Techniques

One jig opens up a whole world of useful shapes If you’ve ever wanted to venture beyond the world of squares and circles, consider incorporating elliptical shapes into your next design. Cutting [...]

Affordable line lasers and a simple setup make for perfect angled drilling. I’m a 21st-century Windsor chairmaker. I build chairs using mostly hand tools: froes, drawknives, spokeshaves, [...]

Why liquid hide glue should be your first choice as an adhesive. Since the beginnings of civilization up until World War II, most pieces of furniture were assembled using animal-based glues. That [...]

This much-maligned fastener has a place in the finest furniture. Here’s why. Among furniture makers, the reputation of the simple nail is somewhere south of expired glue and tacos made from [...]

Learn to make your own and you’ll never have to compromise your design. Bandings and stringing are a dramatic and exciting way to dress up your period furniture. I see them as a way to highlight [...]

A few shop-made appliances allow you to add stunning face-grain inlay to your work. Geometric bandings and inlay patterns, or parquetry, are widely used, from Japan to Egypt to Spain. I developed [...]

Once you understand ‘resultant’ angles, sawbenches (and chairs) are easy. Most first-time chairmakers are intimidated by the compound joinery used to fasten all the legs, stretchers, spindles and [...]

A rotary tool, hammer and a few shop-made tools are all it takes. I recently had the opportunity to explore a concept that has been rattling around the dark recesses of my cranium for almost [...]

An 18th-century chairmaker’s saw makes 21st-century work easier The graveyard of obscure and forgotten tools is large, densely packed and many layers deep. Many of these tools richly deserve [...]

Without a doubt, yellow woodworking glue has adhered its place in the Woodworker’s Hall of Fame. But for complex joinery, veneer work and bent laminations, there is a better choice. Urea resin [...]

Here are four profiles that will change your woodworking life. Every woodworking shop has a few vital tools that are absolute necessities. And whether you have a strict power-only tool policy or [...]

Forget the lathe; a router table setup makes quick work of these striking architectural features. If you want to add a little punch to your next traditional furniture project, try adding quarter [...]