Techniques

Q & A: Help! My Router Makes Sparks! Q: When I run my router I see lots of small, blue sparks inside. Recently the sparks have grown larger. Is this OK?   A: Nope. Small sparks are [...]

When I make a lot of half-blind dovetails, I’ll use a drill press to help bore out the waste between the pins. The video below shows how I do. Some caveats to consider before you try to cram your [...]

Swiveling Outfeed Roller Here’s an outfeed roller designed to support long boards behind the saw for ripping or alongside the saw for crosscutting. When not in use, the roller can be hung on the [...]

  Q & A: Why are new chisels so dull?   Q: Whenever I buy a blade, like a tablesaw blade or a router bit, it’s always sharp.How come when I buy chisels they’re duller [...]

  Bandsawn Tapered Legs Tips and tricks to make your legs look better and the job go faster By Tom Caspar 1. Cut riftsawn legs The riftsawn section of a board makes the best-looking legs. [...]

Q & A: Dovetail Jig Set-Up Q: I’ve fallen in love with my dovetail router jig, but my big frustration is setting the depth of the dovetail bit each time. I’ve tried measuring how [...]

Make Corner Splines Decorative corner splines sure make an ordinary box look great. But they can be a bit dicey to cut on a tablesaw. Let your plate joiner come to the rescue. A simple jig holds [...]

Classy Face Frames I make a lot of traditional face frame cabinets and it?s always a problem covering the raw edge of the plywood at the corners. A normal face frame is very obtrusive when viewed [...]

Extract a Broken Screw Murphy’s Law guarantees that screws will break at the worst times. Fortunately, I’ve found a simple way to extract the headless shank and repair the damage. I [...]

Joint Rough Lumber with a Planer I came across some wonderful oak boards for a small table I wanted to build. The problem was the boards were too wide for my jointer and I didn't want to rip [...]

Tablesaw Worktable Turn your tablesaw into extra workbench space with a piece of 3⁄4-in.plywood.Attach wood strips around the plywood edges for a snug,no-slide fit on the metal table. [...]

Q & A: Board Feet Calculation   Q: I used to buy planed and jointed lumber (S4S) at a home center where it was sold by the lineal foot.Now that I have a planer and jointer, I want to buy [...]