Tom Hartley

Tools · Technique

Tom Hartley is the team's tool-and-technique voice. He's been hobby-woodworking for over twenty years and reviews every tool we recommend by actually building something with it. Tom writes our technique guides — sanding, joinery, layout — and our reviews of saws, chisels, and clamps. He believes the best tool is usually the cheapest one that won't make you give up.

Published: 13 articles

Author Archives: Tom Hartley

The random orbital sander is the tool I get asked about most often by beginner toy makers, right after the mitre saw. It is the difference between a 10-minute sand and a 60-minute hand-sand on a single block of pine. It is also one of the cheapest power tools you can buy — even a […]

The mitre saw is the most expensive tool you'll buy as a hobby toy-maker, and the one that defines what you can build. A bad mitre saw turns every cut into a wrestling match. A good one cuts so accurately that you stop noticing the saw and start noticing the wood. I've owned three across […]

People ask me about glue more than any other woodworking question. Which kind, which brand, how much, how long? In a toy maker's workshop, glue is more important than your saw — a bad cut you can sand fair, but a bad glue-up can ruin a build past saving. After twenty years of hobby woodworking […]

You can make a perfectly good wooden toy with nothing but a butt joint and wood glue. You don't need dovetails, mortise-and-tenon, or any of the joinery techniques that woodworking magazines love to feature. But knowing five basic joints — when to use each, and how to make each one cleanly — is the difference […]

If there's one technique I'd tell every beginner to master before anything else, it's sanding. Not joinery, not finishing, not even cutting square. Sanding. The difference between a wooden toy that looks handmade in a good way and one that looks handmade in a bad way is almost always at the sanding step. After twenty […]

People email us asking what tools they need to start making wooden toys. The honest answer is "less than you think." My first ten toys were made with a $35 hand saw, a $40 cordless drill, and a $25 sander. Every workshop I've ever owned has eventually filled up with shiny single-purpose tools that get […]