With all the high-tech, expensive tools in my shop, I still find a dozen uses for a simple, inexpensive hunk of paraffin wax. I use it anywhere I need lubrication to slide material: the tops of my tablesaw, router table and jointer, the sides of my miter gauge, the bottom of my router base plates,…

Shellac is a mainstay in my shop, both as a sealer and as a finish. I mix my shellac from flakes and usually go with a 1 lb. cut, which is ideal for brushing ultra-smooth coats. I used to measure out the flakes each time I made a new batch, but here’s an easier way….

They explain so much. It’s often possible to sum up a lot of situations with a rule, a principle that applies in almost all cases. When I teach seminars on finishing, I often find myself citing a rule I’ve created to explain a procedure or to answer a question. These rules can be very helpful…

In just over 90 seconds Logan walks you through all the main parts of a metal body hand plane. Interested in learning more? Check out the article Handplanes for Beginners. For Basics Week we’re presenting a special offer on our PopWood+ membership, where you can save 25% off your first month or full year when…

An ancient European tool that still has a place in the modern American shop. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the November 2008 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Why should you own a bowsaw? Why not? You have many other tools that you use only when you need them. Seriously, if you make 18th-century-style…

This versatile hand tool should be every woodworker’s first plane purchase. As a “professional woodworker” I often get asked what’s the best bang-for-the-buck tool by people getting into this craft. My response is always to ask if they have a good quality block plane. I know, it’s not the big, awesome aircraft carrier-like jointer plane….

Puzzling lubrication. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the August 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine I ran out of mutton tallow this morning! I searched my tool chests, under the benches and in the drawers hoping to find just enough white magic to ease the passage of the big jointer plane up and…

Practice Traditional Building Joinery on a Smaller Scale Project #2104 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 2 Weeks • Cost: $300 During my 14 years living in Europe, I marveled repeatedly at how these beautiful timber framed structures had withstood the test of time—I remember one awe-inspiring timber framed house near Wiesbaden, Germany, with a placard on…

I use biscuit joints in lots of small projects, particularly for joining rails to legs. I usually reference from the bottom of the plate joiner rather than use its fence. When I want to make an offset joint, I cut the slots in the rails first. Then I add a large shim plate to the…

I use a portable circular saw to break down plywood and other sheet goods into manageable pieces before bringing them to the table saw for final sizing. I prefer to do the job on sawhorses rather than crouching on the floor. Unfortunately, you normally need three or four horses to provide enough support to prevent…

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…

After Dave excavated the bowl and trimmed the end grain, he sanded the inner bowl and was ready to add one more element – a stabilizing leg that would level the bowl. As I mentioned last week, each of the crotch bowl arms had a different thickness, and once laid flat on a surface, the…

Last Memorial day weekend, I returned to Peters Valley School of Crafts to teach a Live Edge furniture-making class. Our class was on the short side; concise and intensive. My three students worked hard and completed their project short of applying a coat of finish before they left the Valley’s, as we call it, spectacular…

Before we start carving, here are a few basic carving principles. Stop cuts are cuts that protect areas you don’t want to remove. These simply sever the fibers and define shapes, allowing you to make cuts into them without cutting past them. Next, remember you can always take more off but not add it back….

Sometimes it’s fun to build a gadget just because it’s a neat idea. There are many ways to draw a centerline, for example, but this method is very clever. It doesn’t require any measuring or trial-and-error adjustments. To build the marker, you’ll need two hardwood bars 3/4″ x 1″ x 12″, two Plexiglas links 1/4″…

From the PW archives: Megan Fitzpatrick covers the essential measuring tools for beginners, and shows you how to choose ones that will provide accurate results. For Basics Week we’re presenting a special offer on our PopWood+ membership, where you can save 25% off your first month or full year when you use the code BASIC23…

The awl is one of the most useful tools in woodworking and perhaps the most basic of them all. Awls help to initiate indentations into which screws, nails, and drill bits will bore. We use them to mark locations for sawing, and score lines to define parts’ parameters. And awls are used to pock holes…

Sometimes it’s fun to build a gadget just because it’s a neat idea. There are many ways to draw a centerline, for example, but this method is very clever. It doesn’t require any measuring or trial-and-error adjustments. To build the marker, you’ll need two hardwood bars 3/4″ x 1″ x 12″, two Plexiglas links 1/4″…

Even though my shop is well-lit, sometimes I need more light right on my work area. Instead of rigging up additional lights, I attach a small clip-on LED light to my cap’s brim. It’s great for working inside cabinets or doing close work of any kind. The light shines right where you’re looking. You can buy…

With all the high-tech, expensive tools in my shop, I still find a dozen uses for a simple, inexpensive hunk of paraffin wax. I use it anywhere I need lubrication to slide material: the tops of my tablesaw, router table and jointer, the sides of my miter gauge, the bottom of my router base plates,…