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This hand surgeon likes meeting fellow woodworkers – but not at work. I long ago lost track of how many people, upon learning of my interest in woodworking, have puzzled aloud over my table saw. [...]

Practical solutions for a cleaner shop Vacuum-Assisted Bench I got tired of hooking my bench tools to my shop vac. Now I simply plug their dust collection hoses into the bench. I drilled and [...]

I like to buy used electric motors for powering various tools around the shop. I also use them to mount grinding wheels, wire brushes and buffing wheels. I typically outfit the motors with toggle [...]

There are many things we do wrong but we don’t know they’re wrong. In woodworking there are two kinds of mistakes: There’s the garden-variety gaffe where we simply cut a board too short or botch [...]

Good light is a must in every workshop, but sometimes I need a little extra light in just the right place. To make my light/magnifier more portable, I drilled a hole in a handscrew to fit the [...]

A 12-step program for regrowing forearm hair. I head through the main doors, down the stairs to the basement, arriving at the third door on the right. Like everyone else, I grab a cup of coffee [...]

A single cable provides 120-volt and 240V service. Every article I’ve seen describing the wiring of a shop for both 120 volts and 240V uses separate cables for each voltage, which is a [...]

They’re cheap! All you need is some PVC and plastic laminate. A central dust collection system is a big improvement to any shop, but the cost can really add up. With commercial gates going from [...]

Safety is the #1 goal in woodworking. June is national safety month, so we’re covering some shop safety best practices. Learn about avoiding hazards while woodworking, as well as the [...]

Here’s a simple way to protect your chisels from getting nicked and rusty rattling around in your toolbox. Just cut the fingers off some old leather work gloves. Poke holes with an awl at [...]

Seasoned professionals also benefit from woodworking safety. Regardless of your experience level, it never hurts to review the basics. In fact, I believe there are a number of standard safety [...]

Ordinary push pads tend to slip, I’ve found, when face-jointing a board. I modified one of mine by cutting 1/2″ of the rubber padding off its back end and then screwing on a 1/2″ x [...]