Tricks of the Trade

I enjoy making picture frames but always found it a pain to use tacks or staples to hold the picture in place. Plus tacks and staples are hard to remove when you want to change the picture. [...]

I often need to find the center of a board for resawing (and other purposes). A quick way to do this is to use a cheap doweling jig and brad-point drill bit to mark the center, then set your [...]

I needed a way to secure the tail board on the pin board for marking on a large case project while transferring the layout. So, I used two picture-frame clamps to hold both pieces square and in [...]

I cut custom base plates for my routers, which not only allows me to adjust the size for better stability, but to better see the work. They’re 1⁄4“-thick Plexiglas that I cut to size and [...]

When turning, I like to have all my supplies close at hand, ready for use.  I use an index card box to store and organize cut pieces of sandpaper. It has a lid and dividers,  so everything is [...]

One afternoon my wife called out to my shop with an urgent request.  She needed me to make a round plywood cake plate for a charity auction.  I assured her it would be no problem. I was in the [...]

I recently made a couple of recipe boxes with finger joints. I didn’t have enough regular clamps to glue both boxes at once, so I decided to use band clamps. During my dry run, I discovered that [...]

I’m making and installing approx. 5000-bd.ft. of hard maple trim. Keeping track of what I’ve already sanded is difficult, so before sanding, I rub artists non-oil pastel chalks (also available at [...]

I don’t have a compound miter saw, but I figured out how to cut the compound bevel needed at the top and bottom of splayed legs. My answer is to use my basic miter saw and a piece of scrap.…

“Measure twice cut once” is probably the most commonly passed-on bit of woodworking advice. With that in mind, we’ve gathered some of our favorite tips to make measuring easier, [...]

Now that arthritis has a grip on me, I have trouble getting a good grip on clamp handles. My solution is easy and costs nothing. I carve grooves lengthwise on the handles using a medium-sized [...]

Floor Sweep Dust Port My router table is probably the most-used tool in my shop. I have dust collector ports on the fence, but when I rout with a bearing-guided bit, it still makes a huge mess. [...]