Transform a plain top into a stylish surface Here’s one technique every budding furnituremaker should know: how to make a framed top. A mitered frame adds a polished, professional look to a [...]
Understanding the Why is just as important as the How. Hand tools are a pleasure to use-if they’re sharp. Once you have a sharp tool in your hands, you’ll begin to realize why some [...]
Get a perfect fit using a shop-made jig. Oval and circular inlays are a time-honored method of adding class to a project, such as the top of a jewelry box. It’s an interesting challenge to [...]
Simple design. Sturdy construction. Every shop needs a pair of trusty sawhorses. I like ones that are easy to build and easy to store away. These sawhorses definitely fit that bill, and nest [...]
Tool: Powermatic 15HH Manufacturer: Powermatic MSRP: $3199 A powerful planer gets the job done much faster. Remember the ’65 Ford Thunderbolt? The ’67 Olds Cutlass? The ’69 [...]
Self-Storing Glue Kit Gluing up a project can turn ugly in a hurry if you don’t have all your supplies on hand. I put together a kit that contains everything I need: a small white-nylon [...]
A Backer Board Prevents Chip-Out Chip-out is always an issue when you even up the stiles and rails of a door with a plane. If you plane all the way across the door, from one end to the other, [...]
A knife block is one of the most convenient—and safest—devices to store kitchen knives. Most knife blocks are large chunks of wood composed of a dozen or more pieces laminated together. [...]
When you learn how to make cabinet doors, you will have mastered one of the basic skills in woodworking. Doors come in many variations—some have molded edges, arched tops or raised solid-wood [...]
As a woodworker, what’s the first thing you notice when you open a cabinet’s drawer? The way it’s put together, of course. A drawer made with half-blind dovetails really stands [...]
Cutting dovetails by hand is supposed to be an orderly, precise process. But when you’re in the thick of it, it’s all too easy to end up with a bench littered with stray tools and [...]
“How does it come apart?” You’ll be asked this question each time you hand one of these cubes to a friend. You’ll answer, “Well, you just hold it like this, then [...]