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From the PW archives: Megan Fitzpatrick covers the essential measuring tools for beginners, and shows you how to choose ones that will provide accurate results. For Basics Week we’re [...]

I made my own try square using a 1″ x 4″ corner mending plate and a couple scrap pieces of hardwood. To make one yourself, first check the mending plate to be sure it’s square. If [...]

After 50 years of woodworking, I’ve got a confession to make. I enjoy fixing up an old machine or rearranging my shop more than woodworking itself. A few years ago a friend gave me an old [...]

Make your own light-duty one-handed workholding wonders. Like most workshops, mine is well-populated with spring clamps, the ubiquitous tool for applying localized pressure with one hand while [...]

I own several routers and they all have thin wrenches that are awkward to hold. To avoid frustration, I made the handles thicker by housing them in transparent plastic tubing from the hardware [...]

An ancient European tool that still has a place in the modern American shop. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the November 2008 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Why [...]

My contractor saw shares a garage with my car, so it’s stowed against a wall when not in use. It’s not an easy thing to drag into place when it’s time to set up for woodworking, so I decided to [...]

This versatile hand tool should be every woodworker’s first plane purchase. As a “professional woodworker” I often get asked what’s the best bang-for-the-buck tool by people getting into [...]

No matter what your style of woodworking, you need a basic set of hand tools. Here’s where to begin. When I came to America, I had a lovely wife, two suitcases and 50 bucks. Oh man, where do I …

This sandpaper storage system is about as simple as it gets. It’s just a stack of folded envelopes bound with a big rubber band. Each envelope is marked with a grit number. A thin piece of wood [...]

Tool: The Original OmniSquare Shop Now   Manufacturer: Omni Tool Works MSRP: $29.95 This clever and inexpensive milled aluminum square functions as a try square, miter square, bevel square, [...]

Some years back, when the company I worked for relocated out of state, I lost my job. While hunting for a new position and feeling a bit down, I visited a shop that sold used woodworking [...]