By Joel Moskowitz - Feb 13

Tools & Craft #126: A Better System for Keeping Tools Sharp

How did craftspeople in ancient times build incredible things with crappy tools?

I was wandering around the Metropolitan Museum of Art when it occurred to me: nothing much has changed over the millennia. Before the mid-seventeenth century, steel was not common. Craftsmen had a choice between expensive tools made of blister steel and iron tools that were case hardened to get a

By Joel Moskowitz - Jan 23

Tools & Craft #125: Book Recommendations for Those Who Like Making Things

I read a lot and I firmly believe that no matter how indispensable a YouTube video, a blog, or a magazine article can be, the long form of writing - a book - can both entertain and educate the way no other media can. Here is a short list of

By Joel Moskowitz - Jan 16

Tools & Craft #124: The Future of Furniture, Part 6 - Solid

After detailing the final steps of the project of making a dresser, the anonymous author of Joiner and Cabinetmaker describes how cabinetmakers would use veneering and other techniques to set off the dresser to a different level of work. Such was the distinction between joiners work and cabinetmaking in the

By Joel Moskowitz - Jan 09

Tools & Craft #123: The Future of Furniture, Part 5 - Forming Sheet Goods

I think it is fair to say that most furniture is made of solid wood or sheet goods - the latter being plywood, melamine, or MDF, depending on budget and design considerations. As discussed in the last blog, cutting sheets goods accurately and with a clean, ready-to-glue edge isn't trivial,

By Joel Moskowitz - Jan 03

Tools & Craft #122: The Future of Furniture, Part 4 - What Can a Newbie Build?

Now that woodworking is no longer regularly taught in schools, young people as a group have a distinct disadvantage compared to the youth of bygone eras when it comes to skills and equipment. (Yes, I know this doesn't apply to everyone. Many customers come to our showroom with their kids,

By Joel Moskowitz - Dec 26, 2018

Tools & Craft #121: The Future of Furniture, Part 3 - Information

Thirty years ago it was fairly common for students to have classes in some sort of craft in high school. Arts 'n' crafts for younger kids, and as kids got older, probably home ec for the girls and shop for the boys (and all three for the lucky minority). This

By Joel Moskowitz - Dec 19, 2018

Tools & Craft #120: The Future of Furniture, Part 2 - Goals

What kind of furniture will furniture makers make in the future? Before we can reasonably predict the future of furniture, we need to understand the goals and values of the furniture's makers. Is it to build something practical? Engage in creative expression? Work practically within time and money constraints? Are

By Joel Moskowitz - Dec 12, 2018

Tools & Craft #119: The Future of Furniture, Part 1

As certain rooms in our house become obsolete, will furniture keep suit?

Here are four links to articles in the New York Times that set me pondering. The first says the antique furniture market is collapsing because nobody wants the old stuff, but the article gives hope for modern makers. How Low Will Market for Antiques Actually Go?. The second says nobody

By Joel Moskowitz - Dec 05, 2018

Tools & Craft #118: I Think Better on Paper - My Return to Fountain Pens

This entry will be a little different than the others

I've switched back to fountain pens. I used to use them all the time, stopped, but recently I went back to them. I think the reason might be that like using hand tools in the workshop, there is a feeling of a direct connection with what I am doing, and it's less

By Joel Moskowitz - Nov 28, 2018

Tools & Craft #117: Why New Tools Used to Arrive Unsharpened

Buying a sharp tool is actually a relatively new idea

When you purchase an edge tool (plane, chisel, knife, carving tool, etc.), it will either have a "Factory Edge" or be described as "Sharp and ready to use." The idea of having a ready-to-use status is a comparatively new idea in tool marketing. Up until fairly recently - let's say

By Joel Moskowitz - Nov 21, 2018

Tools & Craft #116: What We Can Learn By Looking Inside Benjamin Seaton's Tool Chest

I own pretty much every hand tool ever invented. Then again, I'm a tool collector. But the reality is that many amateur woodworkers who don't think of themselves as collector also amass a huge range of tools. It's because they need them! As amateurs, we do a wide range of

By Joel Moskowitz - Nov 15, 2018

Tools & Craft #115: Paring Chisels

From the top: Paring Chisel, Ashley Iles Beveled Edge Bench Chisel, 2 more paring chisels, 2" Ashley Iles Bench Chisel, 2 Nishiki extra thin paring chisels, and a Registered Chisel. When a tool maker or seller talks about paring chisels, we don't mean chisels that can be used for paring:

By Joel Moskowitz - Nov 07, 2018

Tools & Craft #114: Thoughts on Tool Collector and Author David R. Russell's Legacy

Sometimes a person you have never met, and know only through a book, can have enormous influence on you. David R. Russell, the eminent tool collector and author of Antique Woodworking Tools, was such a person for me. I was saddened to hear that he passed away a few weeks

By Joel Moskowitz - Oct 31, 2018

Tools & Craft #113: Thomas Chippendale, Furniture Marketing Genius

What did furniture makers do before Instagram?

For many contemporary furniture makers, Instagram may serve the twin needs of inspiration and self-promotion. Whatever did the talented and ambitious do before #instafurniture, #interiordesign, #maker, #furnituregallery, and the like? I had occasion to mull over this topic at the current Metropolitan Museum exhibit, "Chippendale's Director: The Designs and Legacy

By Joel Moskowitz - Oct 24, 2018

Tools & Craft #112: Why Large American Manufacturers Discontinue Great Products

The zombie distribution system

If the name Hammacher Schlemmer is known by the general public at all nowadays, it's as the very expensive seller of player pianos and other very expensive "lifestyle" curiosities. But the store's origins are as a large hardware store (based for a long time in New York City's Union Square

By Joel Moskowitz - Oct 17, 2018

Tools & Craft #111: Making Stuff, and Other Human Impulses

How do you get students to the point at which they can produce something?

Several months ago a gentleman who runs a local maker space invited me to teach some hand tool classes at the space. I was happy to have the discussion, but we got hung up by a central question: How do you get students to the point at which they can

By Joel Moskowitz - Oct 10, 2018

Tools & Craft #110: Old-School Prototyping and Pattern Making

Here's how we used to develop power tools, among other things

My first job was in Black & Decker's industrial division, specifically the "Advanced Concepts Group." Our job was to design new tools that represented new directions for the company. This was in 1980. Black & Decker's first cutoff saw and first big plumber's drill came out of that group while

By Joel Moskowitz - Oct 03, 2018

Tools & Craft #109: Testing a Knockoff Tool vs. the Real Deal

It's important to understand the role that manufacturing plays in tool quality and price

What should tools cost? When does a cheap price represent a bargain -- and when is it only a fool's bargain? The price of metal is pretty much the same around the world. So except for labor intensive products such as clothing, the main price advantage many Asian imports have

By Joel Moskowitz - Sep 26, 2018

Tools & Craft #108: How This Toolmaker is Getting Screwed by a New Online Scam

If you buy tools online that seem really inexpensive, it might be this

Most folks assume that credit card companies take the hit for fraudulent transactions. They do--some of the time. But small retailers like us take most of the losses, especially online. I've spent nearly two decades as an internet retailer combating online fraud. I'm not alone; sometimes I get calls

By Joel Moskowitz - Sep 19, 2018

Tools & Craft #107: In Furniture Design, What's Old is New Again

Here's why you should tell people that your modern designs were inspired by great design from two centuries ago

This summer I'd gone to the Museum of the City of New York, to see the absolutely fabulous Stanley Kubrick exhibit. At the same time I stopped in at a small exhibit of the design work of the architect Rosario Candela. Candela's name is still dropped in New York real

By Joel Moskowitz - Sep 12, 2018

Tools & Craft #106: Which Glue is Better - Epoxy, Yellow Wood Glue, or Liquid Hide Glue?

We test all three

Glue is the most common fastener used in woodworking and it seems that selecting the right glue for the job is typically done by using whatever bottle of glue you have hanging around and without really figuring out which glue is best. Certain characteristics of glue such as open time

By Joel Moskowitz - Sep 05, 2018

Tools & Craft #105: The Proper Grip for Hand Tools

Here's a pointer: Point

Sometimes at tool shows, people pick up one or more of our Gramercy saws and suggest that the handles were too small. While I am sure there are people for which our handles are too small, a lot of times the problem is the grip the person was using on

By Joel Moskowitz - Aug 29, 2018

Tools & Craft #104: My Bench Chisel History

I was organizing some stuff in the shop the other day and I came across one of my old sets of chisels. As a tool collector, I have lots of tools that I have never used. The the four sets of bench chisels detailed here are different. They reflect different

By Joel Moskowitz - Aug 15, 2018

Tools & Craft #103: How Drawbore Pins Work

Since we introduced Ray Iles's draw borepins last fall, we've gotten a ton of questions about why real ones such as these work better than concentric tapered pins - that is, pins that are sometimes misconstrued as drawbore pins but really are just tapered drift pins. Drift pins are just

By Joel Moskowitz - Aug 01, 2018

Book Signing Event with Furniture Maker Nancy Hiller, This Thursday in NYC

The author of "Making Things Work" will be feted with a pinata

We are delighted when folks visiting New York take the time to come out to see Tools for Working Wood in person. Good thing we do, because especially in summer, we get many folks visiting. We are not so easy to find. We're at the end of a dead end

By Joel Moskowitz - Jul 25, 2018

Tools & Craft #102: R.I.P. Jennie Alexander 1930-2018

Like many of you, I was very saddened to learn of Jennie Alexander's death. Jennie was a hugely influential figure in the world of hand woodworking, and was an unusually kind and insightful person as well. When I heard the news, I selfishly thought, "But I still had some things

By Joel Moskowitz - Jul 18, 2018

Tools & Craft #101: About Auriou and Gramercy Rasps

We design and make our own tools, and are also happy to carry excellent tools made by others in the same category. Here I'll compare some of the rasps we carry, like our monster 12" Gramercy Cabinetmaker's Rasps, with rasps we carry by Auriou. First of all I am really

By Joel Moskowitz - Jul 12, 2018

Tools & Craft #100: The Finest Water Fountain in New York City

I'm a big fan of pastrami, and I go to Katz's to get it. Katz's has been on Ludlow Street since 1888, and aside from superb pastrami, and what must be the largest restaurant seating capacity in New York City, they have the single coolest water fountain I have ever

By Joel Moskowitz - Jun 29, 2018

Tools & Craft #99: Should You Use a Soft or Hard Mallet?

In Japan, chisels for striking are always hooped. That is to say, the butt end of their handles is encircled in a ring of metal. This is a good idea since they traditionally use steel hammers to hit their tools. In the West mortise chisels, which get the heaviest battering,

By Joel Moskowitz - Jun 06, 2018

Tools & Craft #98: Brace Tips, Part 2 - The Quick Brace

In Part 1 of Brace Tips, I explained how to make your brace work for big holes. Now we look at the other extreme. Unfortunately the solution for small bits isn't as easy to do. For holes from 1/4" through 2" in diameter a brace was the hand tool of

By Joel Moskowitz - May 30, 2018

Tools & Craft #97: Tip for Using a Brace: Ratcheting

In the picture I am boring a pretty big hole. Pulling the handle of the brace towards or against me is pretty easy, but rotating the handle from left to right when the handle is far way from me is a different story. With my arm outstretched, moving from left

By Joel Moskowitz - May 23, 2018

Tools & Craft # 96: Plumier, Crankshaft Design, And How We Waste Time at TFWW

I got called to the back of the shop a few days ago where some of my colleagues were having a heated discussion about crankshafts. They were perusing a copy of Charles Plumier's 1701 L'Art De Tourner, Ou De Faire En Perfection Toutes Sortes d'Ouvrages Au Tour and one wag

By Joel Moskowitz - May 16, 2018

Tools & Craft #95: Making Stuff, and Other Human Impulses

...plus why you should take a class that teaches you how to make something

Last week a gentleman who runs a local maker space invited me to teach some hand tool classes at the space. I was happy to have the discussion but we got hung up by a central question: How do you get students to the point at which they can produce

By Joel Moskowitz - May 09, 2018

Tools & Craft #94: Why We Need Rough Material, Not Smooth

When I build my first real bit of furniture I didn't have a jointer (hand or power) or a planer, and basically I knew nothing. So off I went to Constantine, which was then in the Bronx, and I bought a pile of ready planed cherry. I got it home,

By Joel Moskowitz - May 02, 2018

Feeling Overwhelmed? Here's a Good System for Getting Things Done

I recently saw an Instagram post by craftsperson @anneofalltrades. In the post Anne expressed her worries about things not getting done, and ongoing difficulties with task completion. Many of her issues are common to anyone running a business, especially one where your labor is an integral part of production. These