Archives

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 [...]

Saber-Saw Cushion 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 [...]

You Want Me To Help You Make a What? If you have kids in school, you’re well aware of the fact that you’ll be pressed into service to help make art projects countless times. For me, [...]

Q: I am really puzzled as to how the tail vise actually works as I have only used a front vise. A: A tail vise’s main purpose is to hold a board flat on the bench for planing, routing, [...]

A Little Bit of Buried Treasure   A friend of mine had an old two-seater Adirondack chair that she figured was rotting and ready for the landfill. But she liked it so much, that she asked me [...]

Clamp Leash My spring clamps always seem to be out of reach or scattered around the shop. To solve my problem, I suspended my dog’s old leash over my workbench. Now my spring clamps are always [...]

Cordless Jointer.  Yup, it's late. But it's still Friday. It's been a whirlwind of a week. While working on a project today, I got to use one of my favorite techniques. Most [...]

Rollers Ease Plywood Storage Before I installed these rollers, sliding plywood in and out of my storage rack used to wear me out. It also damaged the edges of the sheets. Now plywood sheets glide [...]

Not Exactly At The Bench Browsing my local Woodcraft supply store today. Turns out they're now distributing Shapton sharpening products. If you're not familiar with them, they are the [...]

The Right Boards  I've been planning out a bowfront wall cabinet with coopered doors for a few months. Originally, I was set on making it of walnut or cherry – two of my favorite [...]

Making a change to my blog posts. Instead of posting old tips from the American Woodworker archives, I'll be posting a wide variety of stuff, including projects on which I'm working, new [...]

Cutting Multiple Parts One day my wife asked me if I would make her 58 shields for awards day at her school. Usually when I cut multiples on my scrollsaw I tape or screw the parts. This time I [...]