Miter joints can be a real source of frustration. The pieces need to be the exact length and the cut surfaces need to be as close to perfect as you can get them. If they don’t look great right off the saw, use a shooting board and a plane, or rub the surfaces on a … Read more
I haven’t joined in the current love-fest for the router plane. It’s way down on my list of essential tools. I find it a fussy thing whose main purpose seems to be making perfectly flat surfaces where they aren’t needed, and as a means to avoid picking up a chisel. That being said, when Lee … Read more
Our shop has a lot of things in common with our readers’ shops, especially those who work in basements or abandoned coal mines. The overhead lighting leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve recently been working on a project with ridiculously small details and decided I needed a dedicated workbench light. I found a great … Read more
Perhaps the headline should read “the tool I hate to love.” Every now and then I need something round, or an odd-sized hole, and I turn to the “adjustable circle cutter.” I know it as a “fly cutter” and it is never my first choice. It’s a simple device, but it looks scary, and for … Read more
I first met Jim Ipekjian in 2005, about a year after I started at Popular Woodworking Magazine. What began as an e-mail taking me to task for some shortcomings in an article I wrote eventually led to an invitation to visit the man who has more hands-on experience with original (and reproduction) Greene & Greene … Read more
There are a bunch of online woodworking forums, but WoodCentral is a bit special to me. That is where I came across a posting from Chris Schwarz almost nine years ago about an opening on the Popular Woodworking Magazine staff. That’s a wonderful excuse for fooling around online when you should be doing something productive. … Read more
In the April issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, we test the plunge base for the Bosch Colt router. In this video, I show some of the features of this long-awaited base, and give some tips for using a router to make mortises. With a good fence on the router and a few clamps, you can … Read more
