A woodworker's field companion.
Woodworking Terms
Tap a filter tag on any term to see that category
Tools
Hand and power tools, technique and terms
Wood Species
Hardness, region, application, food safety
Sawmill Terms
Vocabulary for buying lumber and understanding how boards are cut
Joinery
Types of joints, their strengths, and when to use each
Clamps & Workholding
Types of clamps and how to use them
Workbench Types
Designs, features, and how to choose
Board Foot Calculator
Thickness (in) × Width (in) × Length (ft) ÷ 12
Shop Safety
Dust, fire, PPE, chemicals, first aid
Drying & Storage
Air drying, kiln drying, and proper lumber storage
Shop Setup
Layout, workholding, lighting, organization
Sharpening
Stones, angles, technique, testing for sharp
Maintenance & Care
Keeping tools and wood in working condition
Start Here
A grounded introduction to woodworking
You do not need much to start. A solid workbench, a handful of core tools, and an understanding of grain and moisture will take you further than a shop full of machines you do not yet know how to use. The tools exist to serve the work. Start with what the work actually requires.
What distinguishes good woodworking: Not the tools, not even the technique, it is the attention. Woodworking rewards slowing down. A fit that requires ten minutes of careful paring lasts forever. A joint rushed through in two minutes will show it. The craft teaches patience whether you want it to or not.
Power tools remove material faster and reduce physical fatigue on repetitive dimensioning work. A thickness planer does in two passes what hand planing takes twenty minutes to accomplish. Most working woodworkers use both, hand tools for fitting, refining, and joinery; machines for initial dimensioning and production repetition.
Neither is the right answer exclusively. The hand-tool-only approach teaches you the most about wood behavior and is the quietest, most accessible path. A hybrid shop gets dimensioning done quickly and reserves hand tools for the work that benefits most from them. Choose based on your space, budget, noise constraints, and what kind of experience you want at the bench.
A practical hand-tool starting kit: No. 4 bench plane, No. 5 jack plane, crosscut saw, rip saw, a set of bench chisels (1/4" to 1"), marking gauge, combination square, marking knife, and a mallet. This covers the majority of furniture work.
What grain is: Wood is made of long fibers running along the length of the tree. The direction those fibers run relative to the surface you are working is the grain direction. Cutting with the grain means the tool is sliding under and lifting the fibers cleanly. Cutting against the grain means the tool is driving the fibers into the wood and ripping them out, that is tearout.
How to read it: Look at the edge of the board. The grain lines angle in a direction. Plane or chisel in the direction those lines slope downward into the surface, like petting an animal in the direction its fur lies flat. If the surface gets rough, you are going the wrong direction. Flip the board or flip your approach.
End grain: End grain (the cut end of the board) is exposed fiber cross-sections. It cuts differently than face or edge grain, it requires sharper tools, more controlled cuts, and different finishing technique. End grain absorbs finish faster and usually requires a sealer coat first.
Grain and glue: Long grain to long grain glue joints are extremely strong, often stronger than the wood itself. End grain to long grain joints are weak because the end grain absorbs glue and starves the joint. Face grain to face grain (panels, veneers) depends on surface prep.
What sharp means: A truly sharp chisel or plane iron shaves hair from your forearm with no pressure. It slices clean printer paper silently. The edge catches on your thumbnail rather than skating across it. If your tool does not do these things, it is not sharp enough for fine work.
Sharpening is a skill, not a chore. Learning to sharpen well, flattening the back, establishing the bevel, raising and removing the burr, finishing on a strop, takes an hour to learn and a few sessions to make automatic. Once automatic, touching up an edge takes two minutes and transforms the next hour of work.
The back matters as much as the bevel. New tools almost never have a flat back. Before worrying about the bevel angle, flatten the back on a coarse stone until it is mirror-flat at the tip. This is a one-time operation per tool, but it must be done before the tool will perform.
See the Sharpening section for stones, technique, and testing.
The numbers: A 12-inch wide flatsawn cherry board might move 1/4 inch or more between a dry winter and a humid summer in a typical interior. Quartersawn stock moves roughly half as much in width. Movement along the length of a board is negligible, wood moves across the grain, not with it.
The rule: Never glue or fasten wide panels (tabletops, door panels, case sides) rigidly across their width. They must be free to move. A tabletop attached with screws through a fixed apron will split the top or blow the apron joint apart. Use figure-8 fasteners, wooden buttons, or slot-screwed cleats that allow movement.
Frame and panel construction exists entirely because of wood movement. The panel floats in a groove, never glued in, and expands and contracts freely while the frame remains stable.
Acclimate your lumber. Bring wood into your shop and let it sit stickered for two to four weeks before cutting it into final parts. It will move as it reaches equilibrium with your shop humidity. Cut it before it acclimates and your dimensions will change after the parts are made.
The six steps, in order:
1. Flatten the face side. One flat reference face. All other dimensions come from here. Mark it with a face-side mark (traditionally a looping pencil line).
2. Joint the face edge. One straight edge, square to the face side. Mark it. Now you have two reference surfaces at 90 degrees to each other.
3. Thickness to dimension. The second face parallel to the first, at your target thickness.
4. Rip to width. The second edge parallel to the face edge, at your target width.
5. Crosscut to rough length. Remove defects and cut closer to final length with some margin.
6. Crosscut to final length. Final dimension, square across the grain.
Why the order matters: If you thickness before flattening, the planer makes both faces parallel, but parallel to a twisted surface, not to a flat one. If you rip before jointing an edge, you are referencing from an unknown surface. The sequence is not arbitrary; it is the logic of building from a datum outward.
See Milling & Process for full detail on each step.
The bench itself: Mass matters. A heavy bench does not move. A light bench walks across the floor under planing pressure and telegraphs vibration into every cut. The traditional benchmark is a thick hardwood top with a leg vise on the left and some form of tail vise or bench dogs on the right.
The face vise holds work vertically for sawing, planing edges, and cutting joinery. It should open wide enough to hold a panel and clamp with enough force that the work does not shift under a mallet blow.
The holdfast is the oldest and most effective bench accessory for hand-tool work. A steel shaft dropped into a dog hole and struck with a mallet, it locks instantly and releases with a single tap from behind. Faster and more positive than a clamp for many operations.
Bench hooks and shooting boards are the simplest workholding jigs and should be the first things you build. A bench hook holds work for crosscutting. A shooting board holds work for planing end grain square and true. Both are built from scrap in an afternoon and used for years.
The principle: The work should be held so that cutting force drives it into the bench or the stop, not away from it. Set up the hold before picking up the tool, repositioning while a tool is in hand is where accidents happen.
Bench hook (1–2 hours): The first thing most hand-tool woodworkers build, because you need one to build anything else. Teaches sawing to a line, basic layout, and grain direction. See Starter Projects for full instructions.
Wooden mallet (2–4 hours): You use the result in every subsequent session. Teaches layout, boring a mortise, fitting a tapered handle, and the basics of surface finishing. The mortise teaches more about chiseling than almost any other single exercise.
Cutting board (3–6 hours): A face glue-up, flattening a panel, and food-safe finishing. Three skills that appear in almost every furniture project.
Small box (4–8 hours): Where the earlier skills converge. Requires precise layout, clean sawing, careful paring, and a fitted lid. The dovetail version is the traditional benchmark of hand-tool skill.
The principle: Each project should teach a skill the next project depends on. Build in sequence, not randomly. The bench hook teaches the sawing you need for the mallet. The mallet teaches the mortise work you need for the box. The path compounds.
Where to go from here
App Guide
How to get the most from this companion
What this app is
The Bench & Bison Workshop Companion is a hand-tool focused woodworking reference built for practical use in the shop. Every section is readable offline. No account required. No ads.
Navigating
Use the hamburger menu (top right) to reach any section directly. The back arrow (top left) returns to wherever you came from. The home button (title text) always returns to the landing page. The landing page organizes everything into labeled groups, scroll it to orient yourself.
Search
Tap the magnifying glass to search across terms, tools, wood species, sawmill terms, finishing entries, gluing topics, and more. Search checks names, descriptions, and body content, so searching spontaneous combustion finds the fire safety entry, and searching blotch finds both the finishing section and common mistakes.
Cross-links
Green tags are clickable links, tap them to go directly to the relevant term, tool, or section. They appear in tool detail pages (associated terms), term detail pages (related terms and category filters), project pages (tools and skills), finishing pages (disposal links to safety), and throughout body text. Grey tags are informational labels only, no link destination exists yet for those entries.
Workshop Notes
Tap the notebook icon (top right, next to search) to open the notes panel. Tap + New Entry to create a timestamped journal entry, write measurements, observations, project notes, or anything else. Entries are saved automatically as you type and sorted newest-first. Tap any entry to reopen and edit it. Use Export All Notes to copy everything to your clipboard for safekeeping. Notes are stored on this device only, they do not sync across devices.
Joint Decision Guide
Found under Reference on the landing page. Answers the question what joint should I use here? by asking about the stress direction, visibility, tools available, and application. Takes about 30 seconds and links directly to the full joinery entry for the recommended joint.
Dovetail Walkthrough
A sequential step-by-step guide designed to be read in the shop. Each step has Previous / Next navigation so you can follow along without losing your place. Start at the Overview and work through, the process builds on itself.
Save to your phone
Visit the app in Safari (iOS) or Chrome (Android), tap Share, and choose Add to Home Screen. It will appear as an icon and open full-screen like a native app. All content is available offline after the first visit.
Suggested starting points
New to woodworking: Start Here → Shop Safety → Tools → Milling & Process → Layout & Measurement → Sharpening → Starter Projects.
Buying lumber: Sawmill Terms → Board Foot Calculator → Wood Species.
Starting a project: Milling & Process → Layout & Measurement → Joint Decision Guide → Joinery.
Finishing a piece: Wood Finishing → Finish Troubleshooting → Finishing Chemicals (Shop Safety).
About
Bench & Bison Workshop
Built Slowly. Made to Last.
Bench & Bison Workshop is a hand-tool focused woodworking practice based in Revloc, Pennsylvania.
Why this app exists
Woodworking knowledge is scattered across books, YouTube channels, forums, and shop floors. This companion is an attempt to put the most useful reference material in one place, organized, searchable, and usable in the shop without an internet connection. It is built for the kind of woodworker who works slowly and makes things to last.
The approach
Hand tools first, but not exclusively. The milling sequence works whether you own a jointer or a No. 7 plane. The finishing section covers film finishes alongside oil and wax. The joint entries cover both hand-cut and machine-cut approaches. The goal is practical knowledge, not ideology.
Content philosophy
Every entry is written to be useful at the bench, not to impress. Short descriptions, clear process, direct advice. Where there is genuine debate among woodworkers (oil finish vs film finish, hide glue vs PVA) the app presents the tradeoffs rather than a single answer.
Visit
benchandbison.com, shop work, projects, and the workshop journal.
@benchbison on Instagram
Disclaimer
This app provides general woodworking reference information for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional training or advice. Content is provided as-is with no warranty of accuracy or completeness. Use of this app is at your own risk.
Support the work
If this companion has been useful in your shop, you can support the work at ko-fi.com/benchbison. Every contribution goes toward materials.
Version
Workshop Companion v1.3
Built with care. Content ongoing.
No data collected.
Changelog
- Tools: added spokeshave, marking knife, sliding bevel, mallet, winding sticks, drawknife
- Joinery: added detail pages for dowel joint, mitered spline, groove & panel, scarf & splice; all Joint Guide results now link to detail pages
- Heartwood & Sapwood terms expanded with practical guidance; cross-references fixed
- Beginner Guide rewritten: 5 thin items → 8 substantive sections including wood movement, milling sequence, and workholding
- Voice/tone pass on all exotic wood entries (osage orange, purpleheart, lignum vitae, bloodwood, bubinga, zebrawood, Indian rosewood, ebony); CITES sourcing notes added where applicable
- Sharpening promoted to hero card on home page
- Finishing Schedules: added carved & turned objects, hardwax oil (Rubio/Osmo), and wax-only schedules
- Home page: Joint Decision Guide moved from Calculators into Reference group alongside Joinery
- Journal: archive system added (soft delete → archive, restore or permanently delete from archive view); all journal buttons wired; TDZ crash fixed
- Bug fixes: two null-slot commas removed from T and TOOLS arrays; journal state declarations hoisted above init calls
- Terms category navigation fixed (61 terms, 7 categories)
- Wood Movement Calculator coverage completed
- Journal system, disclaimer modal, service worker registration
- 30 wood species, 23 tools, finishing schedules, joinery guide
Finishing Schedules
Complete step-by-step finish systems by application
Wood Movement Calculator
Predict how much solid wood will expand or contract seasonally
Kiln-dried lumber: 6–8% · Air-dried (shop): 8–12% · Interior (heated): 6–8% · Exterior / unheated: 12–16%
What this means: A 12" wide flatsawn white oak panel moving from 8% (kiln-dried) to 14% (unheated space) will expand approximately 0.45". Always account for wood movement in your joinery and panel design.
Hardware & Fasteners
Screws, hinges, drawer slides, pulls, and knockdown hardware
Green Woodworking
Working with fresh, unseasoned wood, riving, carving, chairmaking
Finish Troubleshooting
What went wrong, why, and how to fix it
Wood Defects Reference
Understanding knots, checks, figure, warp, and reaction wood
Dovetail Walkthrough
A complete step-by-step guide to cutting hand dovetails
Joint Decision Guide
Answer a few questions to find the right joint for your situation
Gluing
Glue types, joint prep, open time, clamping, and squeeze-out
Milling & Process
The sequence for turning rough lumber into flat, square, dimensioned stock
Layout & Measurement
Marking, squaring, finding centers, and why it matters before any cut
Wood Finishing
Choosing and applying the right finish for your work
Starter Projects
Sequenced builds, each one teaches skills the next depends on
Common Mistakes
Symptoms, causes, and fixes for the most frequent problems
External References
Trusted sources for deeper knowledge
Fine Woodworking
In-depth technique, joinery, finishing, and design
The Wood Database
Species data, Janka ratings, workability
Popular Woodworking
Projects, tool reviews, hand and power techniques
Paul Sellers
Hand-tool mastery, accessible tutorials
Lost Art Press
Historic texts, workbench design, joinery
r/handtools
Hand tool community, vintage tool ID