Vic Tesolin Woodworks

or 14 years in the Canadian Army, every piece of equipment had its own dedicated tool kit. Nothing fancy. Just everything you needed, exactly where you needed it.

Turns out, that mindset followed me into woodworking.

Why do I have five identical wrenches in my shop? Why does almost every machine have its own dedicated kit? And why do I think hunting for tools is one of the biggest momentum killers in woodworking?

I wrote about it in the latest issue of Wood Slivers.

Link in bio.

Woodworkers love to overthink sharpening.

Wear bevels. Hollow grinds. Flat grinds. Secondary bevels. Endless debates about microscopic differences that, in practical woodworking, may not matter nearly as much as we think.

Meanwhile, the furniture still isn’t building itself.

I wrote a new article on why we might be spending too much time obsessing over sharpening and not enough time actually making things.

Head over to my Substack to read the full piece. Link in bio.

I replaced my modern mid-level drill press with a 50-ish-year-old Rockwell/Beaver and honestly? I don’t miss the “features” one bit.

No touchscreen. No apps. No firmware updates. Just a smooth quill, virtually no runout, and a depth stop that actually stays where you set it. Wild concept.

The older I get, the more I appreciate tools that do their job without demanding attention every five minutes.

Read the full blog on Substack.

You don’t need another video. You need better information.

Back in the day, one book, one page, and you were off to the races. Now it’s 20 tabs, 10 opinions, and somehow you’re more confused than when you started.

I wrote about that shift, and why it’s holding people back.

Go read it on Substack. Link in bio.

Many woodworkers I meet want to go pro.

I get it. It sounds great. All day in the shop, making things with your hands.

But here’s the part no one talks about. When your work has to pay the bills, it stops being just yours. Clients, timelines, pricing, expectations… it all creeps in.

The amateur has something most people overlook. Freedom.

Freedom to build what you want. Try things that might fail. Change your mind halfway through. Make something just because you feel like it.

That’s not a stepping stone. That’s the whole point.

I wrote more about this, and why I’ve chosen to keep my shop work mine.

Go read the full post.