Popular Woodworking Magazine » Hand Tools Techniques http://www.popularwoodworking.com Woodworking advice, woodworking plans, woodworking projects and woodworking blogs Thu, 20 Jun 2013 05:34:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Working With Small Hingeshttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/working-with-small-hinges http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/working-with-small-hinges#comments Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:02:16 +0000 Robert W. Lang http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=261878
Working With Small Hinges

In the back panel of the project I made for the upcoming August 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine is a small door. Hanging doors on butt hinges is no big deal if you’ve done it a few times, but this door proved interesting. The picture above makes it look typical, but the piece of … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/working-with-small-hinges/feed 1 Tuning Bench Planes at Vesper World Headquartershttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/tuning-bench-planes-at-vesper-world-headquarters http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/tuning-bench-planes-at-vesper-world-headquarters#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:24:57 +0000 Christopher Schwarz http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=261258
Tuning Bench Planes at Vesper World Headquarters

Honestly, I’ve tuned so many dang metal planes in my lifetime that I’ll never worry about having enough iron in my diet. They might mine my carcass for the mineral when I’m dead. For me, it has always been an analog process: Do it by hand with inexpensive supplies. Today I spent the day tuning … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/chris-schwarz-blog/tuning-bench-planes-at-vesper-world-headquarters/feed 9 The Real Reason to Practice Your Woodworking Skillshttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/the-real-reason-to-get-woodworking-practice http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/the-real-reason-to-get-woodworking-practice#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2013 10:47:45 +0000 Robert W. Lang http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=258445
The Real Reason to Practice Your Woodworking Skills

I spent much of Friday in the shop, tuning up machines in preparation for an upcoming magazine project. The thing I will be building is rather small, but with some involved details. I wanted the table saw and router table to be as precise as possible, and I also wanted to get some practice in … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/the-real-reason-to-get-woodworking-practice/feed 2 Laminate File: A Woodworking Hand Tool You Didn’t Know You Neededhttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/plastic-laminate-file-the-tool-you-didnt-know-you-needed http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/plastic-laminate-file-the-tool-you-didnt-know-you-needed#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:30:32 +0000 Robert W. Lang http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=257667
Adjust a tenon with a file

Tool snobs beware: This post is about an inexpensive tool that is useful for woodworking and without an ounce of style or charm. In the cabinet industry, plastic laminate files are used for filing the edges of plastic laminate after trimming with a router. In that world, they are a consumable item and are purchased … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/plastic-laminate-file-the-tool-you-didnt-know-you-needed/feed 4 Secret Dovetails for the Rest of Ushttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/secret-dovetails-for-the-rest-of-us http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/secret-dovetails-for-the-rest-of-us#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:29:46 +0000 zdillinger http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=257416
secret dovetail, miter dovetail

I hate end grain. In my work, I take great pains to hide every square inch of it. This often means cutting joinery that is more involved. For example, on my spice chest, I could simply have used through-dovetails to join the top to the sides of the case. Like the original maker, I chose … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/secret-dovetails-for-the-rest-of-us/feed 12 Experiments in Board Chestshttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/experiments-in-board-chests http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/experiments-in-board-chests#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:12:18 +0000 Christopher Schwarz http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=255261
Experiments in Board Chests

For too long now I’ve been researching vernacular forms of furniture. I dislike the word “vernacular,” so I call these designs the “furniture of necessity.” These are the pieces of furniture that aren’t heralded in books or at Sotheby’s. Yet, they have remained almost unchanged in form for hundreds of years. One of these forms … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/experiments-in-board-chests/feed 21 A Rare Rant About Threadboxeshttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/a-rare-rant-about-threadboxes http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/a-rare-rant-about-threadboxes#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2012 02:46:28 +0000 Christopher Schwarz http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=234561
A Rare Rant About Threadboxes

If I wrote about all the woodworking tools out there that stink, I wouldn’t have much time to build anything. Most of the junk out there can be avoided. You can buy better drill bits, screwdrivers and hammers than the stuff you find in the $1 bins at the home centers. But for some tools, … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/hand-tools-techniques/a-rare-rant-about-threadboxes/feed 21 Chair Joinery: Tapered Tenons & Tapered Mortiseshttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/joinery/chair-joinery-tapered-tenons-tapered-mortises http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/joinery/chair-joinery-tapered-tenons-tapered-mortises#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 12:14:21 +0000 Christopher Schwarz http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=165211
Chair Joinery: Tapered Tenons & Tapered Mortises

Because chairs take abuse like a rented mule, the simple mortise-and-tenon joint is sometimes not enough. In traditional Windsor chair construction, the legs and spindles are attached to the plank seat using tenons that are cone-shaped along their lengths. So the mortises have to be the same shape. These tapered joints are clever. The more … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/joinery/chair-joinery-tapered-tenons-tapered-mortises/feed 6 Accuracy in Woodworkinghttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/accuracy-in-woodworking http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/accuracy-in-woodworking#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 18:24:28 +0000 Robert W. Lang http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=162031
Accuracy in Woodworking

One of the sure signs of getting old is finding out that the kid who works in the next cubicle never heard of the TV show “WKRP in Cincinnati.” Another sign is remembering something that is taken for granted today was at one time brand spanking new. Our web guy wasn’t even born in 1982 … Read more »

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]]> http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/accuracy-in-woodworking/feed 17 Exploit the Weakness of the Treehttp://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/joinery/exploit-the-weakness-of-the-tree http://www.popularwoodworking.com/techniques/joinery/exploit-the-weakness-of-the-tree#comments Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:39:27 +0000 Christopher Schwarz http://www.popularwoodworking.com/?p=161111
Exploit the Weakness of the Tree

In hand-tool woodworking, brains almost always trump brawn. For example, when I need to remove a lot of material from a localized area, I need to think like a tree assassin and exploit its weaknesses. Think about it for a minute: Trees are much stronger in the vertical axis than they are in the horizontal. … Read more »

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