The Router: One Of Woodworking’s Most Versatile Tools
I can’t remember a day that I haven’t reached for one of my routers. I know, I said routers. I own several, and of varying horsepower. My wife doesn’t get it, but she owns 10 pair of black shoes.
Hand-held routers are one of the most popular woodworking tools around. I’ve used them for making dovetails, [...]
System One Truck Racks: Some Serious Ladder Envy.
The first remodeling contractor I ever worked for had a brand spanking new F-150 with homemade ladder racks. The racks were nicely built and solid, a real testament to the man’s abilities. The 2X6 pressure treated cross beams were ship-lapped and through bolted. He built a functional product back before truck racks were a commercially [...]
How Low-E Windows Work
Low-e coatings are the single most significant improvement in making windows more energy efficient. First introduced in the 1980s these microscopically thin, transparent coatings made from silver or tin oxide let the outside light shine in while keeping the interior conditioned air (heated or cooled) right where it is most needed. But not all low-e [...]
What The Heck Is MDF?
Whenever I get a call to make a cabinet or bookcase out of MDF, also known as medium density fiberboard, I groan. Not because MDF is an inferior product, its not, it’s because the stuff is heavy. A 4 ft. X 8 ft. sheet of ¾ in. MDF can weigh as much as 95 lbs. [...]
A Quick Way To Carve A Pumpkin
An old sawzall blade is a Jack O’ Lantern’s scalpel. Nothing opens the cranium of a pumpkin faster than a 5/8 TPI (teeth per inch) Bi-Metal reciprocating saw blade. The Bi-metal blade is pretty tough and won’t wander (cut crookedly) under a little pressure. I used a 12-in. blade so I could get through the [...]
Heat Loss And Your Recessed Lights
Recessed lighting has become the standard in most American homes and are frequently used in bathroom and kitchen remodels (and hopefully they’re UL/CUL listed for damp locations). They offer an out of the way light source that is hard to beat. But, are these same lights costing you a small fortune every year from heat [...]
Insulating Strategies For A Warmer Home
I probably should have titled this post like a diet ad: How to save a bundle on home heating without having to bundle up. But, I hate over blown promises like that. In my last post I wrote about how heat can leave your house, and in this article I want to show you how [...]
How Your House Loses Heat
I know a lot of you are worried about heating your homes this winter. So, before you start blindly insulating, you should know how heat is transferred and then plan your attack. The three ways heat is transferred are conduction, convection, and radiation.
Conduction is how heat moves through solid objects. Heat is attracted to cold. [...]
Bringing Work Home With You
Hey, we all do it, bring some of the job home with us. I’m not talking about office supplies either. And now more than ever it seems like we’re bring more stress and anxiety home than cash. I know. I hear you.
It’s inevitable that some part of our jobs will intrude on our day to [...]
Is Bamboo A Green Building Product?
When ever I hear about the latest, greatest, leanest, meanest, or even greenest, I’ve got to tell you, I take a pause. It seems, lately anyhow, that if you’re not using some prescribed green product then you’re not building responsibly. And more than ever, I hear arguments for using bamboo. There are far more ecologically [...]
keep looking »About
I’m a sawdust making, tool buying, work boot wearing kind of guy. When I’m not building something useful, usually for someone else, I’m writing about it for Fine Homebuilding or This Old House. I’ve spent most of my adult life honing my craft and now I want to share what I’ve learned. From tool reviews to how-to this blog will explore a bunch of interesting stuff. So strap on a tool belt or crack a cold one and let’s have some fun.
