One of my current jobs involves matching the finish of my clients’ original early-20th-century trim. Here’s how I came up with a recipe.

Building this handmade saw cabinet employs vital hand tool techniques with an emphasis on dovetail, dado and mortise and tenon joinery.

YouTube is a fascinating world to inhabit. You can visit for a while and see an amazing kaleidoscope of entertainment. Sort of like Vegas, but with fewer cactus (cacti?) and look-alike celebrities.

All woodwork involves a little metalwork. Whether you are installing locks that need filing or working with a handplane that needs fettling, you need a good set of needle files. I’ve had my grandfather’s set from Germany since 1993 and always took it for granted. Needle files sneak into places that regular files won’t venture…

If you make wooden chairs (I make a lot) you might be missing an important accessory: a sheepskin. During a recent trip to Wales to study the country’s chairs I noticed a sheepskin on one of the stick chairs. It was a forehead-slapping moment. The sheepskin adds comfort and warmth to a wooden chair. It’s…

I use a boot tray to hold my sharpening gear. That way I can keep my stones in the tray underneath my bench and then place the tray on the benchtop for sharpening. The low walls of the boot tray keep water and oil from splashing on my benchtop. I used to buy my boot…

Digital woodworkers who use CNCs may not be aware that there are other digital tools they can use. Maybe even some you haven’t considered before. This is because digital tools all need CAD drawings. It’s another bonus you get for learning CAD. Often, these are the same or similar to the CAD drawings you create…

https://youtu.be/evkW6Hqei-0 Video: How I use a grid system to make digital woodworking easier CNCs are wonderful machines. For woodworkers who want to combine traditional woodworking with digital techniques, they can do all kinds of useful tasks. But, they can be challenging tools to master. Certainly, the technology is intimidating for some, but even if it’s…

In this video, I take Popular Woodworking readers on a tour of my custom 38″ x 72″ x 10″, twin-spindle CNC. Over the last few years, I’ve written several articles and dozens of blog posts for Popular Woodworking Magazine. I often include photos of my own CNC. Because my machine is a bit unusual and…

  The Marc Adams School of Woodworking, located just outside of Indianapolis, IN. celebrates its 25th year. Popular Woodworking video producer David Thiel took the opportunity to sit down with founder Marc Adams to chat about his decision to open a woodworking school. Hear Marc’s eye-opening story on why he became a teacher, rather than…

  Popular Woodworking’s editor Andrew Zoellner talks with Austin, TX arborist Jesse Neumann about the life of urban trees and what Austin is doing to care for them during their lives and afterlives. Tune in and learn more about the urban forest.     The Afterlife of Trees is Popular Woodworking’s podcast for woodworkers, artists…

Skateboarding is a childhood obsession of a few members of the PW team. In this episode of Afterlife of Trees, we talk to a Cincinnati-based custom longboard builders, Jeff Risinger and Val Woodham, whose stunning skateboards are also works of art. We then speak to Martinus Pool of Adrian Martinus Custom Woodworking – artists who…

There are a few drawing tools I find myself using no matter what I’m working on in SketchUp. One of those is the Move tool. It lets me position objects exactly where I want them, but it’s also great for making copies. There are a few ways to copy objects with the Move tool, and…

A student wrote and asked me this paraphrased question: “Can you give me some suggestions for drawing these irregular tenons into the legs? If the mortises were rectangular I would simply use the Rectangle tool to trace one onto the face of the leg and Push/Pull it to depth.” I exaggerated his tenon in the…

Whenever I take on a new cabinet or built-in project, I like to model it in SketchUp. I sometimes have trouble visualizing how things are going to fit together, and an accurate 3D model helps me think through a project thoroughly before I start. Often, I like to go even further with a model, using it to…