Techniques

Shop-Made Sanding Blocks   Q: Commercial sanding blocks all have some kind of padded bottom. Do my shop-made blocks need to be padded, too?   A: Yes they do. Padded...

Air-Drying Lumber It’s the low-cost, low-tech way to dry lumber. Here’s how to do it right. By Dave Munkittrick Want a truly cheap and easy way to dry lumber? Consider...

Air Scrubber Trio Three shop-made machines that clear the air. By Ed Krause   Dust haze.Even if you have a dust collection system you’ve probably found yourself in the middle...

Faster Sharpening One of my favorite sharpening tools is a diamond paddle. I use it for router bits, knives and, most importantly, scrapers. The problem is that it cuts so...

A student emailed me and asked: “How do I model the cut a core box router bit makes in SketchUp?” At first glance you might think the answer is the...

I don’t turn pens much, and the word “fireplace” is a dirty word in our house (thanks to an incident involving a flaming log and full nudity). So my scrap...

Reclaimed Lumber Back at the beginning of April I wrote about some household items I made using leftovers from a commissioned project. Well, I thought I'd show you the original...

Once at a woodworking show, I witnessed Frank Pollaro making up veneered chess boards. He must have produced more than 30 pieces and each was perfect. The seams were tight...

The primary advantage to square-drive screws is they are much less prone to “cam-out.” Cam-out refers to the slipping of the bit in the screw head as the screw is driven.

Folding Worktable This simple, roll-around worktable fits in tight spaces yet expands to a huge work surface. By David Radtke   Here’s a work space that’s huge and accessible from...

A student emailed me and asked: “How do I model the cut a core box router bit makes in SketchUp?” At first glance you might think the answer is the...

Let the Boxes Begin A couple weeks ago I wrote about some teak that I salvaged from an old Adirondack chair. I started a project with it today; a long,...