Below you’ll find smart woodworking techniques including quick tips, advice for beginners and more advanced methods to improve your skills and allow you to get the most out of your workshop and tools. Whether you’re looking for traditional woodworking techniques using hand tools or power tools, finishing or sharpening advice, or just want to hone your woodworking basics, the advice below is from seasoned and trusted woodworkers and furniture makers working at the top of their field.
Making Curved Doors Kerfkore flexible panels handle curves with ease. By Brad Holden Curved doors and panels add elegance to any project, especially kitchen cabinets. Making these complicated [...]
Double-Duty Roller Tables I like getting double duty out of my tools whenever possible. So, when I decided to build outfeed tables for my miter saw and tablesaw, I worked up this dual-use [...]
Tablesaw Sled Cutoff Block My sliding cutoff sled gets lots of use for repetitive cuts. In the past, I clamped a board to use as a stop, but moving it for different cuts became cumbersome. To [...]
At the conclusion of the nine part series Designing Furniture From Scratch In SketchUp I promised shop drawings. True to my word this post will provide you with the SketchUp model file, complete [...]
Getting the Point I frequently use awls in my work and like to keep them needle-sharp. This little jig takes only a few minutes to make and guarantees a fine, tapered point. The magnets keep the [...]
Bowl Gouge Sharpening Do it by hand, just like you turn. By Alan Lacer How do you make a velvety smooth bowl with evenly thick walls and crisp details? Well, it’s not done by sanding the heck out [...]
Do Blade Stiffeners and Stabilizers Really Help? Q: I’m trying to get a super-smooth cut on my contractor’s saw. I’ve seen blade “stabilizers” for sale. Do [...]
This is the last installment of Designing Furniture From Scratch In SketchUp. Last week we added the drawer dust panels, the bottom and the bottom supports. This week we will model the drawers [...]
Carbide Cutterheads for Jointers Cut manufactured materials and make fewer knife changes By Dave Munkittrick The latest thing in jointers is the segmented carbide insert cutterhead. Instead of [...]
Flammables Cabinet Keep your shop and family safe! Have you got finishing supplies scattered all over your shop? Concerned that they’re a fire hazard? Organize them into this cabinet built [...]
Tablesaw Tapering Jig I recently built a pair of garden benches that required several identical parts that were tapered on both sides.To make the job easier, I built this jig that worked for both [...]
Cross-Grain Trim I recently needed to attach molding across the sides of some bookcases. Because the sides were solid wood, I had to allow for some seasonal movement. I used a table-mounted [...]