Equipment

Steel framing punishes a weak tape measure. The edge catches on studs, the hook gets dragged across sharp track, and […]

A double-sided tape measure is useful when the blade has to be read from either edge, when the case is

A good tape measure does more than tell you how long a board is. For carpentry layout, it needs to

Planing narrow stock is one of those jobs that looks easy until the plane starts bouncing, the cut turns rough,

A wooden plane can produce cleaner, flatter joinery than many metal planes, but only when the plane is tuned to

A plane iron can look sharp and still cut poorly if its edge is hollow, rounded, or uneven. The problem

A shooting board is a simple jig that lets a hand plane trim an end or edge square and repeatably.

Resinous softwood—pine, fir, larch, cedar, and similar stock—can make a hand plane feel either wonderfully fast or completely unmanageable. The

A rebate plane cuts a stepped channel, or rebate, along the edge of timber. On a door frame, that rebate

Planing a board edge square to its face is a basic hand-tool operation, but it rewards accuracy more than force.