Our August issue kicks off with Christopher Schwarz building a tool chest sized just like Goldilocks wants: just right. Christopher combines historic proportions and details in a chest that’s big enough for almost all the tools you need, but small enough to haul around. You’ll learn how to build a useful, long-lasting chest, and Christopher details the philosophy behind his design and construction choices. And you’ll get a view of the stunning marquetry lid created by Jameel Abraham specifically for this chest. (Learn how Jameel built it in the October 2015 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine.)
If you sharpen your own saws, you need a saw vise. In “Shop-made Saw Vise,” Jason Thigpen shows you how to make a vise better than just about anything on the market today. An Acme-threaded screw tightens the vise with impressive force, and leather-lined jaws protect your saw. Off-the-shelf components, some straight-grained hardwood and a weekend are all you need to build this useful fixture.
Alfred Sharp is one of the best makers of period furniture in the country, and a winner of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers’ prestigious Cartouche Award. In “Build a ‘Birdcage,’” Alf teaches you how to build a birdcage, a clever mechanism that allows tabletops to tilt and rotate – and it is all period-correct.
Think you need specialized planes or a router to stick custom moulding? Scratch that thought – use a scratch stock instead. In “18th-century Reflections,” Joshua Klein teaches you how to make and use a scratch stock to build a classic mahogany looking glass.
Refinishing a piece is only part of the restoration process – finishing guru Bob Flexner backs up a few steps in “Furniture Restoration” and shows you how to repair the most common problems found in old casework. Learn how to repair typical damage to veneer, drawers and yes, the finish.
Don’t get bent out of shape when bending wood for a project – Michael Dunbar reveals a simply design for a steam box in —Steam Powered.— Mike, the font of Windsor-chair wisdom, shows you how he made his PVC pipe steam box and offers his hard-earned know-how of bending wood.
Megan Fitzpatrick builds a “Contemporary Side Table” in an “I Can Do That” project; Peter Follansbee writes about the one woodworking joint he couldn’t live without; we test the Kreg Precision Router table and George Walker tells you how to move beyond the “Soup-can Curve.”