (the motor back in line with the handle) and its great power. Today the worm gear has been modified to what is called a "Hypoid Gear...
Every once in a while I like to get back into the shop and point out some of the basics of one of the tools there. Just about everybody figures they know how to use the simple drill press, but in fact there are a lot of basics that I see missed quite often.First, realise you can shift the table ...
In our studio workshop someone had built a large assembly table, that was missing a lot of little things to make it a good workbench. So I set about making some essential modifications, that could help in your own workshop.First, the sides were vertical 2x6's. This made it almost impossible to ...
More and more manufacturers are making ergonomic claims for new tools: easier on your back, fits in your hand better, a less stressful grip and so on. I invited Dr. Ted Crowther who is the Director of Clinical Education of the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Grimbsy, Ontario to help me...
There are times, especially when working with moulding, that you need to divide an angle in half. I learned how to do this with a compass in high school and since then I have fallen in love with the Angle Finder, an impressive little device that uses more geometry than my compass to measure exac...
Drilling into hard materials requires the right drill bits, but also the right technique.On hard wood, the bit tends to drift away from the proper spot. Either centre punch a starting hole, or simply turn the drill on backwards first. Running backwards the bit will not wander. It doesn't dill ...
When you are looking for professional tool quality, in a DIY package -- here are two great tools.The Rock-Eater is the best drywall saw ever made. The blade is far more rigid than an ordinary saw to allow it to be of a higher temper. That gives it a much sharper piercing point and best of all i...
