Swiped from a French engraving, this easy tool rack works in your shop or even in your kitchen. It’s good to keep your tools protected (think: tool chest). But it’s also good to keep them handy (think: at arm’s reach). My favorite way to accomplish both goals is a stout tool rack. I’ve made many…

Tool: Lock Miter Master Manufacturer: Infinity Tools Price: $29.90 The lock miter is a strong, beautifully simple joint. Using just one router bit, both halves of the joint are cut using the same setting; one vertically and one horizontally. But have you ever tried setting one up? In order to work, it has to be dead-on perfect,…

Reproduce an Arts & Crafts classic and reward yourself with the ultimate easy chair.

By Robert W. Lang
Pages: 28-35

Bandsawing long boards without a helper is tricky business. I don’t like roller stands. Most aren’t tall enough for a bandsaw. Also, if your stock butts into the roller instead of riding over it, the stand can tip over. So I made this detachable outfeed table.  When not in use, it lifts off the saw…

Tool: The Dremel Moto-Saw Manufacturer: Dremel Price: $107 A scroll saw is the go-to tool for making fine, detailed cuts. But a scroll saw, for many shops, doesn’t even break into the top ten must-have tools. The Dremel Moto-Saw is at a price point that puts a scroll saw within easy reach for non scroll saw…

Applying contact cement with a roller is my preferred method, as opposed to spraying it on. There’s not as much clean-up, and I don’t have to deal with overspray. There are drawbacks to this method, however. Mainly, the glue needs to be covered to keep it from skinning over between applications. Also, if you’re trimming…

I’m a sucker for new year’s resolutions. As a pragmatic optimist, I really like the idea of a fresh start, a time to make your life better, for no other reason than a pope in the 16th Century decided that January 1 was the first day of the new year. Some of my more memorable…

Using an awl to precisely locate a hole for drilling can be problematic. Sometimes the awl will drift, going slightly off mark as it’s deflected by the wood’s growth rings. I found that using a nail set instead alleviates the problem. I use the smallest diameter nail set I can find, and use it only…

Tool: GRR-Rip Block Manufacturer: MICROJIG Price: $83 (pack of 2) Push blocks are essential in every shop. I’ve used my fair share of them, and the new GRR-Rip Block from MicroJig just might be the nicest one so far. Most push blocks use a soft rubber pad for a gripping surface. These pads work great for a…

In bowl turning, good craftsmanship requires that the bottom show no evidence of how the bowl was mounted. It’s also important to learn how to keep the chuck from dictating key aspects of the design, such as the bottom’s shape, diameter, and height. This shop-made trapping chuck will dramatically improve the quality of your work…

Tool: Festool Carvex Manufacturer: Festool’s Price: $390 The jigsaw is a tool that I’m glad to see folks are still striving to make better. It’s an indispensable shop staple as is, but there’s room for improvement. Common complaints include blade drift, tearout and inaccuracy, to name a few. With a handful of changes and options, Festool’s…

  Tiny Roundover Every router bit “starter set” includes at least one round-over profile, but it won’t be as small as this 1/8″ radius—or nearly as useful. Say “Goodbye” to tedious hand sanding. This little bad boy quickly and consistently eases sharp edges without significantly changing the appearance of a “square” edge profile. Such an…

Dust Collector Trap Door by Fred Burne Emptying my dust collector has never been something I looked forward to. For years I wrestled with the unit to empty the contents. First, I’d remove the bag and empty it into a plastic garbage bag. Then I’d lift the blower off the barrel cover, and then empty…

Tool: CRB7 MKIII Manufacturer: M.Power Price: $83 A router base can be nothing more than just that; a base. Or, as in the case of the CRB7 MKIII kit from M.Power, it can be outfitted to help your router perform a multitude of other functions. The CRB7 router base has been around a while, but the…

My grama always used lemon oil to clean and polish her wood furniture. Either she just enjoyed having everything clean and dust free or she believed everything she read on the label. Many interesting myths surround furniture polishes, because marketing and selling them is big business. The labels on some of these products make entertaining…

The modern router didn’t arrive on the scene fully evolved; it descended from a hand-powered tool called the router plane. A quick glance at the router plane’s handles – and the tasks for which it was used – makes the family resemblance clear. Though these tools went out of favor in the woodworking trades long…

Bowl turning is a blast! Thanks to advances in lathes and tooling, lots of woodworkers have now discovered how fun it is to turn a hunk of green wood into a beautiful bowl. Start to finish, it only takes a few hours, and the wood is usually free. Whatever the bowl’s shape, you need one…

According to conventional wisdom, plywood has something to hide: unsightly edges. But as you can see, this handsome tray turns that convention on its ear. The key to its cool “micro-lam” appearance is Baltic birch plywood, which has uniformly thick plies that are virtually free of knots. As a result, its edges have a clean,…

Tool: Diamond Sharpening Plates Manufacturer: Atoma Price: $63 Diamond sharpening stones have enjoyed a steady increase in popularity because they cut fast, never need flattening and last a long time. Here’s a new type from Atoma, a Japanese company, which may wet your interest. Atoma plates are composed of monocrystalline diamonds electro-bonded to a thin sheet of…

While visiting with chairmaker Bob Erickson (pictured above with his son Tor), it seems appropriate to ask, “What chair are you sitting in right now?” He explains it’s an unfinished Van Muyden chair part of a dining room set he’s building for a client in New York City. Bob’s Van Muyden Chair—three-legged, crafted of quilted…

A large bridle joint requires an open-ended mortise that may be too deep to cut with a 10″ tablesaw. I encountered this problem when I used my saw to make bridle joints on an exterior door. I tried to finish the cuts on the bandsaw, but was unsatisfied with the results: Working freehand left mortises…

Tool: Powermatic PM1000 Manufacturer: Powermatic Price: $2400 (50″ fence) The list of 110 volt cabinet saws continues to grow. That’s great news, as it puts a great many of the benefits of a cabinet saw within reach of home-shop and hobbyist woodworkers. The PM1000 from Powermatic is a really nice machine that I’d love to have…

My Boring Story I needed to rout a deep stopped groove in a long 2×12. So, I installed an up-cut spiral bit in my plunge router, jointed a board to use as a straightedge and clamped everything to a pair of sawhorses. My first pass—3/8″ deep—went without incident. But halfway down the board on the…

Tool: Thick Kerf Flat-Top Saw Blade Manufacturer: Infinity Price: $130 Saw blades come in two basic varieties: thin kerf and standard kerf. For wider cuts, you use a dado set, right? Well, now you have another option—a thick kerf blade. The folks at Infinity are manufacturing two of them; one cuts a 5/32″ kerf, while the…

Here’s a simple turning project that makes a thoughtful gift. The process is similar to pen turning—you drill holes through a pair of blanks, turn them using a mandrel and then insert brass tubes in the holes. But rather than installing a pen cartridge, you install a perfume applicator, which is available as a kit….

“Scary sharp”—sharpening on sandpaper adhered to glass—works really well, but one thing has always bothered me. I’ve tried spray adhesives as well as PSA (pressure sensitive adhesive) backed sandpaper. In both cases, I’ve found that the sheets are very difficult to remove when they’re worn out. So is the glue residue. When I was a…

Initially lining up the edges of two boards for gluing up a jig is pretty easy. But when you add clamps or screws, one board often shifts out of place. If that alignment is critical, I don’t use clamps at all and divide the job into two steps. First, I apply glue and rub the…

Tool: 08350 Dowelling Jig Master Kit Manufacturer: JessEm Price: $195 Dowel joints are a strong, simple and low-cost method of building furniture. All you need is a jig and a drill. Decent jigs have been around for years, but most are so basic that they don’t work well for many applications. Want to join a 3/4″…

Is an eight-sided box twice as complicated as one with four sides? Not this one. As far as measuring goes, the OctaBox is easier to build than a rectangular box. On the OctaBox, every side is the same length and the top and bottom are identical—in fact, there are only two different parts to make…

Tool: AutoMaxx clamps Manufacturer: Kreg Price: $24-$29 Are you a pocket-screw fan? If so, you know that locking clamps are extremely handy for holding parts together during assembly. In fact, they’re almost indispensable. But they have one annoying feature: If you switch to material of a different thickness, you have to fiddle with the clamp’s adjustment screw…

Use the power of the sliding dovetail. PROJECT #2002 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 5 days • Cost: $500 The Shakers were a Protestant sect of English Quakers that immigrated to the U.S. in 1774. They founded largely self-sufficient communities from Maine to Kentucky and lived by the three guiding principles of honesty, utility,…

Simple Storage by Bill Wells Storage space in a small shop is hard to come by. My tool collection keeps growing, but my shop stays the same size! I needed to organize, so I bought a couple milk crate-type boxes, and turned them into sliding storage bins underneath a shop table. The crates have a…

If you like giving gifts that actually get used, a cutting board is the perfect choice; I use one almost every day. But not only will this cutting board get regular use, it’ll get “ooh’s and aah’s” as well. Its contrasting splines give this cutting board visual interest and a clean, contemporary look. Stagger the…

Kamikaze Tailstock by Tim Heil I often wax finished projects as they spin on my lathe, so it’s natural to wax the lathe’s bed at the same time. Waxing the bed prevents rust and makes the lathe’s banjo and tailstock glide effortlessly. Unfortunately, after waxing the bed the other day, I gave the lathe’s 70-lb….

by William Mikus My woodworking career began at age 7, in 1935, cutting out lawn ornaments from grocery store boxes and crates with an old coping saw. Paint was the only expense. My inspirations were my father, who was a farmer (and by necessity a carpenter) and my older brother, who was an aspiring woodworker….

Tool: Keter Folding Work Table Manufacturer: Keter Price: $89 Here’s a really fresh take on an old idea. The Keter Folding Work Table is a real boon for guys with limited work space. At 29-3/4″ high, it also turns out to be the perfect height for lots of benchtop tools which, if you used them on…

Precision Miter Saw Cuts by Charles Mak Cutting precisely to a line on a miter saw isn’t easy. Usually, you have to make multiple cuts and sneak up to it. My solution is to use this universal gauge block; one cut is all that’s required. The block works for cutting pieces of any length, as…

Turning Tool Tamer by Richard Tendick I was turning a vase recently, and as I got deeper into the turning, the vase’s rotation pulled the tool’s tip down, making it very difficult to keep the tool straight. I made a jig that cost me about $5. It prevents the handle from being pulled up, but…

Tool: Veritas Butt Chisels Manufacturer: Veritas Price: Starting at $70 Butt chisels have shorter blades than bench chisels and are generally made in wider sizes. They’re typically used for efficiently wasting out large areas, such as the mortises for installing butt hinges. These new butt chisels from Veritas’ are beautifully made and a pleasure to use. Though…

The modern term “butcher block” probably originated from the large, heavy chopping blocks found in old-fashioned butcher shops, which consisted of thick square boards (such as 3″ x 3″ x 24″ hard maple), glued and bolted together and oriented with the end-grain as the chopping surface. Today the term describes just about any solid wood…

Tool: O’Keefe’s Working Hands Manufacturer: O’Keefe’s Price: $7.29 (3.4oz) Dry, cracked hands are the bane of many woodworkers, particularly during the cold, dry months in northern climates. If this sounds familiar, and you haven’t yet discovered O’Keefe’s Working Hands, you owe it to yourself to try it out. I’m not exactly a hand-cream connoisseur, but…

INNOVATIVE FEATURES such as a lever-operated mobile base and dual-height pullout tool platforms give this bench a five-star rating, especially if you have to share space with cars and other vehicles in a garage shop. The mobile base works just like a floor jack, so you can easily move the bench from against the wall…

Balls Away! I’m a big fan of Space Balls, those little rubber balls that install in frame and panel constructions to stop rattles and keep the panels centered. I use Space Balls so frequently I buy them by the thousands and keep them in a bin that I store in my parts cabinet. A few…

Tool: Kreg K5 Manufacturer: Kreg Price: $129 Pocket hole joinery has been synonymous with the name Kreg for years. Kreg’s jigs have always been affordable and user-friendly. With the new K5 jig, the folks at Kreg have managed to tweak their flagship kit to make it even more user-friendly. For starters, there’s the almost-automatically adjusting clamping…

There are lots of excuses for not using dovetails; cutting them by hand takes time, patience, and lots of practice. A dovetail jig is relatively fool proof, but if you don’t use it regularly, be prepared for an hour or so of re-learning each time you use it. Also, dovetail jigs are expensive; particularly those…

In the 1970s, wooden counters and tabletops made from narrow laminated boards—a staple of restaurant kitchens—began to appear in upscale residential kitchens. These trendy surfaces came with the catchy name “butcher block,” which tied in perfectly with the growing interest in practicing the culinary arts at home. In fact, these work surfaces are only distantly…

Hose-Free Nailer Editor’s Pick Tool: Ryobi P320 Airstrike 18 Volt One+ Manufacturer: Ryobi Price: $99 (bare tool) No hose? No compressor? Now that’s an idea I can get behind. The new Ryobi One+ 18 volt Brad Nailer with Ryobi’s AirStrike technology is a pleasant surprise. The One+ nailer shoots 18 gauge, 5/8″ – 2″ brad nails,…

Have you ever heard of a “faldstool?” You’ve probably seen one in a movie that’s set in Medieval or Renaissance times—it’s the distinctive portable chair that a nobleman or Bishop sits on, the one with curved legs and arms that looks like it would fold together. The oldest faldstools really did fold up, which makes…

I’m a boot guy. I wear work boots pretty much every day I spend in my shop—and as a hard-working professional cabinetmaker, that can often be six days a week. I’ve got three pairs of well-worn Carhartts to cycle through, plus a pair of hiking boots. They’ve been cluttering up my hallway for years, but…

When a customer asked me to replicate the finish on her antique Stickley sideboard for the pieces she had commissioned, I grabbed my yellow dye and a few gel stains, because I knew that a layered finish was the only way to achieve the richness and depth of that old Arts and Crafts era finish….

My wife and I bought a 100-year-old farmhouse near Bristol Indiana that came with a decrepit 30′ x 40′ barn. I planned to save the barn after we finished restoring the house. However, plans don’t always work out. A couple years later I was facing my second knee replacement and knew I wouldn’t be able…

As a professional woodworker, leaving the comfort of my shop to work on a jobsite is part of the routine. I had a portable bench, but without vises, it was only marginally useful. Having all the classic woodworking vises on a jobsite would be really sweet; and expensive. What I needed were simple, durable vises…

Tool: PM1500 Bandsaw Manufacturer: Powermatic Price: $2999 Nothing beats a powerful bandsaw for milling boards from a log, roughing out massive blanks for turning or carving, or resawing wide flitches from dry timber. Making tough cuts like these in wood 12″ thick or more has traditionally been a job for commercial 18″ bandsaws, but a growing class…

Sometimes I prefer to sand by hand using a rubber block. This method gives me a better feel for the work than using a random-orbit sander does. Blocks like mine have been around for many years, but I believe I’ve made an improvement. I had noticed that most of the work was done by the…

If you can cut a lap joint, you can make this bench. PROJECT #2001 • Skill Level:Beginner • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $100 When I started woodworking, it was driven by necessity; I needed something that didn’t exist, so I made it. My woodworking was also driven by a desire to spend my time…

Restoring one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s greatest accomplishments 150 years after it originally opened. LOCATED AT: 215 Sauchiehall Street Glasgow G2 3EX, United Kingdom www.mackintoshatthewillow.com Willow Tea Rooms Trust www.willowteamroomstrust.org As an architect and designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh is synonymous with Glasgow—the city where he spent most of his life, and where several of his…

Kimberly Winkle is one of 43 fine woodworkers who was showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? The exhibition is important to me in a number of ways….

Sometimes “pretty good” furniture is good enough, even though you may wish you could spend all your precious time in the shop making fancier stuff. When my wife asked me to build a large indoor planter “just like the one in this crafts book” for a sunny hallway, I winced, but thought—what the heck. It…

My school’s woodshop is equipped with 14 professional woodworking vises that are being used all the time by students of different age groups. Many of our vises were made by Pony – Jorgensen, and Milwaukee tools. Each vise came originally with a wooden handle that was installed through its cast iron T- handle fitting. If…

Erin Irber is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? This exhibit has importance on a number of levels. Laura and…

I often start a leisurely day in the shop with a breakfast of toast and a soft-boiled egg. Of course, as a hard-core woodworker, I’ve always wanted to make a simple set of eggcups of my own design, but experimenting soon revealed an awkward problem: Spilled egg is hard to clean up. Oogloo is the…

Briana Trujillo is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? I am honored to be included in the Making a Seat at…

Modern design and Tinkertoy construction team up to make this eye-catching rack fun and sophisticated at the same time. A great addition to any kitchen, it displays your favorite dishes in style while keeping them within easy reach for daily use. Store dinner plates, salad plates, cups, saucers, mugs or bowls. Need more space? Make…

I have a confession to make: I don’t do nearly as much woodworking as I should. As someone with limited time and resources, I like to do things once, the correct way, and not have to worry about it again. This philosophy can cause some trouble when it comes to woodworking projects though. Unless I…

Sarah Watlington is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? On a personal note, it feels powerful to share a platform…

A welded base provides tons of strength for a versatile platform. Project #2003 • Skill Level:Intermediate • Time: 2 days • Cost: $250 My shop is a 12×24, one-car garage. I’ve fought (myself mostly) to optimize every square foot of that space to create a shop I enjoy spending time in and doesn’t leave me…

Extra-large finger joints add a distinctive touch to any project. Every woodworker is going to ask, “How did you do that?” Most finger joints are pretty small in scale and easy to cut on a tablesaw or router table. But what if you want really, really big finger joints? Can you imagine making accurate cuts…

William Brown is a lifelong woodworker who’s decided to channel his passion for the craft into a brand new woodworking school, Maine Coast Workshop. We interviewed him to learn more about the school, himself, and the future of woodworking. Why are you starting this school? Why now? I’ve been making high-end reproduction and historically inspired…

Curved-front drawers add a touch of grace and liveliness to a cabinet. But if you’re not set up to re-saw wide stock into thin, uniform laminations, you’re sunk, right? Wrong. You can use thin plywood instead of re-sawn hardwood, so the biggest obstacle is out of the way before you start! Build the Drawer, On…

In Part 1 of this story I review the Creative Woodburner from Walnut Hollow and today I want to show you how one of my 9th grade students used it to burn a beautiful butterfly on her the wooden box that she built.  Safety first When working with tools, and especially wood burning instruments, my…

A can of lubricant is very useful around the shop, and so is the little red straw… if you can find it after the first use! I figured out that the straw fits in the groove in the top of the can, and you can still put the lid on. No more lost straws!—Brian Roesch

Jodie Prud’homme is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? On a personal level, it’s felt like a tremendous honor to…

Mark the End Grain When you’re jointing, mark each board’s grain direction by drawing a line on its end. The line means “Start here.” A mark on a board’s face or edge can get erased by a planer or jointer, but a mark on its end grain won’t be touched until you trim the piece…

C-clamps can make nasty dents that are tough to sand out. Pads or block will prevent this, but they’re often awkward to hold in place while you tighten the clamps. I make pads that don’t require extra hands. I bought a roll of 1-inch wide adhesive-backed magnetic strips from a craft store and cut off…

It’s a familiar scenario to many a woodworker- you’ve designed your project, figured out the dimensions, but now it’s time to start cutting and you need to figure out the best order of actions for the materials you have. Some people work with pen and paper, others grab scrap wood or cardboard and make a…

“What kind of wood is this?” In my work as a furniture restorer and conservator, I often hear this question. Red alder is especially hard to identify because it can be finished to closely resemble many other more expensive hardwoods. (It’s often referred to as “poor man’s cherry.”) This “chameleon” characteristic is one reason red…

Katrina Tompkins is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? If she can see it she can be it. When I…

A lot of woodworkers shy away from curves. There’s plenty of reasons for this. For starters, some of the common power tools are built for rectangular construction, a table saw is a good example. Limitations imposed by our machines can nudge us away from curves. A second reason is that curves add an extra level…

Heide Martin is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you?  I had heard about the book project that Laura and Deirdre…

While doing the dishes the other night, I looked at the drying rack and thought, “Wow! I need one of these in my shop.” First I drilled centered 5/8″ diameter holes every 3″ along both edges of a 1″ x 6″ wide board. After mitering both edges to a point, I ripped off the two…

Spine and rib construction is key to this design. Project #1924 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 4 Days • Cost: $200 Thanks to advanced design tools, an entirely new category of modern architectural details, furniture design and art has emerged. Named after the specialty software tools used to create it, it’s called parametric design….

Bec Evans is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? It’s just wonderful! The exhibition came right as I move home…

This project looks pretty simple, doesn’t it? It’s just a box with two sides and a few shelves. It’s got a curved drawer, too—which isn’t so simple—but let’s skip that for the moment. As I started building a prototype, I thought, “This is just normal cabinetmaking.” As it turns out, this cabinet isn’t normal at…

Oil and oil/varnish-blend finishes are not very protective against moisture because they are too thin; they can’t be built thicker because they don’t harden well. But these finishes are very popular because they are so easy to apply. So they are often used when a thicker film-building finish would be a wiser choice. It is…

As 2019 comes to a close, let’s take a look at the 10 most popular articles on the Popular Woodworking website. What was your favorite article this past year? Let us know in the comments! 10. Build Stronger, Sag-Proof Shelves 9. Choose the Right Plywood 8. Ultimate Lathe Stand 7. 4 Handy Table Saw Jigs…

My wife, who loves to cook, is also an inveterate recipe collector. Every one she clips or copies goes in her “recipe” drawer. But as this drawer is stuffed chock-a-block full, she can never find the recipe she wants. To get organized, she decided to transfer the recipes onto 5×8 cards. (We’ve learned that handwritten…

Cherry is a beautiful and easy-to-work wood. But it is a problematic wood to finish because it has a tendency to blotch, even with just a finish applied – no stain. Everyone working with cherry wants to know the “secret” for avoiding blotching in cherry, as if there is one that they just don’t know….

During the last year or so I have been searching for a versatile, dependable, yet affordable wire-tip wood burning kit for my woodworking program. And now after buying and testing such tool I feel confident enough to recommend it to my readers.  In our program we are happy to teach our students how to use…

One of my favorite songs back in the 1960s was Bob Dylan’s, The Times, They are A-Changin’. This theme applies today to what’s happening in wood finishing. It’s natural for us to believe that the way things ought to be are the way they were in our youth or young adulthood. Change always brings with…

Melanie Hamilton is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? I’ve been working in near isolation on the east coast of…

Sometimes mixing it up yields a perfect pairing. I usually try to wiggle my way out of it. Repairing furniture that is. Seems everyone has a wobbly chair or a drawer that sticks on a dresser, and most of it isn’t worth fixing, especially if it’s some modern particle board disaster. That was my thought…

While enjoying a leisurely lunch the Sunday before Christmas, it hit me. Something was missing. Nope, it wasn’t the usual holiday panic — a forgotten gift or missed greeting card, but an urge for a holiday-theme woodworking project. Something that could be made with woodworking tools between now and New Years’. Something simple, Something needed….

This jig makes it easy to set up the bit for routing flutes and dadoes. I simply drop the appropriate depth gauge into the channel, set my router on top and lower the bit until it touches the gauge. The base is an 8″ square piece of 3/4″ MDF. Two strips of 3/4″ MDF on…

Laura Kishimoto is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? This exhibition is important to me because it was so groundbreaking. When…

Trimming miters used to drive me crazy, because I couldn’t hold the piece I was trimming securely enough against the miter gauge. The piece would always slide away from the blade during the cut. I solved the problem by covering the miter gauge face with a 120-grit PSA (pressure sensitive adhesive back) sandpaper. One 5″…

We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations. A local company was hired to finish some restaurant tables and called me to ask what finish they should use. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that the answer actually depends on how they…

Annie Evelyn is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? In my personal experience, I have always been surrounded by incredible…

The Star Wars Universe Not long ago, in a small workshop far, far away… As new technology spread rapidly throughout a galaxy of centuries-old traditions, the woodworking world was in a period of great unrest. At a remote base deep in the woods of the Great Northwest, a lone rebel armed with revolutionary tools faced…

These modern machines are for more than just the space-challenged woodworker I’ve got a nice woodshop, but it wasn’t always that way. I started with a contractor saw in the garage. A while later I moved to a bigger house where I could have a dedicated shop. One of the first things I bought for…

Accurate Inside Measurement An accurate inside measurement is sometimes difficult to obtain. For example, I needed to take a measurement behind a cabinet’s face frame to fit a new shelf. Typically, most people would solve this one of two ways. Some would try the quick and dirty method of bending the tape into the corner…

Kate Davidson is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? I’m still very new to the field of woodworking and had…

A useful, beautiful thing. PROJECT #1920 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $200 In 1905, Gustav Stickley published plans for this magazine cabinet in The Craftsman magazine as part of an ongoing home training course in cabinetwork. He claims this to be a useful piece in any living room where loose…

A friend emailed me with this question: “What do you use on birch plywood to get it to take a stain evenly without blotching? My first solution was to not use birch plywood if the plan is to stain it. This is something I’ve written about many times. When choosing a wood for a project,…

Heidi Earnshaw is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? For community and for the exposure to the work of a…

A New Lightsaber Walking Stick Not long ago, in a small workshop far, far away… It was a period of unrest in the woodworking world. With new technologies entering a galaxy of century-old traditions, the woodworking world was in a period of great change. At a remote base deep in the woods of the Great…

Leigh Dotey is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about their work. Why is this exhibition important to you? Having the opportunity to show work at The Center for Art…

Zero Clearance Relief Cut by Brad Holden A zero-clearance throat plate is a must-have for every tablesaw. It prevents small offcuts and thin strips from dropping down alongside the blade which is really annoying. Some manufacturers sell blanks specifically for their saws. If not, you have to make your own. It’s pretty easy. You just…

Paul McCartney once said that he always walked around with his antenna up.  Random sounds and images were stored in his cerebral temp folder only to reappear years later in unexpected combinations. My Radial Wave Lamp was born in the same way. It’s an amalgam of an unusual router bit that I purchased before I…

So tell me—how many jigs do you have scattered around your shop? Is it true that a guy can’t have too many, just like you can’t have too many clamps? Well, here’s one that I’ll bet you haven’t seen before. I designed it to make a corrugated lamp reflector, but when I was done, I…

It’s finally happened. On Nov. 22, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its official removal of methylene-chloride paint and finish strippers from the consumer market. Companies can no longer manufacture or distribute these strippers to this market. I’m assuming professional shops can still buy these strippers, but there were already severe restrictions on their…

Teresa Audet is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? This exhibition was important to me personally because I was able to show…

Project #1923 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 1 Week • Cost: $250 I’m not a fan of period furniture from England. The English emphasis on the horizontal conflicts with the American emphasis on the aspiring vertical that I find so appealing in period furniture built in this country. But, of course, there are exceptions,…

Before I give my students their sandpaper for the first time, I ask them if they have noticed the depressions in the treads of our school’s stone stairs. Most of them have not, so I continue to ask: what do you think created these eroded areas? Now I see some raised hands and I begin…

When brushing a finish or paint onto large flat surfaces such as tabletops or cabinet doors, use an airplane-like landing motion with your brush when making contact with a surface near an edge. Land your brush about an inch in from the edge so you don’t drag it over the edge and cause runs. Land…

Vivian Chiu is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? This exhibition was such an incredible experience to be a part…

Many woodworking tools, like the saw, chisel and plane, go way, way back. We’ve no idea who invented them or who refined them. This jig is one of those anonymous acts of genius. How in the world did somebody come up with such a neat idea? You spin an arm around and around, and instead…

Specialty hardware can be really annoying. Take the T-bolt—it’s essential for attaching anything to a T-track, but where can you buy one at a moment’s notice? Hardware stores don’t carry T-bolts, but I’ve found that they always have a good substitute in stock: closet bolts. Closet bolts are used to fasten a toilet to the…

Welcome to the 2019 edition of the Popular Woodworking gift guide! We have products for every creative person on your shopping list, from an $8 pair of safety goggles to a $6500 laser cutter. Want to give your significant other a hint for what you want? “Accidentally” leave this article open on their laptop, having…

Alex Clarke is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? Making a Seat at the Table gave me the opportunity to…

Though you can build the December 2019 Popular Woodworking Modern Parametric Bench project with a combination of hybrid woodworking skills and tools, using a CNC has some obvious advantages. Let’s do the math. The Cabriolet style Modern Bench has 49 main parts. 48 of them are identical. That’s a heck of a lot of repetition….

If you have ever sprayed the inside of a cabinet, or even a deep drawer, with a fast-drying finish such as lacquer or catalyzed lacquer, you have surely experienced dry spray settling on the surface and causing it to feel rough. The bounce back and turbulence created by the force of the spray keeps the…

Sliding dovetail joints are peculiar—sometimes, the two parts are meant to travel past one another; other times, they’re glued together. Whatever their purpose, making these joints is craftsmanship at its best. You need decent tools, an eye for precision, and practice. In this article, you’ll learn a surefire method for getting fantastic results. I’ll describe…

Pegboard isn’t just for walls—it’s perfect for organizing stuff wherever you need to store it. I’ve bolted a piece of perfboard to the end of my table saw’s extension table to hold all the accessories I turn to each day in the shop. Choosing from a wide variety of hooks makes it possible to hang…

As the editor of a woodworking publication, I spend my days reading and writing about woodworking, and talking to other woodworkers about projects they’re doing. Part of my job is to research new techniques, new makers, interesting designs and woodworking history. (I also spend my fair share of time in meetings and talking about initiatives…

Every Tool’s a Hammer: Life is What You Make It Simon & Schuster, $27 You may recognize the man on the cover of this book, Adam Savage, as one half of the duo from TV’s “Mythbusters.” The show ran for more than a decade in its original incarnation, spawned multiple spinoffs and showed the world…

Authentic Sloyd Tool Cabinet This reproduction is a fun build and a great gift for a budding woodworker. Project #1922 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 3 days • Cost: $200 “Hand and heart lead to life.” was an early motto of the North Bennet Street Industrial School (NBIS), now called the North Bennet Street…

Emma Chorostecki is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? I would echo Katie Hudnall’s experience and say this is the…

We have about a dozen Jorgensen rapid action vises in our woodworking program which as being used by our students all the time. For the most part, my students try to treat our cast iron and steel helpers with respect and avoid over tightening them beyond the necessary pressure needed for holding our workpieces secure….

From the Editors and Contributors In an effort to inform our readers about the latest and greatest, Popular Woodworking has surveyed the rich landscape of tools and equipment available and made our picks of woodworking tools of note for 2019. Here’s our top ten, plus one tool storage accessory thrown in for good measure. Auto-Jig…

In the December 2019 Popular Woodworking article: “A Modern Parametric Bench”, I showed how any woodworker could build the project. Over the next few blog posts, I’ll get into additional project details, how to build the project with a CNC, how to build it using the Shaper Origin hand-held CNC, plus a few tricks for…

Christy Oates is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? Woodworking has always been a male-dominated field, and I get strange…

Curved lines in any project are both a blessing and a curse. They’re a blessing for the eye of the beholder, but a curse for the poor guy who has to make them. Executing a perfect, fair curve—particularly a large one—isn’t easy. If you cut one freehand, you’re often faced with hours of sanding to…

On one end of the spectrum, there’s the router screwed to the underside of a piece of plywood, supported on sawhorses, with a board clamped across for a fence. On the other end, there’s the Festool CMS router table. The basic principle and end result may be the same, but then, the same could be…

I’m sure you know the feeling; you’ve finished a project, and some little part didn’t come out quite right. Or maybe you missed the opportunity to add additional functionality, and wish you could add it on. Well, that’s how we’ve felt about our website lately. The redesign we finished last winter was a good start,…

Sturdy yet collapsible is easier said than done, but this drying rack is both. It folds flat against the wall to save space until I need it. I made my rack 36 in. tall, with 8″ between levels. Each side of the rack is made by sandwiching hardwood support arms between plywood uprights. Each arm…

A former student of mine from 10 years ago emailed me with a question about what he remembered was a formula I had come up with for a wipe-on finish. He had looked in his notes but couldn’t find anything. I think he was referring to tests I had done to tweak oil/varnish blends like…

Tool: DCW600 Router Manufacturer: DeWalt Price: $179 (bare tool) As power tools all go cordless, it’s especially nice to be able to lose the cord on a router. Going cordless really is a step forward—as long as the tool doesn’t sacrifice power and productivity that is. For all-day production output, I’d still look to a…

Katie Hudnall is one of 43 fine woodworkers who are showcased in the exhibition Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking. We conducted a brief interview via email to find out more about her work. Why is this exhibition important to you? For one thing, the quality and breadth of the work in…

Part Three: Design Though digital woodworking tools may be different and the scales are finer, the importance of precision is the same for every woodworker. If you’re working to a precision standard and your processes reinforce it, then the only differences between digital and machine tool woodworking are the numbers. Essentially, digital woodworking is to…

Learn how to adjust non-adjustable butt hinges here. Fixed or loose pin? In many cases the choice will depend on the style in which you’re working, but generally speaking, a loose-pin hinge makes it easier to fit large doors: You can remove the pin and take the door off for planing without the need to…

Part of my duties as the woodworking teacher in my school is to lead our Fall Fair parents Workshop. The Fall Fair is a one-day event that takes place a week before Thanksgiving. Our school is open to the public during that day and is hosting a variety of craft related activities. At the Fair’s…

We may receive commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations. One of the most useful products in wood finishing that doesn’t get a lot of attention is oxalic acid, often labeled wood bleach. It’s useful for removing black water stains without changing the color of the wood. (If…

  Part Two: Commitment To be successful as a woodworker, either hobbyist or professional, precision needs to be a standard you set that you’re willing to live by. Professionals have obvious reasons to do this as their success is at least partially measured by efficiency with time and materials. If you mess up, mistakes are…

To save space, my trash can doubles as a work support. I made a dolly with locking casters to fit the can’s bottom, so I can roll the unit to wherever it’s needed. The work support is adjustable in height. It’s just a round-nosed board with two 1/4″ x 6″ slots, held in place with…

Here’s what the Pop Wood editors are listening to this fall. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments! Made for Profit In this weekly podcast, Brad Rodriguez and John Malecki help you monetize your passion and achieve your business goals.             Making It With Jimmy Diresta, Bob…

Spice It Up With Rhythm Subtle use of patterns and repeating motifs please the eye. I was waiting on a phone call so I didn’t think twice when my phone rang. Two words in and I hung up the call. Why do telemarketers manage to get through when I least want to talk to them…

Part One: Precision There are two sides to this story. The first is obvious. The other not so much. First, digital woodworking is all about numbers. Very small numbers. That makes it simple, direct and precise. Your drawings, your setups, the instructions you give to digital tools and the machining itself, have to be accurate….

Remember the slide rule? I sure do. Back in high school chemistry, years ago, we all had to learn how to use a slide rule to quickly multiply and divide large numbers. Not everybody succeeded; the gizmo looked so complicated that a lot of kids just gave up. But if you strip a slide rule…

This project is part of the hidden door bookcase. To me, the book-opener is what puts the magic into a hidden door bookcase. When I ask a client to pick a book to use as the opening mechanism, they will undoubtedly pick a well-known or vintage title, or perhaps a book with a pleasant color…

I used to have three shooting boards for planing end grain: one for 90° cuts, one for 45° horizontal miters and one for 45° vertical miters. Now I’ve combined them all into one. The jig’s main body is a typical shooting board for trimming pieces at 90°, except that it has long wedges to tilt…

Pop Wood is getting into the halloween spirit, and what better way to do that than making a halloween decoration? I decided to recreate a wooden ghost my grandpa made more than two decades ago. Follow along in the video below, then download the template to create your own! Halloween Ghost PDF  

My wife loves watching house restoration shows on TV. The other day she mentioned to me that the paint on every surface the host had stripped in this one house had come off so easily and cleanly. She has done a fair amount of paint removal herself and knew that this wasn’t normal. So I…

Tool: Jobsite Saw Pro Manufacturer: SawStop Price: $1400 SawStop released the first version of their portable table saw about five years ago. Packaging their flesh-sensing blade brake technology in a smaller, more affordable format made it more attainable for a larger portion of woodworkers and folks on jobsites. This upgraded version of their jobsite saw…

Fall 2019 Edition One of the best places to be inspired as a woodworker is on Instagram. Here’s the woodworkers and makers our editors are following this fall. @anneofalltrades – Anne Briggs Alway full of energy and featuring a little something for everyone, Anne is one of the most popular woodworkers on instagram. @elliot_jokelson –…

Make no mistake: This is must-see exhibition. Curated by Laura Mays and Deirdre Visser, Making a Seat at the Table: Women Transform Woodworking showcases a collection of works by 43 artists. From well-crafted functional forms to experimental materials and idea-driven designs, the exhibition encompasses the wide range of work that women are contributing to the…

Hidden Door Bookcase Turn a closet into a hiding place with a basic bookcase, trimmed to match the room. By Nathan Rinne Project #1919 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $500 The alluring nature of secret rooms has captivated my imagination for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my…

Routing long, stiff pieces such as handrails, presents a couple of problems. First, it’s very hard to get (or make) stock that’s extremely straight and 12′ to 14′ long. Second, a piece that thick won’t flex, so a featherboard isn’t going to keep it tight against your fence. The solution? Use two short fences, each…

While working on my pegboard cabinet and trying to integrate into it most of my frequently used tools I noticed that one of them, a Woodriver spokeshave, didn’t have a hanging hole. Hanging holes are quite a common feature on many tools, and are part and parcel of all the Stanley and Record cast iron…

  A Brief Introduction to Using a CNC for Inlays As a woodworker, my work focuses on two areas: fine art and furniture. In fine art, the emphasis is on sculpture, primarily made from wood. As furniture maker with a background in design, rather than designing and building pieces around a client’s ideas and desires,…

Turned Rolling Pins Even an ordinary kitchen tool can be beautiful. By Tim Heil Project #1921 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: One day • Cost: $25 If you’re looking for an easy-to-make gift for someone who loves to cook, here it is: a custom-made rolling pin. There’s something about this humble tool that really…

A finishing topic that gets far too little coverage is aerosol finishing. Aerosols are widely available in four common finishes: lacquer, oil-based polyurethane, water-based finish and shellac. The first three are usually available in several sheens, most commonly gloss and satin. Shellac is available only in gloss. Other than the types, the important thing to…

Research gives names to unknown artisans. By Tom Caspar David Rowley, Freegift Wells, Amos Stewart, Orren Haskens, Eli Kidder…ever hear of these guys? They were Shaker cabinetmakers, the names behind one of the most unified and influential movements in American furnituremaking. You might think that they would have been completely anonymous, like most woodworkers of…

Understanding Furniture Polishes There are only four categories, so it’s easy. We may receive commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations. There are probably more myths surrounding furniture polishes than any other single aspect of wood finishing. What makes this topic confusing are the often-silly claims of manufacturers….

Tool: Fisch Wave Cutter Forstner Bits (Amazon Link) Manufacturer: Fisch Tools Cost: $380 (16 piece set) My collection of Forstner bits was cobbled together over the years. I started with inexpensive multipacks. Then I bought a few specific sizes for projects and even sprung for some premium one-offs. And I’ve tried just about every style…

When making repetitive cuts, I found that my stop block would shift. With a hardwood cutoff, a leftover piece of T-track, a 1/4–20 hex head bolt and a jig knob, I constructed a stop block that doesn’t move and is super easy to adjust. First, drill a hole in the saw’s fence, then groove the…

As the leaves turn and the nights get cooler, I know woodworking season is approaching. Yes, I do spend as much time in the shop as I can, but the warmer summer months mean mowing, trips to the cabin and preparing my house for the onslaught of Minnesota winter. But once those leaves are raked,…

An accurate combination square is the cornerstone of every layout work. It allows us to measure and mark joinery, and check for flatness and squareness of workpieces, setups and tools. I have a few squares and I treat them with respect, making sure that they would not get nicked by other tools or accidentally drop…

Here’s a situation you may have experienced if you do much French polishing. A woodworker friend emailed me with this problem. He had been French polishing a tabletop, and no matter what he did, he could still see sanding scratches when he viewed the surface from certain angles. Logically, he thought, fresh coats should fill…

Adjusting Non-Adjustable Butt Hinges Working with these traditional hinges takes a bit of old-fashioned ingenuity. High-quality butt hinges are handsome and durable for furniture and built-in cabinet doors. If you’re in the business of built-in cabinetry and sometimes work in houses constructed between the late 1800s and the 1930s, you’re almost certainly familiar with butt…

Historic North Carolina Candle Stand A tapered (not turned) post sets this stand apart from contemporaries. By Will Myers PROJECT #1912 • Skill Level:Intermediate • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $250 I have a thing for candle stands. These small tables are quick to make, don’t require a lot of material to build, and are…

Digital woodworking is a bit different than traditional and hybrid woodworking even if the ultimate results are often the same. For one thing, the tools are different. CAD software takes some effort and a commitment to learn. And, then there’s the very different machinery. Though digital woodworkers have some excellent machinery available at various price…

Have you ever closed an inset door in a cabinet you were building and found that you couldn’t open it, because you hadn’t added the knob yet? Well, I have. Here’s an easy effective solution: Make a little hook from a plastic lid. Cut the opener as shown below, with a raised tab that’s cut…

A woodworker friend emailed me with a problem. He had turned a face-grained bowl from what he described as “grainy” walnut. To finish it he was using Watco Danish Oil, and his problem was that the oil continued to soak in to the two end-grain sides even after 6 or 7 coats. What should he…

I recently was struck by a thought while spending some time in Andrew’s workshop: this is genuinely fun. It wasn’t until I was driving home a few hours later that the significance of that thought really hit me in full force. Since becoming a homeowner, my tool purchases have revolved around the home renovation medium,…

Tool: Bench Dog Tools No. 5 Jack Plane Manufacturer: Bench Dog Tools Price: $169.99 I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the No.5 plane from Bench Dog straight out of the box. After wiping the protective oil off all the surfaces and setting the blade depth, I was able to make de-cent shavings within minutes….

When a family friend recently visited my new cabinet shop, he commented, “Your dad and grandpa would’ve loved this place. It wasn’t always like this!” He meant that although both men were pro wood-workers at various times in their lives, neither ever experienced the pleasant working conditions, robust tools, or the wide variety of materials,…

Read part 1 here and read part 2 here. As the design and construction of the rack was completed (see part one of the story) and after I  added the utility magnets and tried to hang the rack using the generic pegboard hooks (see part two) I came to the conclusion that my work was…

Earlier this week, Lee Valley rolled out their new website, and it’s a beauty. They’ve always been a go-to for me for hand tools and hardware. While the previous version of the site functioned well enough, Lee Valley’s new design feels borderline luxurious in comparison. Browsing and search results are driven by images. That’s especially…

Tool: InKleind Twin Turbo Vise Manufacturer: InKleind Price: $270 There’s a new twin-screw vise on the block designed by Andy Klein that I’ve had the opportunity to test in a pre-production form. The design seeks to solve some of the common issues associated with twin-screw vises. The solid transmission of power through the gears promises…

Barrister Bookcase We redesigned this classic with techniques so simple even a novice can build it! By Glen D. Huey PROJECT #1918 • Skill Level:Beginner•  Time: 3 days • Cost: $400 Almost everyone likes the look of barrister bookcases. But what makes them so appealing? I think there are a number of characteristics that make…

You may have noticed that acetone is becoming more widely available. This is primarily because it’s the only commonly available solvent that is classified as an exempt VOC solvent. VOC is the acronym for volatile organic compound – that is, an environmental (smog) pollutant. Though acetone has a strong odor, making it seem to be…

My father showed me this “bird’s mouth” jig almost 60 years ago. It securely clamps 1/4- to 3″thick boards on edge. It’s so useful that I’ve never bothered to add a vise to my workbench. I’ve been tempted to mount the jig permanently, but I prefer an uncluttered work surface. Besides, this jig is easy…

After years of fumbling with clamps, I decided there must be a better way to attach featherboards to my tablesaw’s rip fence. Two T-tracks screwed to the fence allow me to mount a piece of plywood with a side-mounted track for attaching featherboards. Now I can set and adjust my featherboards with ease.—Loren Englemann

Concrete & Walnut Coffee Table Add GFRC to your furniture-making arsenal. By Michael Clifford PROJECT #1911 • Skill Level:Intermediate • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $200 I’ve always loved aircraft-inspired design. There’s just something about an everyday item inspired by a plane that evokes a sense of wanderlust in me, and I wanted to make…

The hardwoods I use are almost always riven or split from a log. When I need thinner pieces than usual, I split them again. But there are times when I have mill-sawn stock and the way to get that thinner is either plane it down or resaw it. Ripping boards through their thickness rather than…

Square the table using this old machinists’ trick. Bend a piece of 1/4”. steel rod (available at home centers) into an S shape, as shown in the photo above. Mount it in the chuck and swing it by hand to each side of the table. Use a feeler gauge between the end of the rod…

Understanding Lines & Edges Control the eye for better design. Nice Lines. We say those words to describe a well-designed boat, sports car, chair or saw handle. It expresses our pleasure when all the parts of a design seem to flow together to give it a sense of motion and life. Finding that sweet spot…

The Wedged Mortise & Tenon This time-tested joint is perfect for knockdown furniture. This bedstead I’m building is a perfect place to use a joint that I rarely cut: the wedged, through-mortise and tenon. I need to be able to ship this bedstead across the country, so I wanted something the customer (with some simple…

Boiled linseed oil and 100% tung oil are the two widely available drying oils. Though called “drying oils” both dry adequately only when applied very thin. If the excess isn’t wiped off after each coat, the film will be soft and remain sticky for a long time. Eventually, the film will dry, but it will…

I love having a cutting list close at hand. But hanging on to it when both hands are busy was a problem—until I bought 24 clothespins for $2 at the hardware store. I epoxied the wooden pins in convenient spots around my shop. Now I can easily double-check measurements before cutting my boards too short….

Tool: Jet JWBS-14SFX Band Saw Manufacturer: Jet Tools Price: $1100 We may receive commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations. I’ve spent a couple of months using the newest 14″ Jet bandsaw and I’m convinced this is an excellent buy at $1,100. This bandsaw bridges the gap between…

Read part 1 here and read part 3 here. As I was about to finish the rack, I began contemplating what would be the best way to hang it on the pegboard. One of the most abundant pegboard hooks in my arsenal  is a simple angled hook that fits into a pegboard hole and send…

A spray gun is a tool that turns a stain, paint, finish or other liquid material into a fine mist—a process called “atomization.” It then propels the liquid onto a work object. Spray guns vary in type and quality, but each is designed to produce the finest atomization possible for the money in order to…

It was the first idea I pitched to my boss: I’m going to carve a spoon and write about it. Andrew immediately approved, given the perennial popularity of spoon carving and the desire for me to utilize new skills. I quickly got to work, picking up some carving knives and practicing on some green scraps…

LEGO Inlay Table Add artful accents to a play table. By Caleb Harris Last Christmas my wife and I introduced our young boys to LEGO. This was a good reminder that there is something really special about spending time with your kids with toys that you grew up with. It’s been incredible seeing how fast…

Tool: Makita VC4710 Manufacturer: Makita Price: $529 Dust collection is a higher priority than ever before for most woodworkers. It’s not just about keeping the shop clean, of course. It’s about our health. We’re looking for a machine that will minimize our exposure to the most hazardous dust particles—the finest ones. Good filtration isn’t enough, however. A…

Microfiber cloth picks up tiny dust particles as well as, if not better than, a tack cloth. Unlike a tack cloth, microfiber cloths are washable and reusable. Rockler Sells Norton’s microfiber finishing cloth for $5-7, but any microfiber cloth will work as long as it has hemmed edges.—Kevin Southwick

You need to watch this video that was just released from the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. It centers on the founder of the school, Peter Korn, but it really talks about why people make furniture. You’ll see some familiar names from the pages of woodworking magazines, and it’s filled with beautiful shots of workshops and…

When it comes to finishing products, what happens in California doesn’t stay in California. It usually spreads across the country. So when a California friend emailed to tell me that denatured alcohol is now being removed from the consumer market, I was stunned. Denatured alcohol is critical for dissolving shellac flakes and for thinning liquid…

Learn the nuts and bolts of making hardware new again. We may receive commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations. From the time I began collecting reclaimed wood I remember salvaging all kinds of hardware pieces. I like to dismantle hardware from found furniture that is either too…

One afternoon my wife called out to my shop with an urgent request. She needed me to make a round cake plate from 1/4″ plywood for a charity auction. I assured her it would be no problem. I was in the middle of a project and didn’t want to spend all afternoon on this. Then…

As I have said many times, spray guns are pretty simple tools. By comparison, they aren’t any more difficult to use than a router. Still, there are a couple of critical parts you should be familiar with to get the best results. These are the fluid nozzle and the air cap. NOTE:This article doesn’t cover…

I know that a lot of readers use shellac for finishing. Of all finishes, shellac is probably the easiest to use when it comes to cleaning and storing brushes because shellac dissolves easily in denatured alcohol and household ammonia. Here are some suggestions of ways to clean and store shellac brushes. If you plan to…

Learning from the past can secure our future. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links. By Tom Caspar On a sultry day in September, 1832, thirty-three-year-old Felix Dominy was perched high above the rocks of Montauk Point, at the far eastern tip of Long Island, removing the copper dome…

Out of the corner of my eye it caught my attention, a fire-engine red 1966 Chevy Impala Super Sport. Memories  flooded back to my first car, a model just like this except mine was green with a white rooftop. The problem with memories is that they often clash with reality. As I got closer to…

Read part 2 here and read part 3 here. The pegboards hanging system was, and still is, one of the most common shop organizing platforms out there. It is a versatile system that is easy to organize and reorganize, and it comes with lots of hanging hook options that can accommodate almost every tool with…

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law in Denmark got very severe burns on her lower legs from a gasoline explosion. Her friend had piled up a lot of brush and wanted to burn it. So he pored on some gasoline, gave my sister-in-law a match and asked her to toss it on the brush. Apparently,…

World Wood Day 2019 – Wood Design from Wood Culture on Vimeo. My extra-curricular woodworking has been firmly stuck in cabinet land for the last six months. And building plumb and square cabinets has its merits. Plus, installing said cabinets into a house where the walls are not entirely plumb and square has its challenges….

As this issue goes to press, Popular Woodworking is changing ownership. The last few months have been a rollercoaster of emotions for me, my colleagues, readers and contributors. There’s been uncertainty about jobs, the status of stories and projects, and an overall sense of unease about the world at large. And it’s during this time…

In the process of refinishing an old chair, I found that my random orbit sander’s flat surface didn’t work for sanding the concave hollow of the seat. My sander uses hook-and-loop paper, so I purchased some adhesive-backed hook-and-loop material at the hardware store. After sticking the material together with the hooks on one side and…

Here’s a fun way to save money, be creative, make something useful, and use up scrap stock: make your own picture frames. You can start from scratch and have finished frames in a day or less, and the only tools you need are a table saw and a router table. The challenge is to create…

Part of the unexpected interactions that stem from having an online column in a woodworking magazine is that, on occasion, a distributor or maker of craft/woodworking related tools or supplies will approach me and propose to send an item for review.  Two months ago, Brightech, a company that specializes in designing and manufacturing magnifying lamps…

Two triangular maple blocks and a pair of sharp-tipped drywall screws are all you need to make corner clamp blocks for picture frames. Drill and counterbore a hole for a drywall screw through one leg of each block, positioned so the screw’s tip is centered in the hypotenuse (photo). Make sure the screw threads through…

So you’ve built your paddle-arm chair, and all that’s left is making the cushion to sit on. I may be persnickety when it comes to armchair upholstery, but I really prefer a certain type of cushion for a large armchair or Morris chair. I like the leather or fabric to “waterfall” down the front, and…

If you’ve done much woodworking, it’s very likely that you have experienced some dents and gouges. Both are flaws in the wood. But they are not the same thing, so they should be treated differently. Dents are compressed wood. The wood fibers are still intact, just pressed down or indented. They can usually be steamed…

A woodworker friend called me with a problem. He had just built a bookcase and was trying to match the approximate sheen of a factory-finished piece of furniture he had and couldn’t find a polyurethane that was flat enough. What should he do? He had tried rubbing it with coarse abrasives to match the sheen…

Tool-Free Rotary Tool Dremel’s EZ Change mechanism lets you quickly change between the seemingly endless array of bits and accessories without the use of any special tools. With the new 4200 High Performance Rotary Tool, you won’t lose much valuable time changing attachments, nor will you lose the confounded wrench! The 4200’s EZ Change mechanism…

A lot of woodworkers avoid staining whenever possible because of the problems that can occur. Instead of staining, they use a beautiful wood that gives the color they want to begin with. Most think of blotching as uneven coloring in the wood caused by stain penetrating deeper in some areas than others. Most tight-grained woods…

Read part one of the story here. After most of the rough excavation was done (using an adze or a gouge – what ever works best for you) we need to clean out the vault and even out its surface. I held the hollowed branch in my Jawhorse Workbench and with some medium sweep gouges…

As I’ve said many times, one of the reasons finishing seems difficult to amateur woodworkers is that the manufacturers targeting these woodworkers provide bad directions that don’t produce good results. One reason for many of these bad directions is that these manufacturers believe amateur woodworkers want to be able to finish their projects in a…

Distressing or aging wood can come in many forms, whether it’s a color change or physical wear. Here some tips for achieving different effects.

Get more out of your table saw with these four handy jigs. These simple jigs take advantage of the table saw’s speed and accuracy without tempting you to perform risky operations.

If you work in a shop with limited floor space, this overhead lumber rack can be a lifesaver. Inexpensive and quick to assemble, this easy project helps you make the most of your space.

I moved to Kentucky/Cincinnati on July 1st, and by the 15th of the month, I was already starting out on building the furniture for my new house here. Josselyn (my partner) and I had committed to leaving behind the cheap, second-hand furniture we had bought since leaving college years ago, and in doing so, arrived…

Six great ideas for space-challenged woodworkers to get more out of their small shops.

2 Ways to Cut a 3-Way Miter Create this impressive joint by hand or with power tools. By Garrett Glaser Admiring the complex 3-way mitered joint between the leg and aprons in an antique Chinese table is natural. But the thought of cutting and fitting this interlocking joint by hand is enough to make most…

Essential Table Saw Blades Choose complementary blades for perfect results. By Tim Johnson In the dark ages of woodworking, before carbide, you never used the same blade for ripping and crosscutting. Cutting plywood required yet another blade. Today, hybrid blades allow you to avoid blade changes entirely—unless you want absolutely perfect results. Then it’s better…

Recipe for Resawing by Dave Munkittrick For a woodworker, few things are more satisfying than resawing thin sheets of veneer off of a large block of wood or slicing a beautiful board in half to create two bookmatched pieces. I remember the enthusiasm I felt when I tried resawing for the first time. My excitement soon…

Our finishing expert shares some tips gained from a house-painter friend.

Chris Schwarz shares some handy, nearly-forgotten handsaw tricks to use in the shop.

This live edge branch bowl is a quick and easy project that can also be a great introduction to green woodworking. Yoav Liberman shows you the steps.

Keep these tips in mind when buying rough lumber to get the best deals on the best wood.

Make your brad nailer safer and easier to use with these tips. From avoiding the blowout curse to making your nailer last longer, it’s surprisingly simple to get more out of this tool.

Super-tune your table saw for absolutely straight, smooth and burn-free cuts.

Our finishing expert, Bob Flexner, describes the techniques he’s been testing to correct warped boards.

Patio Chair A curved seat and back make this chair extra-comfortable. By Carroll Davidson With a set of outdoor chairs like this on your patio or deck, you and your guests can enjoy the open air in comfort and style. This chair is comfortable (the seat contours were patterned after a Mercedes Benz seat!), and…

Oil it, spray it, shellac it, or glaze it. This is how to make cherry look great.

By: Bob Rozaieski Learn how to work with brass and make an indispensable tool for hand work. If you rip your stock on a table saw, your uses for a panel gauge are limited. If you make your rip cuts with a band saw or hand saw, however, a panel gauge is an indispensable tool….

We’d like to congratulate all of the winners from the 2019 30 Days for Dads giveaway. The grand prize (a Jet ProShop Table Saw) went to Jack from Lawton, OK. As you can guess, he’s excited to win it (he also shared a recent coffee table he built, pictured above): I first developed an affection…

A persistent myth in the woodworking community is that you should finish both sides of wood, especially tabletops, to reduce the likelihood of warping.

This simple plywood cover ensures the base of your drill press won’t collect lost hardware, or become home to the occasional shop mouse.

While setting up our flattening mill, we decided to try a router bit that was recommended by Nick Offerman. This bit is part of Amana’s straight plunge series, with two cutting faces.

From his dad’s shop to the Toronto Design Show, we take a closer look at the work of Wayne Muma and the beautiful, organic forms that defined his furniture.

For many years Mayer has been a leader in beam/panel saws and special application saws. The Mayer company has a presence internationally, and with continued growth in mind, has now successfully joined the Felder Group from Austria. Both companies are still family owned and operated, and both companies have been in business for over 60…

Whenever we visit our friends in Toronto, I always make sure to stop by at least one of the three Lee Valley stores in town. This month as we headed North I came up with a really good excuse to jump on the streetcar to visit the downtown Toronto store: I wanted to look at…

A Game of Thrones inspired coffee table meets a tragic (and ironic) end.

How do you remove Scotch Tape adhesive without damaging the plastic underneath? Join our finishing expert as he finds a solution to this sticky situation.

A few design modifications turn this garage staple into great tool storage. Learn how to make your own machinist’s tool chest.

Build a traditional Japanese writing box (called a suzuribako) for your writing supplies or other treasures.

Even if your finish won’t change color over time, many woods will. Our finishing expert Bob Flexner provides an important reminder using one of his own examples.

Using digital tools, you can make this handy tool tote in less than an hour. Learn how to build and customize your own tote.

Awls, dividers and compass points are sharp and thus can be easily damaged if not protected (or even worse, poke us). Over the years I have used wine corks, plastic wall anchors, and segments of plastic pipes as point protectors, but there’s an even better solution. I am quite lucky to have a partner who…

Cherry is notorious for blotching, with all sorts of methods suggested for preventing it. But it’s important to keep in mind that “blotching” is simply the opposite of “beautiful figure.”

A well-tuned spray gun doesn’t guarantee a perfect finish. Here are five of the most common spraying problems and how to fix them.

Here’s an outdoor chair that you can build in a weekend, or if you are willing to take David Thiel’s word for it, in four hours! It’s made of pine and common materials, stuff you can get at the big box store. For this outdoor Morris Chair, David used paint to fend off the elements….

A few years ago, Dremel started developing a new line of digital tools with the DigitaLab series of products. Recently they introduced their first laser cutter: The Dremel LC40.

Not being accurate in the use of language, even when it’s the manufacturer that is responsible for the misidentification, can, and often does, lead others to use a finish that doesn’t produce the same results.

The price on this mill doesn’t make it an impulse purchase for many of us. However, if you’re regularly flattening slabs with a router or are in a multi-person shop setting, this could be an outstanding next step after a homemade jig.

Ebonizing can be a lot of fun and it’s a great option to add to your offerings. Learn how to achieve a deep, rich black using household ingredients plus some powder from a South American evergreen.

A mobile workbench is handy in a small shop—until you want it to stand still! These levers work like a cam and prevent the bench from wiggling.

Bob Flexner shares some resources the pros use when solving woodworking mysteries. These websites target factories and larger shops, but the information can be used by anyone.

Sam Maloof’s sculpted rocking chairs are iconic, so much so that his name is synonymous with that furniture style. As his chair designs advanced, so did their construction.