Not everything has to have a furniture-grade finish. If you read the woodworking magazines or look online, you often come across instructions for filling pores, glazing, toning, rubbing out, and so on. These are wonderful techniques for use on sophisticated projects such as furniture. But they are often overkill for basic kitchen or bathroom cabinets….

Why stains and finishes sometimes dry slowly. A friend called with a problem. He had applied an ebony oil stain to oak and after the stain had dried for two days, the polyurethane he then brushed picked up some of the color and smeared it around the surface. Was there a problem with the stain,…

The truth behind craters and ridges. If your finishing career has been limited to finishing projects you have made, you may never have experienced fish eye. But if you have done much refinishing, especially of furniture, you have surely seen fish eye. Fish eye is the finish crawling up to form moon-like craters or ridges…

Armed with a little trickery, you can make the block plane perform a wide variety of tasks. Hang around enough woodshops (or Internet discussion groups) with a block plane in your hand and you’ll eventually be derided for owning a “carpenter’s tool.” It’s a criticism that I’ve never understood. Small trimming planes – no matter…

Bench planes come in a wide range of lengths and widths. Do you need them all? Which ones are most useful? And if you only had to buy one….

Three years ago while teaching a woodworking class at Peters Valley I met Blacksmith Eric Dennis, who was at the time the studio assistant in the iron shop. When I entered the noisy, coal-smoky, old building, Eric was in the middle of forging some impressive looking tool. Coincidentally, that very summer I was trying to…

To build the ultimate jig, use a tap. When I build a jig or fixture that needs to come apart, I don’t use wood screws, I use machine screws–and tap holes in the wood to receive them. It’s very easy to do, and requires only a few special tools. Why do it? Maybe I’m just…

This extra-long mortising fence helps you cut “blind” joints in your work. Cabinets and furniture often have “blind” joints − dados, grooves or rabbets that are stopped at one end so you can’t see the joint on the outside of the case. Sometimes these joints are  “double-blind,” meaning they are stopped at both ends. A…

Creative thinking and dirt-simple jigs make the joinery a straightforward task. Full-Size Plan:  Download I tend to think of Chippendale chairs as highly ornate. But there are startlingly simple examples of the style as well. After encountering some of the simpler versions of these chairs, I became fascinated. I love the interplay of curves and angles,…

The next time you use your jigsaw, forget about hauling out the sawhorses or cantilevering a hard-to-hold workpiece off your bench. Extruded polystyrene insulation board, the rigid pink sheets used in housing construction, makes sawing easy, whether you’re cutting a small piece of hardwood or a full sheet of plywood. During the cut, the workpiece…

Strength, patience and a sharp saw turn scraps into treasure. The hardwoods I use are almost always riven or split from a log. When I need thinner pieces than usual, I split them again. But there are times when I have mill-sawn stock and the way to get that thinner is either plane it down…

When I was a kid, the first saw I bought was a Craftsman coping saw with a chrome frame and red-stained handle. For years I did everything with that saw – crosscuts, rips, curves and even joints. But I made none of those cuts particularly well. Part of the problem was that I was 11…

The “Swiss Army” family of knives, and their contemporary descendants – the Multi-tools, are a good solution for on-the-go situations. Although these tools can never really be a perfect substitute for the ergonomics and efficiency of the individual tool, their compactness and versatility can provide us with reasonable solutions while away from our shop, on…

You can tell when you’re holding a good tool in your hands. The way it feels, the way it responds, the way it does everything you ask it to. There’s another dimension to a good tool, though: how the manufacturer supports it. The Nakanishi Emax EVOlution from NSK America is one such tool. This electronically-controlled…

Turn a log into a sculptural statement piece. PROJECT #2101 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 4 days • Cost: $200 Have you ever come upon the opportunity to get some logs either due to a downed tree on your property or somewhere else within your community? A very familiar story is someone has to…

For accurate drilling, build an engineered table. Did you know that most drill press tables are made for metalworking? Woodworkers need a better table: it should have a broad surface, an easily adjustable fence with a stop, hold-downs, and replaceable inserts. I’ve studied many plans for a table with these features, but each one seems…

Tool: M1 Caliber Shop Now  Manufacturer: REEKON MSRP: $150 Most tools we review are ones woodworkers are directly familiar with (table saw), or an innovation to an otherwise common idea (the Festool Domino is a hybrid of a doweling jig and biscuit joiner). The M1 Caliber doesn’t really fit into any specific archetype though- it’s…

Cut precision joints on a large top. Breadboard ends are old devices for improving a solid-wood top. They act like cleats to hold the top flat, which is particularly important when there’s minimal understructure, such as on a trestle table. They also cover end grain, which can help prevent a top from cracking. They’re often…

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 utility in common household materials: old Tupperware, measuring cups, shelf liner, string, Dixie cups and old T-shirts, just to name a few. But…

$1 Shop Supplies When buying supplies for my shop, I often visit a store where stuff costs only $1. Many items sell for much more at a home improvement store, so I save a pile of money. You never know what you’re going to find in a $1 store, but here’s a list of things…

While making Shaker boxes, I built a jig to accurately rip 1/16″ thick strips without getting my hands too close to the blade. In fact, I can leave the guard on the saw. The jig has two parts. First, there’s a track that mounts on the saw, next to the fence. Two rare-earth magnets recessed…