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Bench Chisel Exercises Part 4: Simple Diamond Inlay

The culmination of the last three blog posts on Bench Chisel Exercises is today’s Simple Diamond Inlay. As my friend Ron Herman is fond of saying, “Perfect practice makes perfect.” And if you’ve been working along with the videos, you should be ready for something more complex and fun. Undoubtedly, the idea of setting up at[…]

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Bench Chisel Exercises Part 3: Slicing Cuts

Slicing cuts give you far more control than the ordinary blunt paring cut, and they give you more control. There’s also the added benefit of less tear out. But why? The slicing cut tends to do less damage because you aren’t approaching the grain head on. It’s a shear cut, coming at the fibers steeply[…]

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Bench Chisel Exercises Part 2: Paring Cuts

There are times when you miss the line. And there are other times where you want to creep up on it. In either case, you need to perfect your paring cuts. Paring is an act performed with a chisel in a very controlled manner to remove small bits of material. You don’t normally pare while[…]

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Bench Chisel Exercises Part 1: Chop Cuts

Every now and then we all enjoy wailing away at a piece of wood with a sharp chisel and mallet. Chop cuts are one of the most important, and fun, cuts you can make with a bench chisel. Like all things woodworking, it takes time and practice to master the various cuts you can make[…]