Paring with Sticky Notes
Sawing tenons by hand is tricky business, requiring good eyes, a steady hand and lots of practice. Even so, the tenon’s cheeks are usually uneven after sawing and need to be trued. [...]
How to Make a Sled from a Tree
This little sled is a perfect introduction to the age-old tradition of working green wood. Building it is a completely satisfying experience, from beginning to end: you start by cutting down a [...]
Tool Talk: Festool CMS Router Table
Tool: CMS Router Table Manufacturer: Festool Price: $1720 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 [...]
The All-But-Forgotten Spill Plane
What’s a spill plane? Well, it’s a little-known specialty plane that creates a shaving – called a spill – that’s tightly curled on itself and tapered to a point. In the days [...]
Waffle Trivets
These waffle-patterned trivets are perfect for the last minute “shopper”. All you need to crank them out by the dozen is a dado set or router table and a plywood frame. You can make [...]
Krud Kutter
Resin build-up on saw blades makes them less effective. A clean blade runs cooler, doesn’t cause burning on your workpiece, stays sharp longer and cuts more accurately. Cleaning blades is a [...]
Hand-Sanding Helper
Clogged sandpaper is really a pain, rendering useless your sandpaper and your effort. I was mindlessly sanding a project a while ago when I looked at my pile of discarded paper and had a [...]
Wooden Router Plane
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 [...]
Contemporary Cutting Board
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 [...]
Router Table Dovetails
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 [...]
Build Curved-Front Drawers
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 [...]
Classic Workshop Tips December 2019
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. [...]
