Techniques

Last week I talked about the diamond stone technique for lapping the soles of small block planes. This week I will talk about another popular method – using abrasive tapes over a flat [...]

Much has been written about the importance of a true and flat plane sole as a key to achieving optimal results during planning. Premium planes come with a very flat sole, do not need any [...]

Hand tools are the way to go for this traditional joint. Tapered sliding dovetails are multipurpose joints traditionally used for drawer dividers, holding legs in place on a pedestal table and [...]

Nothing in handplaning is more frustrating than tear-out

A few weeks ago I was gifted an old wooden ammunition box that had one of its handles missing in action. The box also suffered from a few other structural issues, including a lengthy crack on one [...]

Understanding the importance of chip load calculations. If you have spent time using handheld routers then you have developed an intuitive sense for what is the ideal feed rate and speed for the [...]

A long-time carpenter shares a repair trick to hide the mistakes made by ham-handed apprentices. For more than 30 years I was a traveling carpenter foreman in charge of installation of [...]

This versatile router joint is perfect for production work. When I need to batch out a bunch of drawer boxes, I use a lock miter router bit. Not only does this bit create a joint with a clean, [...]

There are a number of things to think about when choosing wood for your woodworking project.  You can have a great design, but if the material you use in your woodworking project has flaws in it, [...]

Designing sag-proof shelves. Have you ever heard a shelf groan? Well, maybe not, but some shelves look like they would if they could. So much stuff gets piled on them that they end up sagging [...]

You needn’t rely on ready-made patterns to design good-looking gams. Legs with engaging, flowing three-dimensional curves can add immeasurably to the aesthetic success of such pieces as tables, [...]

Learn techniques for ‘shallow relief’ and ‘applied’ carvings. Have you ever been involved in something where you get completely absorbed in it? Where hours go by without realizing it? Those are [...]