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I often use my shop vacuum for dust collection on hand-held power tools. Two things annoy me about most vacs, though. First, they’re really noisy. Second, when the vac gets full—and that can [...]

Back in the early 1920’s, my grandfather, John Rudzki, built wooden truck bodies in Pittsburgh, PA. Customers would order the chassis for a refrigerated truck, a moving van or some other kind of [...]

I bought a keyless chuck for convenience, but I found it hard to tighten and loosen by hand. The knurling on the chuck wasn’t very deep, so my hand just slipped. I often resorted to using a pair [...]

26 drawers for tools and supplies. My beat-up garage-sale seven-drawer metal tool cabinet was an eyesore. I wanted something bigger and better, but mostly I wanted something that looked like it [...]

Tool: 5″ Random Orbit Sander BO5041k [Buy Now]  Manufacturer: Makita MSRP: $89.00 Ever wish you had an extra handle on your sander? Not for extra pressure—that would create unwanted swirl [...]

Cutting small parts on a miter saw doesn’t have to be scary or dangerous. I’ve adopted a method that keeps your fingers well away from the blade and prevents the piece you’re cutting from zinging [...]

I added a pair of powerful handled magnets [buy on Amazon] to my shop-made featherboard. They fit snugly into two notches and hold the featherboard absolutely rigid. The magnets enable me to [...]

Tool: Bench Paws Manufacturer: Platte River MSRP: $26.49 We’ve all heard of bench dogs—the devices that clamp the ends of a board to keep it from slipping—but have you heard of Bench Paws? [...]

Clamp-Ka-Bob This morning I glued up a 4′ x 6′ tabletop made of maple 2x2s on my assembly table. I positioned 6′ pipe clamps alternately on the top and bottom faces of the [...]

Tool: EZ Change Bits Manufacturer: Amana MSRP: $25+ Plastic laminate and other composite materials dull even the most expensive router bits in a hurry. A busy shop that kicks out a lot of [...]

Here’s a faster way to clean out your router table or cabinet saw if it’s hooked up to a central dust collection system. Instead of sweeping it out, or dragging over the vac, just remove the [...]

My wife and I were walking through a Home Depot store about 20 years ago, when I noticed a small Makita tablesaw and mentioned that it would be fun to have a tool like that just to fool around [...]