Building a French-style Workbench: Day 2
I usually keep a log that records all the time I work on a project in the shop. But few people believe me when I say that I spend about 40 hours building an ancient workbench. Their disbelief is...
View ArticleFrench Workbench Class – Day 3
The problem with Wednesdays at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking is that Kelly and Teri are a bit too nice to the students and instructors. That’s the evening when the Mehlers shut down the school a...
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French Workbench Class – Day 4
When I walked into the shop at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking this morning at 8:24 a.m., the place was a wreck. The students were fitting their joints among piles of shavings and sawdust and...
View ArticleFrench Workbench Class – Day 5
Installing vises in workbenches is always a finicky process – unless you go for a super-simple setup like the one I prefer: A quick-release vise for the end vise and a simple leg vise for the face...
View ArticleFrench Workbench Class – Day 6
It is unwise to rush when installing vises on a workbench. So I stopped whipping the maggots students during the last two days of the class and encouraged them to work at their own pace. Some slowed...
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Flatten a Workbench’s Top in 5 Minutes
Woodworkers are always looking for a better way to flatten the top of their workbench after they finish building it, or when the top has gone out of truth for some reason. I like using a handplane to...
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A Chip-resistant Drill Press Fence
File this one under: Tricks that everyone knows but me. Whenever I work against a fence on my drill press, I constantly huff and sweep the table clear of shavings. Why? If even one errant shaving gets...
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Kelly Mehler’s Land of Many Benches
If you ever want to try out a lot of different workbench designs before you settle on building one for your shop, you might want to take a class at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking. During the...
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On Gaps and Dovetails and Winterthur
Years ago when touring Winterthur, I saw a lot of wacky Pennsylvanian dovetails on old chests. These joints had been wedged through their pins – a feature I had not seen in person before. While the...
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When Will ‘Day 4’ Occur?
Ah, Thursday – day four of a woodworking class. This is the day that most students hit a wall. They take naps at their benches. They sneak off to their cars to lie down. They disappear in the middle...
View ArticleGreat Woodshops: Craftsmanship Done Safely
by Megan Fitzpatrick pages 84-87 From the June 2006 issue Woodworking teacher Kelly Mehler got his start in the schooling business in an unusual way. His first teaching job was to instruct patients at...
View ArticleHow to Avoid Kickback on a Table Saw
I posted a video on our YouTube channel this morning with Kelly Mehler on table saw kickback. In talking with David Lyell about the video I realized that a lot had happened since that video was made...
View ArticleFrench Workbench Class – Day 3
The problem with Wednesdays at Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking is that Kelly and Teri are a bit too nice to the students and instructors. That’s the evening when the Mehlers shut down the school a...
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