Everything you always wanted to know about screws, but were afraid to ask. Many of the tools and fasteners we use in woodworking have been around for thousands of years. The concept of the screw [...]
Article sponsored by Woodpeckers. Working with plywood is always an adventure. The large size of the sheets isn’t easy to handle in my small shop. This means that I’m often left wrestling these [...]
1. Paraffin Lube When you rout a dovetail joint, your sense of feel is important. Your router should slide easily around the jig’s fingers, without hesitating, so you can tell which [...]
Cutting precisely to a line on a miter saw isn’t easy. Usually, you have to make multiple cuts and sneak up to it. My solution is to use this universal gauge block; one cut is all [...]
Curved-front drawers add a touch of grace and liveliness to a cabinet. But if you’re not set up to re-saw wide stock into thin, uniform laminations, you’re sunk, right? Wrong. You can [...]
Mark the End Grain When you’re jointing, mark each board’s grain direction by drawing a line on its end. The line means “Start here.” A mark on a board’s face or [...]
Choose complementary blades for perfect results. In the dark ages of woodworking, before carbide, you never used the same blade for ripping and crosscutting. Cutting plywood required yet another [...]
When hobbyist woodworkers do any sort of veneering, they usually work with raw veneers. These un-backed sheets are great for small projects, and though they can be used for large work, most [...]
Just as with building any woodworking project, eliminate one step from the manufacturing process and the results can be fatal. It usually happens as you hang a door or install a shelf. You’ve got [...]
All hardwoods have vessels (little pipelines) that are used in sap production. The size and distribution of these vessels vary among species; some are visible to the naked eye. When the vessels [...]