Body Mechanics

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. [...]

Precision Height Gauge

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 [...]

Shaker Sewing Counter Online Extras

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 [...]

The Magic of Masking Tape

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 [...]

Jointing with a Planer

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. [...]

Better Winding Sticks

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 [...]

Strike Plate Mounting Magic

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. [...]

Right-Angle Guide for Jointing

Planing the edge of a long board perpendicular to its face is a real challenge. To make the job easier, I built a guide that attaches to the side of my plane with rare earth magnets. Now jointing [...]

Pop Rivet Center Pin

I make lots of lazy Susans in my cabinet business, so I cut circles of many diameters. Changing diameters is easy on my circle-cutting jig, because I use a pop rivet as a removable center pin. [...]

Good-Looking Panels

Nothing makes a cabinet look worse than door panels with unattractive grain that runs at werid angles. It pays to be picky about grain direction, even it means wasting some plywood. After [...]

Fender Washers for Mounting Pictures

I enjoy making picture frames but always found it a pain to use tacks or staples to hold the picture in place. Plus tacks and staples are hard to remove when you want to change the picture. [...]