Techniques

Some Japanese saws don’t play nice with Western hardwoods. More than a decade ago, my wife bought me a nice Japanese dozuki that cost about $100, a fortune for us at the time. I took it to [...]

From the “I need three hands” file: Sometimes when you scribe a line on a board with the guidance of a try square you need one hand to hold the knife, one hand to press the blade down [...]

            Small Parts Carousel    While visiting an antique shop, I discovered a way to store all that indispensible small stuff that used to [...]

      I’ve got a lot of clamps, but they don’t take up much space. I simply drilled 5/8-in.-dia. holes through 3/4-in. plywood at a slight upward angle and glued in [...]

            Expandable Parts Rack    When I worked on a big project, every surface in my shop used to get covered with stacks of parts. While visiting a [...]

              Instant Surface   In my compact shop, everything has to be portable and stowable, including my work surfaces. Whenever I need tabletop space [...]

          Inspired by the pantry cabinet in the kitchen of our new house, I built this compact version for my workshop. It has the same deep double-hinged doors that make [...]

          Sliding Wall-O-Tools   I built this 8-ft.-long shelf system to take advantage of the narrow space in the corner of my garage. When the unit is [...]

        I love making small picture frames but I had a problem keeping them square during clamping. I fixed my problem by making a pair of squaring blocks that I spring clamp [...]

        I use this jig, which I made from leftover materials, to cut plywood into manageable sizes. Melamine provides a slick surface for the saw to ride on and shelf [...]

        Adding a dust collection system to my shop was a great move, but it wasn’t cheap. I did manage to save money by making my own blast gates. The main component of [...]

      Woodworking in my basement workshop used to leave a layer of dust everywhere until I hung window shades from the ceiling. Now I box myself into a temporary “clean [...]