Nails for Woodworking

This much-maligned fastener has a place in the finest furniture. Here’s why. Among furniture makers, the reputation of the simple nail is somewhere south of expired glue and tacos made from [...]

Roubo Hollows & Rounds

Make these French moulding planes that are essential for every hand-tool kit. Hollows and rounds are making a strong comeback in the hand tool woodworking world. However, many woodworkers are [...]

Guerrilla Guide to Spray Finishing

It’s fast, forgiving and affordable – and you don’t need a spray booth. The hardest part about learning to spray finishes is becoming convinced that you can learn to spray finishes. Of all the [...]

Dust Collection for Ports of All Sizes

I made this adapter to hook up dust collection to the odd-size fitting (2″) on my oscillating sander. Start with a hardwood block that is (in my case) is 3″ x 4″ x 1 1⁄4” [...]

Shop-made Bandings

Learn to make your own and you’ll never have to compromise your design. Bandings and stringing are a dramatic and exciting way to dress up your period furniture. I see them as a way to highlight [...]

Apologia for the Custom Handplane

The best rationale for these ultra high-end tools might not be what you think. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the December 2015 issue of Popular Woodworking Over the [...]

Precision Inlay, Simple Tools

A few shop-made appliances allow you to add stunning face-grain inlay to your work. Geometric bandings and inlay patterns, or parquetry, are widely used, from Japan to Egypt to Spain. I developed [...]

Charred Finish

Fire and wax together produce a rich black surface. Fire might not be the first finishing technique that most woodworkers gravitate toward; then again, I am not most woodworkers. As a blacksmith [...]

Compound Angles; No Math

Once you understand ‘resultant’ angles, sawbenches (and chairs) are easy. Most first-time chairmakers are intimidated by the compound joinery used to fasten all the legs, stretchers, spindles and [...]

Wired for Beauty

A rotary tool, hammer and a few shop-made tools are all it takes. I recently had the opportunity to explore a concept that has been rattling around the dark recesses of my cranium for almost [...]

Perfect Shoulders

An 18th-century chairmaker’s saw makes 21st-century work easier The graveyard of obscure and forgotten tools is large, densely packed and many layers deep. Many of these tools richly deserve [...]

A Must-have Woodworking Glue

Without a doubt, yellow woodworking glue has adhered its place in the Woodworker’s Hall of Fame. But for complex joinery, veneer work and bent laminations, there is a better choice. Urea resin [...]