Make Circles Without Jigs

Boatbuilders often say: If it looks fair, it is fair. I think that’s tremendous advice. Making perfect circular components in wood is tough. If the piece of wood needs to...

The Lie-Nielsen No. 51 in Use

A dedicated shooting plane is a luxury item, much like a European table saw with a beautiful sliding table or a full keg of beer by your bedside. For many...

Finishing for the Rest of Us

Here’s some tough love: Most good woodworkers are terrible finishers. I know this because I have seen hundreds – probably thousands – of pieces of furniture that have been entered...

Jeff Miller’s Incredible Tenon Jig

During the Lie-Nielsen Hand Tool Event in our shop this spring, furniture maker Jeff Miller came over to my bench and started asking questions about the Wenzloff & Sons no-set...

Roy Underhill’s 3 Favorite Books

In the June 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine we have a fun article that lists all of the woodworking books that the magazine’s staff consider to be “classics.” It’s...

A Gift for My Successor

In 2006 a reader sent me a little spiral-bound black book that was filled with handwritten notecards. Graphs. Equations. Photos. It was a carefully assembled list of all my mistakes...