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Yoav Liberman
After reducing the volume of the original half-mortise using two strips of wood and addressing the crack in the shallow recess of the catch plate (read part two of the story here), I decided to fill the old screw holes with dowel segments. This step was crucial because you don’t want the new mounting screws…
Logan Wittmer
Follow these best practices to get the most out of your dust collection system. I don’t think that there has been something that’s increased my enjoyment in the shop as much as getting a good dust collection system in place. I enjoy working in a clean space, and any rogue dust drives me nuts (let…
After fine-tuning the quirks with the new replacement lock and its brass catch plate, I turned my attention to the cedar hope chest’s half-mortise. I measured and compared the existing depth and width of the half-mortise with the dimensions of the new lock, determining that I needed to route the walls of the mortise to…
Last winter, a friend gifted me an old cedar hope chest. The piece was made by her late father-in-law, an amateur woodworker. Since she and her husband were preparing to sell their home and move to a smaller place, she hoped to give the chest a loving home. She said the chest was in perfect…
Robert W. Lang
A hole is just a hole, no matter how you dig it. The mortise-and-tenon joint is fundamental in woodworking. Along with the dovetail, this joint has been used for thousands of years. If you judge by the number of devices and methods developed to avoid making mortises, you might think it difficult and demanding. In…
Brad Holden
A quick guide to the pros and cons of how to make the difficult part of a classic joint. Many pieces of old handmade furniture owe their long life to mortise and tenon joints. There are many other ways to join wood, such as using dowels, biscuits or pocket screws, but none of them are…
Garrett Glaser
Shape wood with a propane torch. Here’s a simple, but effective way to bend thin stock (1/4″ thick or less). The only tools you need are a length of 1-1/2″ galvanized pipe, a propane torch, a jig to hold them both, and a fire extinguisher–just in case. The pipe is attached to a flange through…
Attach the tree to the base. Part 1: Introduction • Part 2: Push and Peel Knife Maneuvers • Part 3: Parting and Pulling Techniques • Part 4: Rounding the Tree • Part 5: Sculpting the Branches Now that we have finished creating the tree, it’s time to plant it. You have several options for creating…
Sculpting the Tree Branches Part 1: Introduction • Part 2: Push and Peel Knife Maneuvers • Part 3: Parting and Pulling Techniques • Part 4: Rounding the Tree • Part 6: Attach to The Base We’ve reached the final stages of the whittling journey – crafting the tree branches. Let’s start by tracing five or…
Bob Flexner
This traditional finish can be tricky to apply. If you have read much in the woodworking press, you’ve surely encountered many articles, including mine, in which the writer uses and recommends shellac as a finish. This may persuade you to try shellac. I certainly don’t want to discourage you because shellac is a great finish…
Alan Lacer
Take a walk on the wild side of finishing. I’ve got six good reasons to skip the stain and polyurethane on your next small project: bleached, blended, charred, marbled, salt and pepper, and iron and vinegar each name beautiful finishes for wood. These finishes are rarely seen on large pieces of furniture, however, because consistent…
Austin Heitzman
Waterlox is a mainstay for furniture makers. Follow these steps to get a deep glow, a buttery-smooth surface and unmatched protection.
Tom Caspar
Match the size to the job–that’s the key Hand planes come in a bewildering variety of sizes. Why are there so many? I’ll help explain this mystery by dividing the field into four groups, in order of size: block planes, smoothing planes, jack planes, and leveling planes. I’ll show you what the planes in each…
Michael Dunbar
These once-standard tools still have a place in the modern shop. Here’s what you need to know about the use, care and keeping of drawknives and spokeshaves.
James Mursell
Learn how to choose and use these versatile shaping tools. As a Windsor chairmaker and spokeshave maker, I use a spokeshave more than any other tool. I have three: two straight shaves (large and small) and, for hollowing wood, the curved specialty shave called a travisher. My introduction to spokeshaves came at school where we…
Mario Rodriguez
Fine furniture calls for an elegant drawer. A master cabinetmaker shares his approach to design and fitting. There are just a few things my partner at Philadelphia Furniture Workshops, Alan Turner, and I don’t see eye-to-eye on. But how to make a good drawer isn’t one of them. When building furniture, we probably spend as…
American Woodworker Editors
Tool: Quick-Release Pock-It Hole Clamp Shop Now Manufacturer: Rockler MSRP: $25.99 Pocket hole joints are quick and easy to make. For some applications, such as face frames, they’re perfect. But if you’ve ever tried to assemble a face frame with narrow rails and closely spaced screws, you know that holding the pieces together can be…
Christopher Schwarz
Save on clamps with this traditional technique for panel glue-ups. A “spring joint” is a traditional method where you join the edges of two boards to make a wider panel and leave a tiny gap in the middle of the joint. The gap reduces the number of clamps you need to make the panel and…
When using my miter saw, I’ve found that the easiest way to sneak up on a line is to use a stack of sticky notes. First, set a stop block to cut your part slightly oversize (1/16″ is plenty). Attach a thin pile of sticky notes to the stop block, make a cut, and then…
Pop Wood Editors
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…
I recently built a chest of drawers with sliding-dovetail joinery. During assembly, I found that the fit was just a little too snug. Rather than trying to realign my router jig, I looked around for another solution. I needed something that could slip in along the dovetail. I decided to stick some sandpaper to a…
How do you support an uneven piece on the drill press? Make something that’s the opposite shape, of course. After making 60 of these knobs, I realized that the directions didn’t include any advice on drilling the holes for mounting them. My tablesaw was still angled at 15°—the same angle as the bevels on the…
Here’s a surefire method to ensure flat glue-ups. Use cauls, top and bottom, made from Unistrut. This steel channel is used for light-duty structural support in electrical and plumbing work. Sometimes called Superstrut, it’s available in the electrical department of many home centers in 10′ lengths. Glue plastic strips on the open side of the…
Tool: Magnetic Straightedge Shop Now Manufacturer: Lee Valley MSRP: $7.50 Don’t have a drafting table? Can’t draw freehand to save your life? Here’s a tool from Lee Valley that lets you easily make isometric shop sketches. The tool has two parts: a standard 12″ ruler with a matte finish and an innovative black straightedge. Seven…
Why you’re better off to look this gift horse in the mouth. There is a trap lurking within the pages of our magazine. It is also in most woodworking magazines, and many books. It is called the cutlist, and while it poses as your helpful friend, you’re better off to ignore it and make your…
Tools: A Visual Exploration of Implements & Devices in the Workshop If there’s one thing to be said about woodworkers, it’s that we’re old school and prefer to pick up a book (or a magazine). With that in mind, I’m thankful for the community of master woodworkers that put forth a great effort to put…
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