Make friends with this beautiful, versatile finish Recently I was asked to judge a woodworking show. One of the best pieces was a wonderfully constructed grandfather clock. Unfortunately, a quick brushing of polyurethane ruined the clock’s appearance. The clock’s creator said he chose polyurethane for protection. But how durable does a coating on a grandfather…

Even in wood finishing. One of my favorite songs back in the 1960s was Bob Dylan’s, The Times, They are A-Changin’. This theme applies today to what’s happening in wood finishing. It’s natural for us to believe that the way things ought to be are the way they were in our youth or young adulthood….

Take that special drawer or box to the next level. Flocking is a two-step process that involves spraying tiny fibrous particles onto an adhesive-coated surface. Imagine spray-on velvet. This is a great medium for sprucing-up the inside of jewelry boxes, decorations or signage. Types of Flock The brand of flock that I use personally is…

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….

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…

Methods that allow wood to move with the seasons. About a decade ago, I made a drop-leaf table for a book of projects. When it came time to mount the top, I just drilled pilot holes and drove cut nails through the top into the aprons. Are you horrified? Actually, the approach worked great. In…

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. I solved my dilemma with this planer sled that allows me to use my planer as jointer….

Board-Stretching Joint I bought a planer/molder so I could make my own moldings. My living room required one 28‘.-long molding, but all I had to make it were 12‘. boards. I didn’t want to settle for separate 12‘. molding sections mitered during installation. I wanted this molding to be one continuous piece. Joining the boards…

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…

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…

Tool: Dremel 4000 Buy Now Manufacturer: Dremel MSRP: $149 The Dremel 4000 was designed to be easier to use and longer lasting than previous models. It’s recommended for carving, engraving, routing, grinding, sanding, cutting, cleaning and polishing. The tool features a 1.5-amp, variable-speed motor that runs from 5,000 to 35,000 rpm. Replaceable motor brushes extend the motor’s…

Did you know that feeler fauges are not just for machinists or for checking and adjusting our steel and cast iron woodworking equipment? How do I know this? Because I recently found out that a set of feeler gauges can be very handy in setting up the exact amount of play (tolerance) that was needed…

Select a reliable tool with these simple tests. I can’t think of one project I’ve made that hasn’t involved using one or more of my combination squares. I use these to lay out joints and cuts, and to check cuts to confirm that they’re square (a test I perform on a scrap piece every time…

Setting the depth-of-cut on my circular saw was awkward at best before I made this handy gauge. It’s just a thick block of wood with 1/4″ wide slots cut at precise, incremental depths. I made the slots on the table saw. To set the depth-of-cut, I place the circular saw on the appropriate slot on the…

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…

Here’s a hi-tech way to set your tablesaw’s miter gauge to within 1/10 of 1° of any angle. It really works well for cutting picture-frame miters. The key is to use a digital angle gauge. I bought one designed for woodworkers that has as a handy magnetic base. For this degree of accuracy, you’ll also…

Venetian blinds purchased from a home center come in a variety of standard sizes. They are cut to the correct width by the retailer, but to adjust the height you remove a number of the slats at home. If you’re like me, you hold on to these extra slats because “someday you will find a…