Taking the time to learn a few basic cuts and moves will help you succeed. Bowl turning was my first love in woodturning. There is something special about a bowl: The wonderful way the shape shows off different aspects of the wood, the roundness and the ability to contain and present nourishment. I still find…

They’re the next best thing to a giant assembly table. Maybe better! The next time you need a sturdy, level work surface, I’ve got the perfect solution for you: sawhorses and a pair of torsion beams. Torsion beams are incredibly strong and will always be dead straight; they’re easy to make and inexpensive. But best…

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.

An 18th-century French workbench is quite possibly the most perfect design ever put to paper. In the 18th century it was common for the workrooms and living areas of a home to share the same space. A workbench, for example, would not be out of place in the front room of the house. This small…

Turn trash into treasure. I love hard cheeses and hard-crust bread. Although my cheese-making skills are limited and my baking talent is only admired in our household and among close friends, I use woodworking to make distinctive boards to serve the foods I like. The secret to my designs is using cast-off lumber, those short…

“Kids play with it like a toy, but it drives adults nuts. They think it’s a puzzle. They’re sure there’s some way to get the little cube out of the big cube. You can’t.”

Uncomplicated construction and an easy, attractive finish make this table tops.

As you recall, a few months ago, I wrote about a beautiful chair made of solid mahogany that we bought and found out that it was sadly damaged during shipping. The vendor sent us a replacement, but I decided to fix the broken piece anyway so we could use it. At the time, I thought…

A simple case is elevated by a unique leg design and elegant suspension. Project #2203 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $150 This was a real project of growth for me. I’ve written before about my woodworking journey being defined by life functionality over my desire to create interesting things. Even my first…

Knowing the techniques will help you, even if you aren’t doing the sewing yourself. For a woodworker, upholstery can be intimidating. It’s hard to know what you want, until you can clearly explain the finer points. Even if you have no intention of doing the actual upholstery work yourself, it’s helpful to familiarize yourself with…

This modified design builds off a classic Morris chair. Inspiration for the next project can come from many sources, but for me, all it took was a trip to an antique furniture dealer. Legacy Modern is a boutique dealer in Portland, OR specializing in arts and crafts furniture, and they happened to have an original…

Dust-Free Display and No Hinges to Mount! Glass doors make a bookcase, but doors that swing on hinges are a pain to install. Ditto for doors that lift open and slide back—on a Barrister’s bookcase, for example. Regular sliding doors are much easier to install. In addition, they’re ideal for a bookcase designed to fit…

Tool: 7 in. Carpenters Vise Shop Now   Manufacturer: Doyle MSRP: $69.99 I recently saved an old workbench from the scrap heap, and the first thing I knew it needed (after a good cleaning and flattening) was a vise. I wondered aloud to Logan if Harbor Freight had anything, then decided to check online. Just…

An 18th-century French workbench is quite possibly the most perfect design ever put to paper. In the 18th century it was common for the workrooms and living areas of a home to share the same space. A workbench, for example, would not be out of place in the front room of the house. This small…

Since I received my Benchcrafted Roubo workbench a year ago, my woodworking life has tremendously improved. My new and heavy bench (I wrote about it here and here) has 1” holdfast holes that can be fitted with the excellent Crucible tools ductile cast iron holdfast that Chris Schwarz makes. The 1” holes and the monumental…

The bench hook is without question one of the most indispensable tools in my wood shop. The force of gravity and the force of using the tool up against a solid fence is all that it takes to keep the work from moving. It’s deceptively sophisticated and exceptionally simple to make. It’s a great choice…

Modern hardware and techniques update this Tage Frid-inspired bench. Scandinavian- or Continental-style workbenches are the vinyl LP records of the woodworking world. These iconic benches have never left the scene. A few are classics and others are the flavor of the month. Some benches in this style are masterworks and some are poor approximations of…

Tool: QuickSet Work Bench TB-WB700 Shop Now   Manufacturer: ToughtBuilt MSRP: $99 Space in my shop is always at a premium, especially work surfaces. Most of the permanent counter space is reserved for the various tools I’m testing, and my assembly table is almost covered with stuff from the latest woodworking project. So if I…

They’re the next best thing to a giant assembly table. Maybe better! The next time you need a sturdy, level work surface, I’ve got the perfect solution for you: sawhorses and a pair of torsion beams. Torsion beams are incredibly strong and will always be dead straight; they’re easy to make and inexpensive. But best…

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.

An 18th-century French workbench is quite possibly the most perfect design ever put to paper. In the 18th century it was common for the workrooms and living areas of a home to share the same space. A workbench, for example, would not be out of place in the front room of the house. This small…

After roughly shaping the awl’s handle (read the first part of the story here) on the bandsaw, I clamped it inside my Pattern Maker’s Carving Vise and began shaping the neck. This vise is the perfect tool for holding tapered shapes and any blank with unusual facets. If you don’t have a dedicated vise, you…

Hardware-store parts do the trick. This simple leg vise is based on a traditional design still favored by many woodworkers. My version is built with inexpensive parts you can buy from any hardware store or home center. Every bench should have a good vise. Why use a leg vise, rather than a commercial face vise?…

It is fun to make a tool for your own use. When that tool becomes one of the handiest tools in the shop, you’ll be delighted that you took up that challenge. On the many occasions you hold it in your hand and mobilize it into action, you’ll look fondly at it and be proud…

Separate, sort, and see your collection With just five different parts to make, this easy-to-build caddy accommodates bits with both 1/2″ and 1/4″ shafts. It can be customized to handle just about any collection. Long bits have plenty of room on the top shelf. The caddy stands solidly on its wide base, stores easily on…

Router table cabinets can be a waste of space. This compact, vise-mounted unit stores easily and is just the right size. I think it might have been seeing a $1,000 router table setup at a recent woodworking show (it’s very cool, but $1,000?). Or maybe it was realizing that our shop’s router table’s cabinet mostly…

An easy interlocking joint begets great strength and style.