Our cover story for the December 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking is 12 Rules for Tool Chests, by Contributing Editor Christopher Schwarz. He builds a traditional tool chest that will hold all of your hand tools in one convenient spot.
In Complementary Curves, Jeff Miller shows how most of the challenge in making his graceful arch table with bent-laminations is in the prep.
In Straight Talk on Sharpening, Deneb Puchalski shows that while a cambered plane blade works fine, it is important to first experience “sharp” on a straight blade.
Ernie Conover shows how to keep your lathe from loafing between jobs with this inexpensive Shop-built Disc Sander.
Special wood is the starting point of inspiration for these boxes infused with the past in Ted Brown’s Krenov-style ‘Memories Box.
In Chester County Style, Charles Bender shows how this Pennsylvania county developed unique and recognizable furniture.
This issue’s I Can Do That project is a gent’s box by Managing Editor Megan Fitzpatrick.
In this issue’s Tool Test, we take a look at Veritas’s Bevel-up Smoothing Plane, Leigh’s R9Plus through-dovetail and box-joint jig, and a new veneer saw from Gramercy Tools.
In Design Matters, George R. Walker shows how developing your design skills is a journey of discovery.
In Arts & Mysteries, Adam Cherubini shows how today’s tool choices pale in comparison to what 18th-century craftsmen typically had in their tool boxes.
In Flexner on Finishing, Bob Flexner dispels many of the myths about French polishing.
Brian Boggs suggests that you consider yourself a midwife to creativity in The Myth of Original Design.
Detailed article previews are below. Online Extras (downloads, links, etc.) are found within that article.
[description]Articles from the December 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine[/description][keywords]Popular Woodworking Magazine, Magazine Articles, Technique Articles, Project Articles, Tool Reviews, Finishing[/keywords]
My brother and I gazed at a sunset from a rocky perch high atop Boulder Pass in Glacier National Park. A ball of orange slipped behind the jagged peaks way out there somewhere toward Japan. We sat there dazzled, not uttering a word as the clouds turned into purple islands in a sea of molten lava. We were doing something we felt passionate about. It took effort to haul our packs up the steep trail, yet we soaked in every moment like a gift. That sunset wasn’t an in-your-face adrenalin rush, but something in the moment, quiet and deep.
We’ve talked and written volumes about planes and plane irons, and how to sharpen and use them. But when one thinks about making things by hand, there are a whole host of tools required to complete a project. Some tools get more attention than others. I guess I feel as though chisels have been overlooked.
The traditional English-style veneer saw with its cranked handle is probably more familiar to U.S. woodworkers than is the traditional French-style saw with its handle directly atop the blade. The latter was unfamiliar to me until I picked up this new saw by Gramercy Tools. I then learned the Brooklyn-based toolmaker added a significant new feature: a solid steel 3⁄16″-thick backer plate to which the blade is secured.
Here is my adjustable jig for ripping thin strips on a table saw. Used with a push stick and zero-clearance insert, it keeps my hands a safe distance away from the sawblade.
Leigh has been known over the years for innovative and well-made joint-making jigs. Its newest, the R9Plus, offers some new features, not the least of which is an entry-level price point.
I have never understood the modern fascination with enormous smoothing planes. We prefer big smoothers with lots of mass, long soles and wide blades. Our ancestors preferred small smoothing planes that were shorter (as small as 7″) and narrower. Why? The little tools worked faster and were less tiring than bigger planes. Now Veritas has introduced a new small-scale smoothing plane that pushes almost all of my buttons. Its sole is less than 9″ long x 21⁄4″ wide, enabling it to get into hollows in big panels that big smoothers struggle with. And at 2 lbs., 12 oz., it is half the weight of a modern No. 41⁄2 smoothing plane.
Three times in the last year, articles have appeared in major woodworking magazines instructing readers to use linen for the outer cloth in a French polishing pad. No explanation, just the instruction. This brought back memories from 30 years ago of my running all over town searching unsuccessfully for linen because I had just read the same instruction: Linen is “best.”
