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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 [...]

Shave-A-Shelf I devised a new way to fit a shelf into a dado. I use my router to make a tiny adjustment to the shelf’s thickness instead of fine-tuning my dado set with shims to match the [...]

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 [...]

Staple Set Pneumatic staplers don’t always set 1/4” crown staples flush.  Driving them the rest of the way with a hammer causes the staples to kink,  so I designed this easy-to-make tool, which I [...]

Being an impatient sort, waiting for glue to reach the bottle’s spout became a pet peeve of mine. To put an end to this, I made a stand with a hole in the top matching the diameter of the [...]

When stropping my plane and chisel blades for that final honing, I always want to be sure that there is little to no chance that a freshly sharpened blade will slide off of the strop and [...]

There’s never enough storage space in a shop, is there? When I recycled some old kitchen cabinets to use in my shop, I added one more drawer to each one—in the toe-kick space.

Sharpening the bevel of a drawknife can be a challenge. Lap the flat side then use this method to do the bevel side. Using 3⁄8” or 1⁄2” or 3⁄4” PEX …

Use a CNC service to make perfect patterns. Woodworkers who make things consisting of more than straight lines need patterns. Patterns open up the worlds of form, shape and detail. They make [...]

I am making a bed headboard which requires multiple mortise and tenon joints on different wood thicknesses. I am routing my mortises and seeing the stop line that was laid out for the mortise was [...]

I often lubricate the soles of my planes with paraffin wax to make them slide easier. While ripping a board that was insistent on pinching just enough to make sawing difficult, it occurred to me [...]

Three quick steps to a silky-smooth finish. Brushed-on finishes such as varnish provide superior protection, but they dry so slowly, airborne dust and renegade hairs are almost sure to settle on [...]