In the last few months, my shop has obtained some unexpected additions:   You, concerned reader: “Wow, Buddy, those are strange tools to have in a hand tool shop.  Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Me: “I know.  Crazy, isn’t it?  Well, here’s the story…” [flashback waves] I had been contacted […]

Unexpected Additions to the Shop

After many delays and much anticipation, here’s the final installment of my tool chest adventure.  When we left off last time, we had finished the assembly of the lid, which was the Thursday morning of my class.  The case had been assembled the day before and was awaiting finish. Late […]

I have a tool chest! part 3

Hey!  I’m glad to see you made it back.  So we left off last time at the end of Tuesday during my hand tool class.  Everyone had their tool chests glued and clamped to sit up overnight. Wednesday started with the nail-biting experience of taking the clamps off the cases […]

I have a tool chest! part 2

Hello again!  I’m glad to see you’ve all found me at my new home, on our new website!  Once you’ve finished catching up on my blogs, make sure you check out our main site, McLarenFamilyCrafts.com, and see what the business is doing! I’ve been on a break from the turning […]

I have a tool chest! part 1

Hi again, everyone.  It’s been a bit longer between posts than I wanted it to be, but as I mentioned in my last post we’re moving. Actually, we moved, past tense, and it was much more chaotic than we originally expected.  Then again, what move isn’t?  Anyway, we’re moved into […]

After the move, I’m back again!

Hey all.  I’m sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything on here.  I feel like it’s safe to say something now (without fear of jinxing things), but since about the first of the year, my family and I have been getting ready to move.  We’re in the […]

Sorry for the absence…

Happy New Year!  Did everyone enjoy their holidays?  Our family did, despite the fact that my kids and I were passing around some kind of bug.  Started the last day I had to go to work before Christmas, and my youngest is just getting past the final few days of […]

Christmas gift interlude

Happy holidays!  It’s that time of year again!  Anyone have exciting plans?  We’re busy at work, so I don’t get a lot of time off, but we still had three days of Christmas for our little family – ours and both mine and my wife’s families.   Plenty of fun […]

Gluing and Clamping the Roubo top – finally!

Back for more?  Great!  When we last talked, I was discussing why I needed to build a workbench and why I chose the style that I did. As I mentioned last time, the majority of my inspiration for my bench came from Chris Schwarz’s Workbenches book.  In this book, Chris mentioned […]

Starting the Roubo: Stock selection, sawing and planing

Welcome back for episode two!  It’s been a while since I last posted, so it’s past time for an update!   As I mentioned in my first post, I’m in the process of working on a Roubo workbench that I will use as my primary bench.  I’ve found out the […]

Why a Roubo bench?