Category: Anarchist’s Gift Guide

I am always looking for ways to make workholding simpler and less expensive. It feels like a duty after writing 36 books on workbenches.

I love my Benchcrafted Hi Vise – we own five of them. But not every woodworker can afford the hardware. And you have to build the vise with wooden components, which requires some time, skill and machines.

The less-expensive option is this Taiwanese-made carver’s vise, which you can find at many woodworking suppliers. I got mine on sale from Infinity Tools. StewMac sells a version that they have upgraded and that luthiers love. 

No matter where you get it, I think you’ll be impressed. The vise’s swiveling jaws will hold almost any shape. And because the jaws are coated with a tough urethane, the grip is incredibly tenacious. 

The vise attaches to the workbench via a long post that threads through a dog hole or holdfast hole in your workbench. You can cinch the bolt below the benchtop tight so the vise won’t move. Or you can leave it a little loose so it swivels.

The only real downside to the vise is that you have to have a hole in your workbench to make things work. The Hi Vise can clamp almost anywhere (even to a truck bumper).

This vise is an excellent substitution for a shaving horse. It’s a little slower in use, but takes up almost no space.

— Christopher Schwarz

Publisher’s note: This is the final entry in our 2022 gift guide. Every year we think that *this year* will be the last. That we couldn’t possibly come up with a new list for the following year. If we do manage to do a gift guide for 2023 it will be our 10th gift guide.

To read previous entries in the gift guide, click here.

Yes, another brush. This one wasn’t on my list initially. When Mattias Hallin visited our shop this year, he brought some lovely small gifts. One of them was this incredible brush from REMOS.

The natural bristles are remarkably stiff and stout. Mattias explained that he uses this brush to clear his rasps of debris. 

For years I’ve used a file card to clean my rasps. One side had stiff-ish natural bristles. The other side had stiff steel bristles. Mostly I used the side with the natural bristles. But it could never get all the sawdust out of the teeth. And eventually I would use (with a wince) the metal-bristled side to finish the cleaning job.

I don’t know if the metal bristles hurt the steel teeth of my rasps. But I didn’t want to find out.

The REMOS brush is incredible. It quickly cleans out the crevices under the rasp’s teeth without complaint. It is about 100-percent better than my old file card.

Thanks Mattias. This tool is a winner.

— Christopher Schwarz

To read previous entries in the gift guide, click here.

One of the many fantastic tips I learned from “The Belligerent Finisher” was using common household materials to burnish wooden surfaces. Burnishing compacts the wood and can add a gorgeous texture.

Author John Porritt has several simple tools he uses for this. The coolest one is a chainmail pot scrubber, which is great fun to use. You can find these at any good household/kitchen store. I experimented with several different kinds. Some had bigger rings. Some had very fine rings. I preferred the smallest rings. The fine one I like looks like the one shown here. I bought mine at a local restaurant supply store. Look around, and I’m sure you’ll find one. 

I’ve been using the pot scrubber on my chairs before applying soft wax. I use it mostly on protruding tenons and on the chair’s hands. The burnishing rounds over any hard edges, making them kind to the user’s hands.

The pot scrubber is quite similar to using a polissoir, except that it excels at working on curved and shaped surfaces. The polissoir, on the other hand, is great for large flat surfaces and is tricky to use on edges.

As always, the world of finishing is endlessly surprising. 

— Christopher Schwarz

To read previous entries in the gift guide, click here.

This entry is the sister to yesterday’s entry on our fancy plant mister. We found these vintage glass apothecary bottles and immediately bought some for shop liquids. We keep our backup supply of 50/50 water/alcohol potion in it.

The bottles are 7” tall and hold 250ml. The best part is that the bottle’s opening and its stopper are ground glass. So opening and closing the lid is a sensory pleasure (look, I know I’m weird).

The bottles are a dark brown glass. Ours came with an old pharmacy label on it that was covered in handwriting. Our bottle held Akutol, a first aid spray.

These bottles are gorgeous things that you don’t see much anymore.

OK, enough whimsy.

— Christopher Schwarz

To read previous entries in the gift guide, click here.