These simple shop-made helpers will make marking less of a chore. Marking out dovetails for hand cutting goes much easier with these helpers. Held in place while hooked over the end of a board, these markers allow you, with one placement, to pencil a squared line across the end grain and a tail-slope line down…

When I first started teaching the 8th-grade stool-making class, I needed to find an easy method for my students to mark the leg length accurately before trimming them to a parallel surface with the seat. While there are various techniques available, such as using wedges to level the seat and scribing a line on the…

Crosscut sleds have been around for a long time, but few are ideal. Many are heavy and hard to store. Most develop an extra-wide saw cut in the fence and allow the blade to throw sawdust in your face. My design solves all these problems.

I used to have three shooting boards for planing end grain: one for 90° cuts, one for 45° horizontal miters and one for 45° vertical miters. Now I’ve combined them all into one. The jig’s main body is a typical shooting board for trimming pieces at 90°, except that it has long wedges to tilt…

I wanted to rout some shelf dados, but I didn’t have the correct-size bit for the job. Fortunately, my dad stopped by and, as usual, had the answer to my problem. We cobbled up a couple L-shaped wooden fences from 3″-wide straight scraps, squaring each of the units carefully before gluing and screwing them together…

Instead of measuring for my circular saw’s offset each time I need to make a cut, I use a modified edge guide. I screwed two 3/4″ x 3/4″ x 12″ hardwood blocks to the front and back clamp bars of the guide and clamped the guide to a board. Next, I placed the saw’s base…

This millwork technique can be used to make curved parts with accuracy and ease. Much of my recent work has been making period-appropriate arch-top sash windows for an historic building. They are 6 1⁄2‘ tall, with a 5’-diameter arch. In other words, they’re a bit larger than what you’d likely need for a furniture piece…

My crosscut sled is my “go-to” jig for precise, square cuts. Recently, I added this self-adhesive tape scale – called Peel-n-Stick Ruler Tape – that makes it even more efficient. You can buy this tape on Amazon or at most fabric stores. Peel-n-Stick Ruler Tape is non-metallic, and comes in a 1/2″-wide x 30′-long roll….

Here is my adjustable jig for ripping thin strips on a table saw. Used with a push stick and zero-clearance insert, it keeps my hands a safe distance away from the sawblade. The base is MDF that’s 3⁄4” thick x 6″ wide x 22″ long. The width of the jig keeps my hand away from…

I find cutting dowels on the band saw to be a hassle. For one thing, the blade can grab the round stock and twist it out of your hand if you’re not using a support cradle guided by the miter gauge. And if you’re cutting several dowels to the same length, you have to set…

A notched batten is one of the best jigs you can make to help in hand planning. This simple thin hardwood strip has a hoof-shaped notch at its end and is used to prevent boards from shifting during planing. The way it works is pretty simple. First, tuck your board against the bench’s planing stop,…

Making long, perfectly straight cuts with handheld power saws, such as jigsaws and circular saws, can be a real challenge. They aren’t difficult when a straightedge is used as a guide, but putting that straightedge in the right place can be. With kerf jigs, you can set up long cuts in seconds. Here’s how to…

This simple jig enables you to cut accurate tenons and slice very thin pieces. I use a flush-cut saw because it has no set to its teeth and, therefore, won’t damage the jig. Plus it leaves a smooth surface. The only requirements for building the jig are a flat baseboard, such as Baltic birch plywood,…

Cut perfect circles up to 4′ across! Have you ever tried to cut a circle on a bandsaw, freehand? It’s quick, but it sure isn’t exact. Dollars to doughnuts you’ll get flat spots or bumps that are a pain to sand out. Big circles are really tough to get right. Fortunately, there’s a clever solution….

Not everyone’s ready to tackle hand-cut dovetails. Here’s how to get the most from your router and jig. Dovetails are prime joints. Long history, great appearance and cachet. Used in boxes, drawers and carcases. But for many woodworkers, cutting dovetails the traditional way – with saw and chisels – is an insurmountable challenge. If you…

Cut mortises of any width and length in stock of virtually any size. Here’s a win-win proposition: Spend a day in your shop and turn your drill press into a mortising machine. This fixture makes it easy to cut mortises in multiples for doors, tables and frames. It has four components: a fixed base, a…

This workshop tip saves both time and money. Make your table saw inserts two-sided to pull double duty on projects.

I use lots of wedges in my shop, sometimes as disposable clamp pads for tricky glue-ups or for general shimming chores. Sometimes they’re incorporated into a project, as when making wedged mortise-and-tenon joints. I used to cut wedges on the band saw but the rough surfaces often proved to be a hindrance. I decided to…

Most of the time, the end vise on my workbench is more than adequate to secure workpieces between bench dogs. Occasionally, though, I need to work with thin wood at the front edge of the bench (such as when using a plow plane to groove small box sides). For this, I need a holding device…

I don’t have a lathe, so when I need to make a cylindrical part, I do it by hand. Using this holding device, I can easily turn a square piece into a round piece using a hand plane—and you can, too. This jig is about as simple as it gets. It’s just a wide board…

Tool: Original Cabinet Hardware Jig Shop Now  Manufacturer: True Position Tools MSRP: $199 Installing cabinet pulls can be a bit daunting. It’s usually one of the last steps in the process, and when you’re close to finished. Making a measure, marking or drilling mistake this late in the game can really be a bummer. And…

I re-sharpen disposable planer blades a few times, using a shop-made jig, before tossing the blades away. I use a set of three diamond hones to sharpen the blade at an angle 5° higher than the factory bevel to minimize the amount of metal I have to remove. The jig is a single block that’s…

Welcome to my home shop. It’s fairly small — about 14×24 and located in our finished basement. It houses my collection of hand tools, lathe, table saw, router table, drill press, band saw, and various smaller “benchtop” type tools.  While I spend most of my time at my bench with handtools, the first thing you…

Simple to advanced methods for precisely duplicating parts. No other method for shaping is as fast or efficient as template routing. It works like this: the part to be shaped is fastened to the template; the router follows the template as it is guided around the template perimeter (Photo 1). Template routing ensures that each…

A few weeks ago I talked about the shop-built cross-cutting square that helps me achieve quality right angle cuts on solid lumber. This week I am going to show how I am using a few inexpensive jigs that assist me when I am dealing with sheet goods.  The Platform My technique is predicated on a…

Bottle Cap Jig Knobs I’m always trying to use up scraps and stuff that would otherwise end up in the trash. My latest devices are jig knobs made with plastic bottle caps, which have a grippy surface on their edges.  To make these knobs, all you need are plastic caps, 1/2” thick plywood, carriage bolts…

If you don’t own a big European style table saw or a large miter saw, and need to crosscut wide lumber at 90 degrees you will probably like my newly-built CCS (Cross-Cutting Square). This jig is easy to build and use. You can clamp it to your lumber or hold it down tightly with one…

To build the ultimate jig, use a tap. When I build a jig or fixture that needs to come apart, I don’t use wood screws, I use machine screws–and tap holes in the wood to receive them. It’s very easy to do, and requires only a few special tools. Why do it? Maybe I’m just…

This extra-long mortising fence helps you cut “blind” joints in your work. Cabinets and furniture often have “blind” joints − dados, grooves or rabbets that are stopped at one end so you can’t see the joint on the outside of the case. Sometimes these joints are  “double-blind,” meaning they are stopped at both ends. A…

Creative thinking and dirt-simple jigs make the joinery a straightforward task. Full-Size Plan:  Download I tend to think of Chippendale chairs as highly ornate. But there are startlingly simple examples of the style as well. After encountering some of the simpler versions of these chairs, I became fascinated. I love the interplay of curves and angles,…

The single most important hand-tool appliance is 3 sticks of wood. Owning a backsaw without owning a bench hook is like riding a bicycle without handlebars. This simple hand-tool appliance (three sticks of wood) uses the force of the tool and gravity to hold your work as you saw. And it helps guide your tool…

Build a dedicated setup that creates perfect joints every time. Imagine routing perfect box joints whenever you want, without having to waste time setting up your router table. This notion may seem half-baked, because box joints can be fussy to fit. But it isn’t! This jig allows you to go directly from milling the parts…

Tool: Veritas Side-Clamping Honing Guide Shop Now  Manufacturer: Veritas MSRP: $39.50 When I saw that Lee Valley has release two new honing guides last month I knew that I have to give them a try. I love honing guides and I have quite a few. My favorite guide designs are offspring from the original Eclipse style….

While making Shaker boxes, I built a jig to accurately rip 1/16″ thick strips without getting my hands too close to the blade. In fact, I can leave the guard on the saw. The jig has two parts. First, there’s a track that mounts on the saw, next to the fence. Two rare-earth magnets recessed…

This jig helps you easily reverse your work for base turning. Properly finished bowls never reveal how the turner mounted them. However, traditional methods for reversing a bowl to turn the base involve a lot of fuss and bother. Cole Jaws, for example, require cranking at least 48 hex screws for each use (not to…

Improve your router techniques with these four simple, shop-made router jigs that are easy to use and just as easy to build. I’m a power-tool woodworker. Sure I use hand tools for some parts of furniture building, specifically when cutting dovetails. But I doubt you’ll ever catch me with a Bridge City Tool Works VP-60,…

When I need to cut a bunch of small, equally sized pieces, I install this simple jig. It holds short pieces securely during and after cutting, so they don’t get caught by the blade and thrown around the shop. My jig is just a hold-down clamp attached to a squarely-cut piece of plywood. This clamp…

Tool: Thin Rip Tablesaw Jig Shop Now  Manufacturer: Rockler MSRP: $34.99 This tablesaw jig allows you to rip consistent thin strips safely and accurately. The jig clamps in the miter slot to the left of the blade. After each cut, you move the rip fence until the board touches the jig—then rip again for another perfect strip….

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 wood, a furniture wheel, two screws, two washers and two wing nuts; it is secured in the miter…

Kreg recently rolled out their new line of pocket hole jigs, meaning that the hold K3/4/5 hierarchy is no more. In its place is a new series of jigs aimed at woodworkers of all levels. So which one is right for you? Read on! Note: Each jig listed here can drill pocket holes in pieces…

Tool: 720 Pocket-Hole Jig Buy Now 720PRO Pocket-Hole Jig Buy Now 520PRO Pocket-Hole Jig Buy Now Manufacturer: Kreg MSRP: $99.99-$149.99 Redesigned Pocket Hole Jigs Packed With Useful Features Kreg’s name is nearly synonymous with pocket hole jigs. This affordable, easy-to-use way to mechanically fasten wood has inspired generations to start their journeys into woodworking. These redesigned and reengineered offerings…

It’s accurate, easy to use and built to last. There are all manner of drill press tables and fences, from a simple 2×4 clamped to the machine’s cast iron table to ones with gadgets and gizmos galore. The latter is not my style, so when the time came to replace my drill press table the…

For many years, I set up my dado stack directly on my table saw. So if my test cut was not correct, it required the re- moval of a portion of the set to add or remove shims, or swap out one of the chippers until I was satisfied. I thought, how great would it…

Get a perfect fit using a shop-made jig. Oval and circular inlays are a time-honored method of adding class to a project, such as the top of a jewelry box. It’s an interesting challenge to make your own inlay, but far easier to select one from a wide range of ready-made designs (see Sources, at…

Pattern-Cut Finials The traditional way to make a square finial on a bandsaw is to mark and cut the pattern on one side of the blank, then tape the offcut back on to the blank in order to guide the cuts on the adjacent side.  This is difficult to do with an intricate pattern because…

I made this jig for cutting patterns on the band saw. It works especially well on woods where the line is difficult to see, or if your near eyesight is starting to deteriorate. Simply attach the pattern to your piece and let the arm of the jig ride on the pattern like a guide bearing…

When applying laminate on a narrow edge, it’s a little tricky to not tip the router and undercut the edge. The surface on which the router must balance is often not wide enough to provide adequate support. I made this fixture from two pieces of plywood dadoed and screwed together for strength. It makes the…

Make your ‘MegaSled’ into a shop workhorse.  Previously, we built the MegaSled – a table saw sled designed to accommodate a series of joinery jigs. The jigs and attachments I cover in this article are just the beginning – and with them, you can cut flawless finger joints, tenons, lap and bridle joints, and even…

Make accurate and safe crosscuts with ease – and set the stage for clever accessories Most power-tool woodworkers have at least one table saw sled. And while a sled can make your work safer and more accurate, a well-thought-out sled can also do much more. Sometimes I call this one the “MegaSled,” other times the…

One jig opens up a whole world of useful shapes If you’ve ever wanted to venture beyond the world of squares and circles, consider incorporating elliptical shapes into your next design. Cutting an oval by hand can be tricky, and usually involves lots of sanding to smooth and fair the curve. Luckily there’s an easier…

This handle design is a safety improvement over commercial versions. Let’s face it: Many of us all too often see safety as…well, just plain boring. We always seem to be anxious to use that little bit of free time to get to the shop and work on that next pressing project for our spouse, kids…

Universal Drawer Holder When I make dovetailed drawers, I usually plane the sides to even up the joints and fine-tune the drawer’s fit. Years ago, I found that you can’t accurately plane a side unless it’s fully supported from underneath. This jig does just that and easily adjusts to fit drawers from 8″ to 20″…

Whenever I make a right angle cut on my tablesaw, I use a sled. If I’m cutting large panels, I use a big crosscut sled. I pull out a smaller sled for rails and legs. To cut tenons with a dado blade, I use a third sled, one with a 3/4″ wide slot already cut…

Tool: MicroJig Tapering Jig Manufacturer: MicroJig Price: $109 Some jigs get stuck in a design rut—they never seem to change. Take a typical double-armed tapering jig, for example. It’s awkward to adjust and a bit scary to use. Taking up the challenge, the folks at MicroJig have created a much more sophisticated device that solves both…

If you like to rely on a honing guide during sharpening, you will benefit from using an angle setting (or indexing) jig. An indexing jig will allow you to accurately set the right amount of blade protrusion in the guide to ensure that the sharpening angle is repeated each time you mount the tool into…

Equally-Spaced Dovetails Every Time When laying out dovetails, I always start by marking the centers of the pins so the distance between them is approximately the same. I came up with this trick that allows me to position any number of equally-spaced pins (or tails) very quickly, without the use of a ruler. I use…

Tool: Lock Miter Master Manufacturer: Infinity Tools Price: $29.90 The lock miter is a strong, beautifully simple joint. Using just one router bit, both halves of the joint are cut using the same setting; one vertically and one horizontally. But have you ever tried setting one up? In order to work, it has to be dead-on perfect,…

Tool: CRB7 MKIII Manufacturer: M.Power Price: $83 A router base can be nothing more than just that; a base. Or, as in the case of the CRB7 MKIII kit from M.Power, it can be outfitted to help your router perform a multitude of other functions. The CRB7 router base has been around a while, but the…

A large bridle joint requires an open-ended mortise that may be too deep to cut with a 10″ tablesaw. I encountered this problem when I used my saw to make bridle joints on an exterior door. I tried to finish the cuts on the bandsaw, but was unsatisfied with the results: Working freehand left mortises…

Tool: 08350 Dowelling Jig Master Kit Manufacturer: JessEm Price: $195 Dowel joints are a strong, simple and low-cost method of building furniture. All you need is a jig and a drill. Decent jigs have been around for years, but most are so basic that they don’t work well for many applications. Want to join a 3/4″…

So tell me—how many jigs do you have scattered around your shop? Is it true that a guy can’t have too many, just like you can’t have too many clamps? Well, here’s one that I’ll bet you haven’t seen before. I designed it to make a corrugated lamp reflector, but when I was done, I…

Get more out of your table saw with these four handy jigs. These simple jigs take advantage of the table saw’s speed and accuracy without tempting you to perform risky operations.

A storage tray is a useful addition to any stationary tool. Add a table saw tray to your shop to keep tools handy, yet out of the way.

Zero-clearance throat inserts are a simple upgrade you can make to your table saw. Make your saw safer and achieve better cutting results with less hassle.

A collection of our favorite router tricks recently unearthed from our archives. A router is truly one of the most versatile tools in the shop. Enjoy!

Make perfectly flush joints on large pieces of edged plywood with this portable router jig.

The The BT&C Planing Stop is a small toothed plate, intended to serve as a buffer stop when planing a board on the bench.

Leigh — known for accurate and clever joinery jigs — has a new box-joint jig for routers (for handheld use or on router tables). It’s designed to create 1⁄2″- and 3⁄4″-wide box joints and looks similar to other jigs, so I was ready to be under whelmed until I set it up and started checking out the features.

These jigs help you hand cut flawless mortise-and-tenon joints. By Jeff Miller Mortise-and-tenon joints tend to frustrate woodworkers far more than dovetails do. That’s no mystery; they are genuinely harder to cut than dovetails. The large flat tenon cheeks and mortise walls need to be flat, smooth and parallel, the shoulders have to line up…

Curvy furniture is great to look at and usually offers a tactile aesthetic that makes it appealing. Holding it all together is the joinery – and whether it’s dovetails, tenons or lap joinery, creating that joinery on a curve adds a new level of complication. Whether made by hand or by machine, most of our training on…

Band saws are great for cutting curves but when you need a perfect circle, you need a jig. I’ve used many circle-cutting helpers over the years and the design presented by Tom Caspar in the video below combines the best features from all of them. The jig is held in place on the band saw…

A well-tuned bandsaw is a perfect tool for resawing. Adding a few jigs to the process makes resawing better, safer and easier. The thin blade on a bandsaw doesn’t waste much wood, eliminates kickback and is very stable. By adding jigs such as a tall fence, a stabilizing block and some infeed and outfeed supports for…

Through dovetails—for woodworkers, this is batting in the big leagues, isn’t it? Cutting them by hand certainly requires skill and practice, but if you use a well-designed router jig, almost anybody can play ball. Many of these jigs are quite expensive, but Leigh Industries, the maker of one of the best-known jigs, has just introduced…

It goes without saying that there is a renewed interest in hand tool woodworking, and much has been written on the topic, and that’s great because there really is a lot to know about these tools that are “new” to many woodworkers. That said, my experience with hand tools has taught me one thing –…

Q: Try as I might, I can’t seem to get a good edge on my bowl gouges. Are bowl gouge sharpening jigs worth looking into? A: Bowl-gouge sharpening jigs do a great job. The jigs give many turners a higher degree of control and repeatability than they get doing it by hand. But don’t kid…

Bandsaw Jigs By George Vandriska Your bandsaw is one of the most versatile tools in your shop. These five jigs and techniques will help you handle some unusual situations. Cutting Multiples Click any image to view a larger version. If you need to make a lot of identical parts using a template, a pattern cutter…

Tablesaw Tenoning Jig A precision joint-making tool for less than $30. By Frank Gregg A tablesaw tenoning jig is an essential tool for most woodworkers. But commercial units cost $100 and up, and shop-made jigs that I’ve tried, all riding on the fence somehow, were unstable and hard to adjust. So I devised this jig,…

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 angles. The two screws make setting the angles quick and precise. On the first cut, the edge of the board rests…

I’ve had a bit of time in the shop this week, so I went back to work on the storage boxes that sit inside my yet-to-be-built workbench. I know. It’s been almost six months and I’m still just building the boxes – managing editor duties are many. After knocking out my dovetails, I laid out…

Mortise Centering Jig With this jig I can rout mortises exactly centered on the workpiece— no measurement or layout necessary. First I drilled and tapped two holes in my router base plate to take 10-32 machine screws. Both holes were located directly opposite each other along a line that runs through the center of the…

Mario Rodriguez of the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop has an article in our August 2013 issue that shows you how to build a clever table saw jig he uses to carve the chair seat for his contemporary chairs; it’s a jig he first encountered two decades ago in a book by Robert Marquis, “Making the Classic…

Router Scarfing Jig Boatbuilders often need to join boards end to end to make longer planks. Instead of a butt joint they make a long taper on each board and overlap the ends. This is called a scarf joint. One or two scarf joints are easily planed by hand, but for any quantity it’s well…

As you can see, I did get into the shop this week to begin on my workbench storage boxes. The thing I most like about building my own design – after 15 plus years building 18th- and early 19th-Century designs for customers – is that I can change the design clear up until I can’t….

Q & A: How Much Light? Q: My husband wants to turn our basement into a TV room so I have to move my shop to the garage. I want to fix it up right and one of the big questions I have is how much lighting do I need? A: Pages could be written…

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 much the bit should stick out, but that’s awkward and I spend too much time on trial and error test cuts….

Anyone who has glued up a few doors knows how frustrating it can be attempting to build assemblies that turn out both flat and square. As I’m working on a cabinet article for the April issue of the magazine, I’m happy to have a few quick jigs on hand that make the process much less…

Here’s a great gift idea for the tech-savvy woodworker in your life. You can bring this CD right into the shop on your laptop computer and build these innovative and ingenious jigs! Learn to build more quickly & efficiently. Cut accurate joints in less time. Make safety a priority in the shop. Jigs are your…

You can easily build these 55 indispensable jigs, fixtures and appliances with materials you already have in your shop – and greatly expand your woodworking capabilities and confidence. Your shop time will be more productive, safer and more enjoyable!

Make your workshop a safer and more efficient place to build with this new CD collection of our 55 favorite shop-made jigs, fixtures and appliances culled from the last 12 years of Popular Woodworking and Woodworking Magazine. On “55 Best Shop-Made Jigs” (there simply wasn’t room on the cover to also fit “fixtures & appliances!”)…

If you follow my woodworking habits, you are well aware that I enjoy using my routers with pattern bits chucked in the collet. The piece I’m working on for the August issue requires repetitive stop cuts that are a 1/4″ wide. As far as I know, pattern bits with a 1/4″ or 1/2″ shank in…

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 angles. The two screws make setting the angles quick and precise. On the first cut, the edge of the board…

    I recently needed a jig to trace lathe turnings. I tried a variety of designs but none produced the accuracy or ease of operation that I wanted.    While rummaging around my shop, I discovered an extra set of 10-in. ball bearing drawer slides (see Sources, below) left over from another project. I…

        I came up with this slick way to drill a large, straight hole in the end of a post. It works great and makes good use of my tall floor-mounted drill press.   To make the jig, I first swung my metal drill table to the side and clamped on an…

        Adding a dust collection system to my shop was a great move, but it wasn’t cheap. I did manage to save money by making my own blast gates. The main component of the dust gates is a 3-in. PVC coupler. It cost me only $1 at my local home center, and…

These clamping jigs are easy to make and you’ll use them constantly. I’ve found that 4-inch and 6-inch jigs fill most of my needs. Each jig consists of two L-shaped 3/4-inch MDF pieces sandwiched between a pair of metal corner mending plates (Stanley). Make sure that the MDF is slightly recessed from the long outer edges of…

Gauge blocks work great for quick, accurate biscuit joiner fence settings. All you do is pinch the block between the fence blades. This technique will also ensure the fence is set parallel to the blade. Joiners with rack-and-pinion fence adjustments automatically set the fence parallel with the blade. For this type of joiner, use spacer…

It's easy to cut perfectly round tabletops of almost any size on your tablesaw. All it takes is a simple jig (Fig A) and careful setup. With this method, you can safely cut dia-meters from 12 in. to within an inch of your saw's rip-fence capacity. Why use a tablesaw? It's better than bandsawing or…

Making Lipped Drawers With A Dovetail Jig By Tom Caspar You can do more with your half-blind dovetail jig than meets the eye. You’ve probably used it to make drawers with plain, inset fronts, but it’s really quite simple to make lipped drawer fronts, too. Even though most dovetail jigs are basically the same, some…

5 Router Jigs Improve your accuracy and control. By Bill Hylton Why buy a commercial jig when making one yourself will triple your enjoyment? First, you’ll experience the joy of building a useful shop fixture from nothing more than some scrap wood and a good idea. Second, you’ll enjoy the money you’ll save. And finally,…

This guide takes only a minute to make and helps you make perfect corners in four different diameters. Simply use a different sized coin (penny, nickel, dime, quarter) to create the four radii.  

        Getting rounded corners that match is a cinch with this template. Legs fastened to both sides automatically center the template on the workpiece. Once the template is in position, only spring clamps are needed to hold it in place.   When you install the template on top of the workpiece, rout…

Tenoning Jigs By Tom Caspar Tenoning jigs make the complicated world of mortise-and-tenon joinery a lot simpler. I’ve used a homemade wooden jig for years. I stand a rail upright on the tablesaw and clamp it to a tall box that slides on my fence. Most shop-made jigs have two drawbacks, though. First, they must…

My shop space is so limited-only 12 feet square-that I designed this system to house four machines: belt-disc sander, miter saw station, drill press and planer. Each machine has an accessory storage tray below. With all the machines down I have a clear working surface above. Each machine is wired to a central outlet so…

With this simple jig, a drill press and a cup grinder, I can sharpen any jointer or planer knife. First I make a hardwood block and cut it to 1/16 in. less than the length of the knives. Then I add a retaining piece at each end, as shown. Install a medium-grit cup grinder in…

For fast and accurate dadoes, this jig is hard to beat. The trick is to run the router against one guide, then back against the other. This allows you to use a 1/2-in. bit, for example, to cut a dado that's 13/16-in. wide or less, to get a perfect fit with plywood. Because the dado…

The face vise on my workbench didn't hold long boards rigidly enough until I added this adjustable "bench slave." And it only cost about $30. First I milled a board to attach to the leg, making sure it was thick enough to fit flush with the front edge of the benchtop. Then I cut a…

            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 them any narrower. I solved my dilemma with this planer sled that allows me to use my…

    After years of wishing my old workbench had a tail vise, I realized I could make one of my new Jorgensen Cabinet Master bar clamps do the job. All I had to do was reverse the sliding lower jaw (it's removable) and mount the bar and fixed jaw under the benchtop. I drilled…

The next time you use your saber saw, forget about hauling out the sawhorses or cantilevering a hard-to-hold workpiece off your bench. Extruded polystyrene insulation board, the rigid pink sheets used in housing construction, makes saber-sawing easy, whether you're cutting a small piece of hardwood or a full sheet of plywood. During the cut, the…

  My bench has only one vise, so it needs to be versatile. The jaws on my vise can be positioned to hold objects flat on the bench or cantilevered off the end. In addition, the clamp is removable, so I can still use it for regular clamping jobs. My vise is based on an…

  I use my biscuit joiner all the time to quickly make strong joints. With narrow boards like face frames, I used to spend a lot of time figuring out which biscuit size to use so the slots wouldn’t be too wide and show. To avoid all that recalculation, I made a permanent reference block….

Crouching to operate my compressor's drain valve was no big deal until my football-ravaged knees started acting up. To keep from grimacing in the sawdust, I devised a more civilized way to clear the tank. I replaced the drain valve with a 90-degree elbow, a 200-psi-rated reinforced hose and a ball valve. Barb fittings on…

Make this handy little gem for less than $5. You’ll need one piece of hardwood for the beam and another for the fence. You’ll also need two 1/4-20 threaded inserts and a thumbscrew. Drill a hole through the fence for the thumbscrew, 1-1/2-in. from one end. Then rip the fence into two pieces. Cut a…

In Ireland, where I was taught, the first jig a woodworking apprentice makes is a bench hook—a simple, yet amazingly effective device used to hold small stock for sawing and trimming. The design itself is ancient; bench hooks have been used for centuries. But in the United States, my trusty “third hand” seems to be…

Tips for Mastering Featherboards Featherboards are like having an extra set of hands in the shop, going where no fingers ever should. By Jock and Susan Holmen The featherboard gets its name from the rows of flexible “fingers” that act like a bird’s feather and give way in one direction only. They help ensure safety…

Super-Tune Your Tools with a Dial Indicator By George Vondriska Machinists use a simple measuring device called a dial indicator for setting up metalworking equipment. It works great in the woodshop, too, though for woodworking, you don't need a real fancy model. I found  a perfectly adequate dial indicator, complete with all the accessories, for…

I don't have room in my garage shop for a permanent clamp table, so I made this folding version from a leftover 2-ft.-wide sheet of 3/4-in.-thick plywood. Folded, it's less than 2 in. thick, so it stores neatly in a narrow space. First, I crosscut the sheet to 60 in. in length. Then I made…

When I need holes drilled too far from the edge of a board to use my drill press, I reach for this handy drilling guide. It allows me to position the bit exactly and assures that I'll drill a perpendicular hole, as long as I hold the guide firmly on the workpiece. I can also…

Snag-Free Hose By Peter Natoli I love using dust collection with my orbital sander, but the hose always caught on the edge of my workbench. I fixed this problem by suspending the hose and cord using a 1-in.-wide cloth strap with some Velcro on the ends. One strap end is attached to a hook in…

Template Routing Tips By Randy Johnson ??If you want to get the most from your router, you need to master template routing. Once you learn the basics you can spend a lifetime exploring its many possibilities. You’ll be able to build more kinds of projects, more accurately and more easily. Template routing has two big…

Bench Dog Light With this shop-made bench dog I can put light right where I need it. The dog is just a square chunk of wood with two smaller pieces glued to the sides. The smaller pieces act as stops. I used my drill press to drill the hole to a diameter that matched the…

8-ft. Straightedge for $4 Whenever I have to cut down a sheet of plywood I reach for one of my trusty metal stud straightedges.Metal studs are available in different thicknesses for different applications. A 20-gauge non-load-bearing drywall stud (about 35¢/ft.) won’t deflect significantly when it’s clamped to an 8-ft.-long sheet of plywood. I bought 3-5/8…

  Machine Floor Locks Anyone with a machine on wheels— especially a tablesaw or planer— understands the necessity of locking it in place before using it. I use a pair of toggle clamps connected to rods. I position the machine where I want it and lock the toggle clamps down, as shown above. To keep…

I’ve been working in the shop over the last few days to create mortise-and-tenon joints for a workbench. I usually make the mortise portion of the joint with the dedicated mortise machine. I make my tenons at the table saw using a regular blade with a miter gauge to make the shoulder cut, and a…

This jig enables you to safely make a cut on the table saw with the workpiece held vertically as it moves over the blade.

Your table saw is a router table and jointer just waiting to happen. Replace one of the saw’s wings (or adapt your existing table board) to hold a router table insert, and you’re in business.

Years ago when I first learned to cut dovetails, my first joints weren’t things of beauty. Sometimes there were more shims than pins. Over time, my work got better and faster. But despite the improvement in my skills, I still had trouble cutting tails or pins consistently, especially if I got out of practice.

Lay out accurate ovals quickly with this nifty jig.

Save money and create more storage space with this smart shop cabinet.

Turn your laminate trimmer into a tool that flushes surfaces with incredible finesse.