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We woodworkers work hard to put stuff together. But we suck eggs when it comes to taking things apart. Every woodworker – no matter how skilled – needs an “iron crow.” It’s a thin-bladed pry bar [...]

Tablesaw Sled Cutoff Block My sliding cutoff sled gets lots of use for repetitive cuts. In the past, I clamped a board to use as a stop, but moving it for different cuts became cumbersome. To [...]

If you buy your screwdriver tips at the home center, then you have probably figured out they are made from recycled chewing gum. They are, for the most part, worthless. The steel is too soft, the [...]

I’ve been gagging a lot lately on some of the woodworking “gift guides” out there. About 90 percent of the stuff in them is just silly, cheap stuff that you really don’t need. I can say this [...]

At the conclusion of the nine part series Designing Furniture From Scratch In SketchUp I promised shop drawings. True to my word this post will provide you with the SketchUp model file, complete [...]

Like just about every other company that sells stuff, we have deals going on for Pre-Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday…silly sales Saturday? Not-so-subtle-sales-pitch Sunday? OK – as [...]

For the final installment in my short series on how woodworking can be one of your more inexpensive hobbies, I decided to write a case study on sharpening supplies. My reasoning is that the very [...]

As editors, we search our two web sites (popularwoodworking.com and shopwoodworking.com) constantly for information for the online extras portion of all  articles and most columns – the [...]

This summer I swallowed hard and praised an inexpensive IKEA light that I used while teaching at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking. When I returned home, I was going to buy one. But then I [...]

If you read my personal blog, you know I’m in the midst of deciding what to do with my kitchen (so I can sell my house). I have a “kitchen file” (read: a boot box overflowing [...]

Tools and lumber are the next areas to focus on for “Living Cheaply” – my short series on how to make woodworking one of your more inexpensive hobbies. There is no better way to live cheaply than [...]

I don’t have a corporate-sponsored woodworking budget and – while this may come as a surprise to many – bloggers today are not paid a whole lot more than journalists yesterday. That means I [...]