I have a meager collection of handplanes made up of mostly dog-meat users. I like using planes that have history because it’s fun to think about what each might have made during the last 100 years. None of my planes are particularly nice, but I do want to keep them from getting destroyed. For a…

On my most recent project I needed an elliptical arc. Although my arc conforms to the Golden Ratio (1:1.62), the method I use works for an ellipse of any proportion. Determine the overall size of the ellipse you need and cut a piece of pattern material large enough to encompass it. Next, draw vertical and…

Sawing tenons by hand is tricky business, requiring good eyes, a steady hand and lots of practice. Even so, the tenon’s cheeks are usually uneven after sawing and need to be trued. I’ve often used a rabbet plane to do this, but things can go bad in a hurry. You can easily end up with…

Whenever I work on a project, I end up with my handsaws scattered about the shop. I thought about storing them under my bench, but my bad back keeps me from being able to easily bend down, so it was sometimes difficult to tell which saw I was grabbing. Putting the saw back into my…

I was looking for a safer way to use my trim router for everyday chores around the shop. My solution was to build a router table that hangs off the end of my bench on a French cleat. When I’m not using the router table, I store it under the end of the bench on…

Old wooden planes are usually coated with a layer of grime that obscures their true beauty. I clean them using a homemade solution that removes the dirt and grease without damaging the wood’s patina. It’s made from common ingredients. Make the solution from 1 part boiled linseed oil, 1 part Murphy’s Oil Soap and 2…

Close your eyes and picture it: your entire shop organized, a place for every tool, never struggling to find your cardscraper when you need it, and a stress-free day of woodworking. Sound like a dream? Not anymore! Finally get your shop organized just the way you want it. Swing-Out Plywood Storage I was looking for…

Some objects aren’t easy to hold for drilling. When I run into a situation like this, I use a wooden-jawed handscrew that has sandpaper glued to one side of it, so it doesn’t move around. You can use either adhesive-backed sandpaper or spray an adhesive on regular sandpaper.  

When your hands aren’t strong or large enough to put the last squeeze on a big clamp, try clamping the clamp. My ingenious wife, who has very small hands, invented this solution. She works in my shop too, and the grips on some of the clamps are just too large for her to get good…

Think of it almost like a DIY track saw. Crosscutting a full sheet of plywood on a tablesaw is pretty difficult, particularly when you don’t have any help. I use a circular saw and this shop-made edge guide, instead. The cuts aren’t finish quality, of course, but at least I end up with smaller pieces…

Every little bit helps when trying to keep your shop and tools clean. That’s why we’ve compiled some of our favorite tips all in one place. Mobile Suction My dust collector, though pieced-together, is the perfect solution for my one-car garage shop. I use a cyclone separator and 5-gallon bucket in conjunction with my shop…

When using a sharpening stone to hone the flat side of handplane irons or scraper plane blades, it can be difficult to grip the metal. Take an old knob off a handplane and glue or epoxy a rare earth magnet into the bottom screw hole. The magnet grabs the iron, and the comfort of the…