Read Time: 3 mins

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Making handles for woodworking tools sounds easy, but if you want to make something a bit different, AND you don't have a lathe, you are left with making "square" or similar hammer handles. I wanted to make an 8 sided hammer handle and that's a bit more work.

I started off with the hardest wood I had in my collection which happened to be Arbutus of Madrona. Typical hammer handles are made from Hickory, but I didn't have that, and the Madrona will work just fine.  Hickory has a Janka Hardness scale of 1860 and Madrona is 1460 so it is a tiny bit softer, but still much harder that Red Oak, my second option.

Read Time: 6 mins

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Surely there may be more rules, but these are a solid start ... and an important starting point to all those new woodworkers, and even a few more seasoned ones, on some of the most important aspects of woodworking and turning out work you are happy with.

And where else to start but with the wood ...

Read Time: 7 mins

Hits: 3882

Many woodworkers can end up spending a lot of time fixing things that happened during the build of their woodwork project, that could have been avoided with a bit more knowledge and preparation before they started building ... and that's what this article will cover, prepping and understanding wood.

When you build a wood project, and spend all the time and money on plans, tools, wood under most conditions, you want your project to turn out well no matter what it is. This is especially true if you are building furniture or other items around the home that you want to look good and often to also withstand everyday use and remain in good condition.