Keyless-Chuck Grip

I bought a keyless chuck for convenience, but I found it hard to tighten and loosen by hand. The knurling on the chuck wasn’t very deep, so my hand just slipped. I often resorted to using a pair [...]

Cam-Action Bench Dog

I made a clamping device for my bench that can quickly snug up a board just by swinging a lever. The lever has a cam that pushes a sliding stop tight against the board. I made all the parts from [...]

Dust Collection Extension

Here’s a faster way to clean out your router table or cabinet saw if it’s hooked up to a central dust collection system. Instead of sweeping it out, or dragging over the vac, just remove the [...]

Band Saw Pattern Jig

I made this jig for cutting patterns on the band saw. It works especially well on woods where the line is difficult to see, or if your near eyesight is starting to deteriorate. Simply attach the [...]

Sander Circle Jig

I find myself needing a lot of small circles for use on wooden toys. When I cut those disks out with a circle-cutting jig on the band saw, the edge is a little too rough, so I’ve made a fixture [...]

Super-Accurate Tablesaw Tilt

Super-Accurate Tablesaw Tilt Tablesaw tilt gauges are inherently inaccurate. After all, the degree lines are usually at least 1/16″ wide. I use a digital angle gauge instead, which is [...]

Anti-Racking Credit Cards

Have you ever clamped a part in one side of a vise, only to find that the piece slips? If you had looked at the vise’s front jaw, you probably would have noticed that it was skewed,  pinching [...]

Tailstock Parking Spot

When I turn hollow vessels, I have to remove my lathe’s tailstock to install a support for the hollowing tool. When I’m done hollowing, I have to re-mount the tailstock to finish the turning. [...]

Cork It!

To protect the edges of small carving tools, stick a wine bottle cork on them. Synthetic corks work best because they don’t break apart as easily as natural cork. Allow the cork to dry for a [...]

Cam Clamp Fence Micro-adjusters

I have found a simple way to modify a wooden lever cam clamp to move a table saw fence or router fence in fractional amounts, using easy-to-find hardware: a 1⁄4“-20 T-nut, 1⁄4“-20 [...]

Shop-made Jig for Trimming Laminate

When applying laminate on a narrow edge, it’s a little tricky to not tip the router and undercut the edge. The surface on which the router must balance is often not wide enough to provide [...]

Our Favorite Router Tips and Tricks

Rarely a day goes by when we aren’t using a router for some aspect of a project. We’ve been building all kinds of jigs and trying new ideas (and ideas recently unearthed from our archives). A …