Techniques

Sharpening Jig for Jointer and Planer Blades I’ve tried several different shop-made jigs for sharpening my jointer and planer knives but this one has proved the simplest to use and [...]

Picture Frames from Scrap I finally found a great use for all those pieces of scrap wood that pile up around my shop: I make simple picture frames out of them. As you can see there's not much [...]

Quick-and-Easy Storage Boxes I finally found a use for all that scrap plywood I've been hanging onto. I made a bunch of small storage boxes with it and a small shelf to put them on. [...]

See-Through Chisel Holder Here’s a chisel rack that protects those sharp edges and allows me to see the right chisel for the job at hand. The rack is easy to customize for any size [...]

Bench Dog Light With this shop-made bench dog I can put light right where I need it. The dog is just a square chunk of wood with two smaller pieces glued to the sides. The smaller pieces act as [...]

One of the best recommendations I’ve ever received in the world of hand tools came from a power-tool user who has 660-volt three-phase pumping through his veins. It’s 1996, and [...]

Convenient Benchtop Protection My workbench is beautiful and I want to keep it that way, so I cover the top with builder’s paper ($7/140-ft. roll at my local home center) whenever I’m [...]

Fender Washers for Mounting Pictures I enjoy making picture frames but always found it a pain to use tacks or staples to hold the picture in place. Plus tacks and staples are hard to remove when [...]

Air Hose Rack Air tools are great, but the air supply hose is hard to store conveniently. This rack solves this problem, and it’s cheap! All you need is some 1-1/4-in. PVC pipe, a 45-degree [...]

8-ft. Straightedge for $4 Whenever I have to cut down a sheet of plywood I reach for one of my trusty metal stud straightedges.Metal studs are available in different thicknesses for different [...]

Question & Answer Is your miter saw square? Q. I want to adjust my miter saw so it’s dead-on accurate, but I don’t have a fancy square. How do I do it? A. Use an old [...]

Today I’m abandoning a prototype design I’ve been working on this week between bouts of tending our gerund farm. I’d like to have a Viking funeral for this little end table, but [...]