Archives

Q & A: Perfectly Flush? Q: I recently bought a plate joiner in hopes that it would help me get perfect alignment when edge-to-edge gluing. I’m still getting some unevenness at the [...]

Q & A: Slot Cutter vs. Plate Joiner Q: I saw an ad for a slot-cutting router bit. I have a router and buying the bit instead of a plate joiner would save me a lot of money. Is there …

Q & A: Why did my dovetail bit break?   Q: I’ve snapped off the tips of my dovetail router bit twice now while cutting sliding dovetails in hard maple. I don’t want to get [...]

Q & A: How do you cut curves in glass? Q: My up-and-coming star pitcher accidentally hurled her baseball through a glass pane in our family room hutch. Usually, I’d just get out my glass [...]

Q & A: Are Broken Screws Removable? Q: Argh! I broke off a brass screw while installing a small hinge. Can I get it out?   A: Join the club! Every woodworker has faced this problem.The [...]

Q & A: Help! My Router Makes Sparks! Q: When I run my router I see lots of small, blue sparks inside. Recently the sparks have grown larger. Is this OK?   A: Nope. Small sparks are [...]

  Q & A: Why are new chisels so dull?   Q: Whenever I buy a blade, like a tablesaw blade or a router bit, it’s always sharp.How come when I buy chisels they’re duller [...]

Q & A: Dovetail Jig Set-Up Q: I’ve fallen in love with my dovetail router jig, but my big frustration is setting the depth of the dovetail bit each time. I’ve tried measuring how [...]

Make Corner Splines Decorative corner splines sure make an ordinary box look great. But they can be a bit dicey to cut on a tablesaw. Let your plate joiner come to the rescue. A simple jig holds [...]

Classy Face Frames I make a lot of traditional face frame cabinets and it?s always a problem covering the raw edge of the plywood at the corners. A normal face frame is very obtrusive when viewed [...]

Extract a Broken Screw Murphy’s Law guarantees that screws will break at the worst times. Fortunately, I’ve found a simple way to extract the headless shank and repair the damage. I [...]

Joint Rough Lumber with a Planer I came across some wonderful oak boards for a small table I wanted to build. The problem was the boards were too wide for my jointer and I didn't want to rip [...]