Techniques

Choosing and using this must-have measuring and layout tool. In 1878, Laroy S. Starrett designed and patented the combination square. His invention was a multi-purpose layout and measuring tool for...

Everything you always wanted to know about screws, but were afraid to ask. Many of the tools and fasteners we use in woodworking have been around for thousands of years....

1. Paraffin Lube When you rout a dovetail joint, your sense of feel is important. Your router should slide easily around the jig’s fingers, without hesitating, so you can tell...

One of my favorite Arts & Crafts details is the through-tenon at the top of a table, bookcase or chair. When I was considering adding a joinery class to my...

We may receive a commission when you use our affiliate links. However, this does not impact our recommendations. An exercise in dowel-making without a lathe During my formative years as...

1. Lubricate a Bandsaw Blade It’s safe and easy to cut brass and aluminum with a bandsaw and a regular woodworking blade. Using a miter gauge, you can make a...

Perhaps woodturners should sell naming rights. The field has never standardized the names of woodturning tools (or measurements of their widths or how to describe their angles), so they often...

Clogged sandpaper is really a pain, rendering useless your sandpaper and your effort. I was mindlessly sanding a project a while ago when I looked at my pile of discarded...

In bowl turning, good craftsmanship requires that the bottom show no evidence of how the bowl was mounted. It’s also important to learn how to keep the chuck from dictating...

The modern router didn’t arrive on the scene fully evolved; it descended from a hand-powered tool called the router plane. A quick glance at the router plane’s handles – and...

Bowl turning is a blast! Thanks to advances in lathes and tooling, lots of woodworkers have now discovered how fun it is to turn a hunk of green wood into...

“Scary sharp”—sharpening on sandpaper adhered to glass—works really well, but one thing has always bothered me. I’ve tried spray adhesives as well as PSA (pressure sensitive [...]