Techniques

While working on a couple of blog posts about a group of CNC machines that are great for small shops, I got distracted by something rather impractical. But I thought...

Ever tried to create a fumed finish? Fuming with ammonia is a traditional Arts & Crafts finishing technique. When exposed to concentrated ammonia, the tannins in white oak cause the wood...

We rethink the Western bench plane system. All you need to know is that there are three tools, three setups, three jobs and three surfaces. by Christopher Schwarz excerpted from...

Woodworkers expect this joint to be tidy and tight, not ragged and gappy. We explore the best ways to make this sometimes-vexing hole. by Christopher Schwarz from the Winter 2008...

When Scott Francis at Popular Woodworking Books asked me to revise my 2009 book “Handplane Essentials,” I thought it would be a short job. The plan was to add a...

Part Three: More End Mill & Router Bit Details In my last post, the focus was on the cutting edges, or flutes, along the sides of an end mill. If you’ve...

As I mentioned in my “CNC Tooling Basics for Woodworkers” post and the introduction, there are a lot of little details that go into the design of CNC end mills...

Part One: Questions & Answers about Mills & Bits Yes, the topic of CNC mills can be complicated. Because of the overwhelming minutiae of design detail and a bewildering number...

When woodworkers talk about their favorite hand tools, they might mention a treasured handplane — perhaps a superb pre-WWII Stanley Bedrock smoother outfitted with a Ron Hock blade or a...

A Good Year for Digital Woodworking Tools Using a 3-axis CNC, the underside of a sofa table’s ovoid shaped top is being rough cut in 3D. The edge is a combination of...

The Shaper Tools Origin: A Hand-held CNC Designed for Woodworkers Last week I took a trip to California to check out the latest in digital woodworking tools: the Shaper Tools Origin....

These elegant joints are difficult to cut and clamp. These jigs can help. by Bill Hylton from the December 2003 issue The only frame joint that doesn’t leave a bit...