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Megan Fitzpatrick
Tool: Ridgid 18-volt ‘Hyperdrive’ 18-gauge Brad Nailer Manufacturer: Ridgid MSRP: $199.99 (Without battery) If you’re working with access to electricity, it’s easy to plug in an air compressor and run a hose to a brad nailer. But if you’re working on a site with no electric, or your compressor hose is too short for the task, well,…
Article Index
Tool: Pack Rack Clamp & Storage System Manufacturer: Rockler MSRP: $199.99 Rockler’s mobile clamp rack, the Pack Rack Clamp & Storage System, is a sturdy and customizable rolling unit. The shining feature of this rack is mobility. And Rockler did not skimp when it added the high-quality polyurethane casters. Carriage bolts assemble the frame, so you’ll need…
American Woodworker Editors
Countersink first, drill the pilot hole second. That may sound backward, but it’s the easiest way to ensure a perfect countersink.
David Thiel
Leigh — known for accurate and clever joinery jigs — has a new box-joint jig for routers (for handheld use or on router tables). It’s designed to create 1⁄2″- and 3⁄4″-wide box joints and looks similar to other jigs, so I was ready to be under whelmed until I set it up and started checking out the features.
Popular Woodworking
Unlock your saw’s full potential. by Seth Keller The tablesaw’s power and precision put it at the center of everyone’s shop. Despite this honored position, a tablesaw is mostly used for mundane ripping tasks. To make better use of my tablesaw, I use these four simple jigs in my shop. They take advantage of…
Yoav Liberman
First a disclaimer: This is a recollection of impressions following the installation and test running of our new 6” Grizzly spiral Cutterhead jointer, that we bought at full price this fall. As many of you know, I teach woodworking at the Rudolf Steiner School in Manhattan. Our program is mainly geared towards hand tool work….
Tim Celeski
A Desktop size CNC at an Entry Level Price One of the questions I’m most often asked is “would you do a review of an affordable CNC?” Up to now, there’ve been few choices for woodworkers on tight budgets with small home shops. Here’s the thing: as woodworkers, we do pretty heavy duty work and…
Brendan Gaffney
Track saws are a favorite among on-site installers and carpenters, for breaking down sheet goods, trimming floors and other operations common on the job. Their portability and accuracy make them a godsend for contractors. Many woodworkers have a circular saw in their shop and use it for crosscutting, kerfing out large joinery or cuts where the tool…
We have all seen them: those chisel handles that have crumbled from years of use. Here’s how to easily restore those handles to their former glory.
A few weeks ago one of our remarkable 8th grade students approached me during class and with a sad face as he presented two pieces of steel that just a few moments earlier used to be a vintage socket chisel. He remorsefully said that the chisel broke while he was shaping a round tenon at…
Peter Follansbee
I started my woodworking career 40 years ago shaving ladderback chairs based on the methods of Jennie Alexander as outlined in Make a Chair from a Tree. Green wood, split from straight-grained logs, aligns perfectly with drawknife work.
A few weeks ago Veritas tools (Lee Valley) released their most recent plane. The squirrel-looking plane (there are actually two versions of it: a limited edition stainless steel, and a continuous production cast iron) is by far one of the smallest planes around.
When WoodRiver announced its new socket chisels, I was very intrigued. Price-wise, these chisels fall into the intermediate range – $35-$45 for an individual chisel (depending on size). I picked up a 1⁄2“ chisel and a 3⁄4“ chisel to put through the paces. The chisels are ground from 100 CR-V steel and tempered to a…
Tool: T4 Water Cooled Precision Sharpening System Manufacturer: Tormek MSRP: $415 I’m not usually a wet grinder kind of woman, because a dry grinder does the same work faster, then I move to waterstones to polish and hone. I might be a convert, however, when it comes to tools that are difficult to grind on a dry…
Tool: DEROS Manufacturer: Mirka MSRP: $625 Editor’s note: This review originally appeared in the April 2015 issue of Popular Woodworking. The tool is still available and just as great as ever though. I avoid sanding as much as possible – but sometimes it has to be done. Since early 2010, when we got a Mirka CEROS…
Tool: Veritas Trammel Points Manufacturer: Veritras MSRP: $29.50 These clever stainless steel trammel points (for scribing large arcs and circles) from Veritas work a little differently than my vintage set, which fit only on a fixed-sized beam. The narrow-bodied heads are open on one side, and can thus be attached to any flat piece of material up…
Christopher Schwarz
Tool: Stainless Steel Roubo Curves Manufacturer: Sterling Tool Works MSRP: $90 I like using French curves for laying out hyperbolas, ellipses and parabolas when designing furniture details. These curves are not static arcs – they are segments of the Euler spiral – and so the shapes they create have more spring and life. The typical set…
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