The Broken Tradition

Welcome to my shop and blog

Handcrafted Furniture and various wooden wares made in the Appalachian tradition

Tools of the trade 14: and, Making Tools: Marking Gages

Having covered hand planes, you need to know how much material to take off. this is where your Marking Gage comes into play. Also the marking gage is usually one of the first tools someone makes for themselves so… Marking gages are super simple to make, and you will need a couple during your career.…
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Tools of the trade 13: Saws

Others have written whole books about saws, tooth geometry, how to use, the various advantages of different types of saws… so instead of writing a book here I’ll tell you to go read a few. Not even with a table saw can you get away with only having one type of blade. So you need…
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Tools of the Trade 12: Chisels

Whenever discussion of what chisels to get “first” comes up, there seems to be a debate about getting individual chisels or sets of chisels.. If buy a set you will usually get a good price (much lower than the combined individual prices) but you might end up with chisels that you never use… If you…
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