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Anti Skid and Anti Slip materials have been around for many many years now and in some areas, they are finding new uses and certainly in my workshop they are. I love this material, it comes in different "weights" or thicknesses, it's quite inexpensive and it works great. I seem to find a new use for it on a regular basis and it never disappoints me.

I was first introduced to this material in the form of "router Mats" that were said, at the time, to be anti-slip so that you could freehand route anything and when you used this anti-slip material between your wood and your workbench, the material would hold it firmly while you routed. And it was true, this stuff worked great. Then I found that you could purchase similar materials in different thicknesses and apply it to many different things to make them much less susceptible to movement. 

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I don't know what I would do without magnets .. they have got to be one of the handiest things in the workshop and with the new Earth Magnets, they are super strong and so small you can use them in many many places that I would never have thought of years ago, but now, they come in so many shapes, sizes, and strengths you can find many applications for them.

There are so many little things we can do in the workshop to make life easier. I am reminded of this when I visit other shops and I see so many things they could be doing that would make their work quicker and easier and for very little cost ...

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Measuring and Marking are a big part of woodworking and anything we can do to make it easier and more accurate will only make the work more pleasurable. There is nothing worse than working on a project right up until assembly then finding that one or more of the pieces don't fit and the part or parts need to be re-made. Making thing right the first time is just so much easier. I find it's better to take my time to the build rather than trying to rush and make mistakes because often the mistakes are fundamental measuring errors that lead to parts problems later on.

One of the tricks I learned recently was how to make a circle using a square, a pencil, and 2 nails. At first, I couldn't see how it could even work. Something about it didn't seem right and I wasn't able to visualize it in my mind, I had to actually try it out, and wouldn't you know ... it works ...