A felt-tip pen is the best tool I’ve found for adjusting a grinder’s tool rest. When you need to find the center of a bevel in order to duplicate an angle, color the whole bevel with a Magic [...]
Bullet-Catch Bench Dogs When I built my workbench, I drilled round bench-dog holes in the top so I didn’t have to cut square mortises. Being a thrifty sort, I didn’t want to shell out for [...]
Get better woodworking results with these 12 tips. I’ve been teaching now for more than 15 years. And in that time I’ve thought a lot about why students are or are not able to do certain things. [...]
To set the height of a router bit—within .001″, if necessary—I made this simple stand for my caliper. It works on a router table or a hand-held router. Two screws with washers secure the [...]
Related: Shaker-Inspired Sewing Counter Shaker Sewing Counter: Glue-Up Tips The glue-up for case pieces is ALWAYS a little nerve-wracking and though this particular Shaker-style Sewing cabinet [...]
Find magic in the mundane using this humble problem solver. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a woodworker is to never underestimate the seemingly mundane. I have found great [...]
When I teach beginners, one of the most common phrases I hear is, “I cannot get this (insert tool name) to work. What’s wrong?” They hand the tool to me and the fun begins. Though block planes [...]
Jointing with a Planer I 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 them any narrower. [...]
There are router bits that I use on a day-in, day-out basis on many of my projects. However, there probably aren’t as many as you might expect. I find myself using a few unique bits for most of [...]
Winding sticks are very useful for gauging twist in a board, but they’re difficult to read. My improved version of these time-tested helpers makes the twist stand out. I start with a pair of [...]
When I had to install a bunch of magnetic catches recently, I came up with this simple method to mark the doors for the strike plate. It requires no measuring and the results are neat and clean. [...]
