Tricks of the Trade

Whether you are into new socket chisels or old, sooner or later you’re going to have to replace a handle that is worn out or gets lost. Here’s a little trick I came up with to help you get …

I recently ran into a turning dilemma when my wife asked me to make her a quick, inexpensive lamp base. I decided that a two-piece base would do the trick, attaching a long, narrow “neck” to a [...]

I use this inexpensive and easy-to-make jig to press a workpiece against the fence of a band saw, but it would also be useful on a table saw or router table. The design consists of some scrap [...]

The next time you use your jigsaw, forget about hauling out the sawhorses or cantilevering a hard-to-hold workpiece off your bench. Extruded polystyrene insulation board, the rigid pink sheets [...]

Board-Stretching Joint I bought a planer/molder so I could make my own moldings. My living room required one 28‘.-long molding, but all I had to make it were 12‘. boards. I didn’t [...]

This mobile, folding table base provides a huge work area, holds a ton and folds up to only 7 in. thick.

Ordinary paraffin canning wax has dozens of uses in my shop. It’s cheap at a few bucks a pound, available at any grocery store, and easy to cut into small chunks. Unlike candle wax, which often [...]

There’s nothing more annoying than a vacuum hose dragging on the bench when you’re working with a router, sander or other power tool. These big hoses always seem to hang up on workpieces and [...]

Keeping project parts organized and in proper relation to one another while machining and assembling them can be a real challenge, especially if you’re organizing the pieces for attractive grain [...]

I lost the rubber pads that came with my clamps. I liked the way the pads protected the wood, so I decided to make my own. After a couple dips in liquid plastic ($9 at a hardware store), my [...]

A straight mortise-and-tenon joint requires each tenon cheek to be flat, of consistent thickness and parallel to the body of the workpiece. If a cheek is twisted or angled relative to the faces [...]

Sometimes drilling a hole in a finished piece of wood is unavoidable. I keep a pad of sticky notes nearby for this purpose. I put the sticky note roughly over the area where the hole is to go. [...]