A.J. Hamler

For those of you who’ve ever dreamed of stepping into my shoes, now’s your chance! Grab your arbor wrench, and let’s change table saw blades!

Remember me telling you a local school is getting rid of their industrial arts programs, including woodshop? I have some good news.

How do you deal with an error in a project? To my way of thinking, there are three things you can (try to) do.

I’d like you to meet my two best helpers, without whom I’d probably never get anything done.

Industrial arts education, often including woodshop, has been disappearing from high schools at an alarming rate. It just happened where I live.

Even when you do it right the very first time, it’s amazing how much you learn about everything that can be wrong.

I have a bad habit that I know a lot of other woodworkers share: Endlessly obsessing over flaws and errors in perfectly good work.

I’m finally at the point of my shop build where I’m tackling the secondary stuff. That’s a Good Thing in general, but it also means I’m getting rid of stacks.

I’ve talked before about how much I hate changing band saw blades. Guess what? I’m talking about it again.

When’s the last time you crawled around on the shop floor? Never, you say?

While a pain to do I’ve generally not really minded figuring out my taxes most years. This isn’t going to be one of those years.

Is there ever an excuse for taking the easy – read: lazy – way out on a project?

The biggest problem with being able to do whatever you want with a project is that you sometimes have way too many choices.

Most shop screw-ups are simple, one-error things. Some of mine have more components than a Shakespearean play.

I have one drawback I can’t fix in my wonderful new shop. Instead, I’ll have to change – slightly – the way I work.

Amid the constant debate of manufacturing locations, I think it all boils down to two things.

In woodworking, as in everything else, sometimes it’s the smallest of things that give the greatest unexpected pleasure.

At what point on a problematic project must you decide whether to keep struggling to get it done, or to move on to something more productive?

Eight months after moving, and I’m still setting up my shop. But I finally took care of something that I’ve really missed, and I am a happy guy.

When you’re a woodworker, few things are cooler than running into another woodworker where you least expect it.

Imagine Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent finally revealing who they really are. Like those other superheroes, I, too, have a secret identity.

There are a lot of extremely common woodworking tasks and techniques. But some, no matter how common, are things I’ve never done.

Tools companies drive me nuts. They come out with the neatest tools with lots of bells and whistles, but sometimes miss the basics.

Woodworkers see things differently from other (some would say “normal”) people. Here’s a perfect example.

I’m not sentimental about anniversaries, but this Thanksgiving week – and on the occasion of my 800th Woodshop News blog – I suppose there’s an exception to everything.

I got a nice compliment this week from someone impressed with my expertise. Don’t know if it was warranted, but it sure felt great.

We rely on so many things to be square in woodworking. Sometimes I rely on them too much… or not enough.

Once again I’ve come across a company that really knows how to conduct business in a way that guarantees repeat business.

Hey, remember back when we laughed at the lawsuit against Home Depot and Menard’s for fraudulently selling undersized 4x4’s? Well, I’ve got some half-good news.

Buying a major new woodshop machine is always exciting. But sometimes a small, minor tool can be just as much fun to look forward to.

I need doors for my dust collector closet. However, the opening height doesn’t match any off-the-shelf doors, so I have to make them. The question is how to do it.

There are two woodworking establishments I’ve driven by repeatedly over the years without stopping, so recently I checked them out online. I wish I’d stopped in instead.

How good are you at doing something? Let’s find out.

I’ve ruined many a project component by going one step too far – one more pass with a sander, one more coat of finish, once more through the planer, one more tweak on a dovetail, etc. Almost always, the one more thing was one too many.

The construction phase of my new shop is nearing its end. Looking back, it’s clear what the driving force of all my design decisions was: poles.

It’s Labor Day weekend, for all who celebrate. I plan to celebrate by laboring.

My non-woodworking wife came up with a brilliant observation about my new shop, one that had never occurred to woodworking me.

Having the rare opportunity to build a new shop from the ground up gives you total freedom. Maybe too much.

My wife has retired. Lots of changes there, as you’d expect, including how I work, both in and out of the shop.

I’ve stumbled across an economic indicator that analysts and experts never mention. And if the indicator is accurate, the economy must be doing well.