After learning my flight was detained 4 hours, I heard the announcement: If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately.

Well—one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there.

An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly. Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her problem? We told her the flight was going to be four hours late and she did this.

I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly.

Shu dow-a, shu- biduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick, sho bit se-wee?

شو دعاء , شو بدك حبيبتي , استني استني شوي , من فضلك , شو بتساوي

Translation: “Duaa (girl’s name) what do you want honey , wait, wait a second , please , what are…

When you take the plunge into restoring old tools, there are some days that you feel a bit like a historian and a conservator, and there are others when you feel like a surgeon in a field hospital.

It’s inevitable in the hunt for fine tools at flea markets, that you will sometimes run into tools that have lived a hard life. Tools that have suffered unmentionable and unfathomable indignities at the hands of previous owners. These tools will look up at you with their sad tool eyes and beg to be taken home with you.

Sometimes, despite your better judgement, you do, and then you have to figure out what in the world to do with them.

Such is the case with this guy:

It evidently started out life as a Disston no.4 mitre box saw, probably included with a small Millers Falls, Langon, or Stanley set. From there on…

The Naked Woodworker video makes out like the bench build is a one day project.  This may just be for effect or Mr. Siemsen may be able to pull this feat off.  A well organised shop and an experienced builder might just be able to build this bench in a day.  Since I come up a little bit short on both counts, my build will take a little more than a day.  I did give it my best shot though.

Saturday I began by processing the 2x12s into usable parts.  I first cut the 8ft seactions that will make up the aprons and tops.  This left me with 4ft drops from each board.  Then I did something that I haven’t done in a long time.  I fired up my old portable table saw.  I used it to rip the 4ft drop in half to yield eight pieces 5-1/2″ wide and…

by Todd Walker

Read the next two lines and stop. Look around you. Make a mental note of all the useful stuff produced from two resources… wood and metal.

Really, stop reading for a second!

Okay, come back now.

What did you come up with? If you only noted the obvious wooden and metallic items, go deeper. With a little thought, your list should grow exponentially.

The fact is, wood and metal were directly or indirectly responsible for building your house, mailbox, wall clock, sofa, and the electronic device you’re reading from this very moment.

Wood and metal go together like peas and carrots. Metal tools are used to shape wood. But wood creates fire to heat metal for making said tools. And don’t forget about the useful wooden handles attached to metal tools. There’s a relationship between the two resources in which both benefit from the other. In biology, we call this mutualism.

For long-term self-reliance, learning to manipulate and…