Popular Woodworking Magazine » Joinery

I Want to Give You ‘Go Fever’

Christopher Schwarz — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:49:49 +0000

In some high technology circles there is an expression they use when engineers move too quickly to launch a project. They have “go fever” and are willing to overlook horrible mistakes in order to launch a product. When teaching woodworking – especially casework – I find that most students need to take down their protective netting, … Read more »

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How To Glue Miter Joints-Wait a Minute

Robert W. Lang — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:55:43 +0000

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 »

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Dovetails with Help from the Drill Press

Christopher Schwarz — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 22:16:29 +0000

When I make a lot of half-blind dovetails, I’ll use a drill press to help bore out the waste between the pins. The video below shows how I do. Some caveats to consider before you try to cram your boot between my buttocks via a comment below: 1. Ya, I use machines at times to … Read more »

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Secret Dovetails for the Rest of Us

zdillinger — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:29:46 +0000

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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800 Interlocking Wooden Parts, 8 Men, 1 Chinese Pavilion

Christopher Schwarz — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 23:56:20 +0000

As a child, I disliked assembling puzzles. What’s the fun in piecing together hundreds of pieces of cardboard into a flat image of a happy whale family? But Lincoln Logs, on the other hand, had my full attention. Yes, I know I was not a consistent child. This week I drove to the Headley-Whitney Museum … Read more »

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Cut Accurate and Clean Rabbets

Article Index — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:25:38 +0000

By Christopher Schwarz From the Spring 2004 issue of Woodworking Magazine, pages 8-11 When I was taught to cut rabbets in my first woodworking class, we made them with two cuts on the table saw. You’ve probably seen this technique in books and magazines before. For the first cut, the work is flat on the … Read more »

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Better Dados for Casework

Article Index — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:36:41 +0000

We wanted perfect dados: precise in size and location. All it took was a router and a simple T-square jig. By Robert Lang From the Spring 2005 issue of Woodworking Magazine, pages 25-27 Dados are a “bread and butter” kind of joint. They’re simple and strong, and a router with a straight bit and a … Read more »

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Joinery Changes to Consider for Your Tool Chest

Christopher Schwarz — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 02:38:17 +0000

I’ve hauled my tool chest all over the United States and Canada, and I remain impressed – deeply impressed – by how it has handled all the miles. I’ve even dropped it from a height of 36” – fully loaded – onto concrete. One corner of the chest’s dust seal splintered a bit, but the … Read more »

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Installing a Drawer Stretcher

Matthew Teague — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 15:33:12 +0000

I’ve been working on a cherry and bird’s-eye maple entry table for the October 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine, and as I was installing the upper drawer stretcher I remembered how puzzled I was when faced with cutting my first one. It’s just a single dovetail cut on the end of the stretcher that … Read more »

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Best Wood Glue Surface, Smooth or Rough?

Steve Shanesy — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 20:58:37 +0000

From time to time I hear someone comment about a woodworking practice that runs totally contrary to what I’ve been taught. One of these is what kind of wood surface yields the strongest joint when using wood glues, typically white or yellow glue, but also hide glue. This came up a few weeks ago. And … Read more »

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