This live-edge coffee table is just the beginning of what you can build with a $20 doweling jig. Project #2302 • Skill Level: Beginner • Time: 4 Days • Cost: $400 This walnut coffee table is featured in my latest book, “Build More Stuff with Wood,” (see all the places you can purchase it here)…

A few tools can go a long way. When you get started in woodworking there are many paths to follow, forks in the road, dead-ends and shortcuts. It’s a journey that our forebears would make with the help of a living, breathing guide: a master, a grandfather, a shop teacher. Sadly, the guides are fewer…

With its quartersawn oak, and Arts & Crafts finish, this desk is sure to serve generations to come. Project #2417 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 5 Days • Cost: $450 The best thing about being a woodworker is the ability to make custom furniture for a particular spot in the home. Need a desk…

Brush up on your precision miters, and build this mid-century-inspired record player stand. Project #2416 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 3 Days • Cost: $250 I’ve always appreciated vinyl for its aesthetic qualities as much as the analog experience of putting a record on. Yet for some reason, my collection has always lived inside…

All it takes is a router and a bandsaw. You’ll only need two machines to make these Arts & Crafts style knobs: a bandsaw and a router table. Although the saw cuts can be done on a tablesaw; the bandsaw keeps the operation safe and simple. The router table work requires two bits: a 5/8-in….

The Windsor form survives trial by fire. The blaze started sometime after midnight. A weak spot in the chimney broke and glowing embers spilled out onto dry timbers. By the time the fire crew arrived and strung hoses from a nearby stream, it was all they could do to keep the adjoining barns and outbuildings…

This table design is reminiscent of suspension style bridges, and is easy to build in a weekend. Project #2413 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 2 Day • Cost: $150 I built the first of these “torsion tables” for my book “Making Elegant Custom Tables,” and it wasn’t until years later that I realized that…

All the flavors of walnut shine in this versatile storage and serving piece. Project #2313 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 60 hours • Cost: $1,000 My sister asked me to make a dining table and sideboard for her house. She was ready to move on from garage sale finds and inherited pieces that filled…

Waterlox is a mainstay for furniture makers. Follow these steps to get a deep glow, a buttery-smooth surface and unmatched protection.

Dramatic details showcase leaded glass and English style. Foreward: Nancy Hiller (1959-2022) Nancy Hiller was a trailblazing writer and furniture maker who lived fully in two worlds. That of a small-town furniture maker known for taking on difficult projects. And that of a forceful yet careful writer who inspired a generation of woodworkers to pick…

Arts & Crafts style and knockdown design team up for a winning combination. Imagine this attractive little table residing next to a comfortable chair, holding important items such as a cup of coffee and a book. Its shaped sides and wedged tenons create lots of visual appeal, it has a useful shelf and the construction…

As special as the treasures it will hold. An old, nearly disintegrated steamer trunk in my grandfather’s basement held forgotten treasure—letters, photos, and a hand-written recipe for figgy pudding from my grandmother’s early life on a Kansas farm during the depression. Not pirate’s gold, of course, but treasure to me, nonetheless. So, when a gentleman…

Seven solid joints comprise this sturdy custom storage unit. Bonus: View the SketchUp Model. There’s a backstory to this chimney-cupboard project. I had planned a week off to renovate the 6-1⁄2‘ x 8’ bathroom in my 110-year-old house (I was sure it wouldn’t take long – after all, I only had to gut it to…

Building a sculptured rocker starts with a coopered seat. Or as I call it, “The Big Smile Seat!” A Maloof style chair design (rocker, low back, or settee) represents some of the best in seating with extraordinary form and function. The entire chair’s flowing lines and gentle s-curves fit the sitter and the coopered seat…

Classic design elements combine to create a new design. Seven years ago I made my first piece of Greene & Greene-style furniture, a coffee table of my own design. It contained several elements the Greenes commonly used: cloudlifts and ebony pegs. As with many pieces inspired by their designs, it is somehow lacking. While their…

In some contemporary households, 17th-century style storage prevails. I once sold a chair to a woman who later told me how much she loved it. “I never let anyone sit in it!” she exclaimed, apparently to show me how special it was to her. I told her that was about the worst thing she could…

If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing excessively. There are many bookcases in my house, but they’re a motley collection – poor cousins to the rest of the furniture. The really nice bookcases I’ve made have gone to live with clients, while I have kept the prototypes and the also-rans. They are nicer than…

Coopered legs and tusk tenons build the structure of this beautiful hall table. Project #2310 • Skill Level: Beginner • Time: 3 Days • Cost: $150 During the start of the Covid pandemic and as things were shutting down, my wife, Jean, gave me a list of things to do, one of which was a…

A comfortable seat can make a big difference in your work. For a SketchUp model of the Windsor Shop Stool as illustrated in the article, click here. I designed this stool for a special purpose – making chairs. The stool places a chairmaker above the chair seat. This position is more comfortable when assembling the…

This 19th-century piece was designed to safeguard a then-precious commodity. Not so long ago, obtaining sugar wasn’t easy. It’s difficult to believe that the commodity we have in almost everything today was scarce and highly valued in the early part of the 19th century. During those days well-to-do patrons required somewhere to store this sweet…

Minor adjustments typically beat a hatchet job. I knew a guy who didn’t shave or cut his hair for 12 months at a time. On day 365 he looked like the wild man from Borneo. On day 366 (or day 1 of the next cycle), he would show up at work shaven and shiny like…

Bold oak and classic craftsman style make this arm chair a joy to build. When finished, it’s sure to become your favorite seat in the house. Project #2402 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 3 Days • Cost: $250 Want to build the matching ottoman? Check out the plans here: Eastwood Ottoman Popularized by the…

This trusted servant—an ideal project for using some of the nicer pieces in your scrap bin—will present a stylish and functional addition to your home. Project #2320 • Skill Level: Beginner • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $65 A long-time admirer of Tage Frid’s work, I have an attraction to Danish furniture style and design. So,…

Build accurate replicas of a classic design Having built the Mission oak dining table that appeared in American Woodworker (Dec/Jan 2009, issue 139), my next project was to build chairs to go with it. A friend had a vintage set that I admired, and she graciously loaned me a couple chairs (one with arms, one…

This mahogany Arts & Crafts desk chair exemplifies furniture as art. Most woodworkers are familiar with Arts & Crafts designers William Morris, Gustav Stickley and Charles and Henry Greene. But Charles Rohlfs’ inspiring work is a bit less well-known. Rohlfs, trained as a designer and draftsman, spent his early years designing iron stoves and dabbling…

An anachronism in its time, this table now fits perfectly in our homes. Frank Lloyd Wright would probably be dismayed to see a coffee table built in his Prairie furniture style. In fact he and his fellow early 20th-century designers all would have been disturbed by the concept of a coffee table. Eating or drinking…

This classic Stickley ottoman oozes Craftsman style, but don’t let its simple form fool you—it packs in some great woodworking.  Project #2221 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 4 Days • Cost: $150 Named for a neighborhood in Syracuse, New York, this Gustav Stickley footstool design was an instant favorite. Originally sold with a massive Eastwood…

Art Nouveau meets Arts & Crafts in this oval-topped piece. Although he died in poverty, the Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s furniture now sells for tens of thousands of dollars at auction. Part of the appeal of his work comes from the sheer variety of his designs, which range in style from Art Nouveau to…

Build this timeless chair with modern methods. When I was 17 years old, my family had an old craftsman style armchair that we’d inherited years earlier. It was an antique chair with solid bones but badly in need of refinishing. It had all the right details, from the through tenons in the armrests to the…

Turned drops and legs, arches, and serpentine stretchers typify this ornate 17th-century style. When someone uses the term “period furniture,” we think most often of the Queen Anne, Chippendale and Federal genres. Certainly these have been the most influential styles in Western furniture-making history. But there have been other periods worthy of our attention, among…

Simply change the ‘drawer’ and finish to change the look of this easy piece. The first step in building this contemporary side table is to go shopping for the basket that serves as a drawer – then adjust the plans as necessary to fit your choice. The one shown here is an 11″-deep, 7″-tall, 17″-long…

Harvest green wood saplings, bend ’em, nail ’em and sit yourself down. You can make a pretty good case for bending and attaching green wood sticks as the second oldest wood-furniture making method (after sitting on a log). Today, this type of furniture is labeled “rustic,” so exposed nails, screws, and other hardware are acceptable…

Uncomplicated construction and an easy, attractive finish make this table tops.

We improve a contemporary design to make it sturdier, a bit curvier and easier to build. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the August 2005 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. It was about 1 a.m., and I was at the grocery on a bleary-eyed run to buy orange juice for the family’s breakfast. The…

A simple case is elevated by a unique leg design and elegant suspension. Project #2203 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $150 This was a real project of growth for me. I’ve written before about my woodworking journey being defined by life functionality over my desire to create interesting things. Even my first…

Knowing the techniques will help you, even if you aren’t doing the sewing yourself. For a woodworker, upholstery can be intimidating. It’s hard to know what you want, until you can clearly explain the finer points. Even if you have no intention of doing the actual upholstery work yourself, it’s helpful to familiarize yourself with…

This modified design builds off a classic Morris chair. Inspiration for the next project can come from many sources, but for me, all it took was a trip to an antique furniture dealer. Legacy Modern is a boutique dealer in Portland, OR specializing in arts and crafts furniture, and they happened to have an original…

Dust-Free Display and No Hinges to Mount! Glass doors make a bookcase, but doors that swing on hinges are a pain to install. Ditto for doors that lift open and slide back—on a Barrister’s bookcase, for example. Regular sliding doors are much easier to install. In addition, they’re ideal for a bookcase designed to fit…

If you recall, a few weeks ago, I wrote about the unexpected repair job I performed on one of our newly bought solid mahogany chairs (read parts one and two here). What I didn’t expect is that I would have to revisit one of our misfortunate chairs on such short notice – yet again.  This…

A Game of Thrones inspired coffee table meets a tragic (and ironic) end.

From the Popular Woodworking premium video archives, Christopher Schwarz shows you how to build a simple pine bookcase using only hand tools. Watch: Preparing Rough Stock Download: Boarded Bookshelf PDF

A furniture maker visits the Pleasant Hill, Ky., community and unearths a fair number of surprises (nails!) about Shaker joinery. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the December 2005 issue of Popular Woodworking. If you’re planning to stay at the restored Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Ky., I have some advice: At dawn, after…

Use this simple, strong method for constructing kitchen cabinets and other built-ins. Editor’s note: Nancy Hiller passed away on August 29th, 2022 after a long battle with cancer. In honor of her memory, we will be sharing some of our favorite contributions from her over the years. This article was originally published in the October…

Impossible? No. Impossibly easy. If architect and furniture designer Alvar Aalto (Finland, 1898-1976) is considered to be one of the founding fathers of modern design, then Eileen Gray (Ireland, 1878-1976), who shared his profession and time on Earth, must be a founding mother. For my ribbon table, I borrowed design elements from his sensuous bentwood…

Through teaching, this master craftsman’s work lives on. Learn more about the work and influence of Tage Frid.

A chairmaker explains his fascination with the ancient art of blacksmithing and being able to make his own woodworking tools. It was April of 1986, and I’d just arrived at a craft show up a long dirt road, an hour’s drive into the redwood-covered mountains of Northern California. I was setting up my treadle lathe…

Shaker furniture is known for it’s clean, simple lines and quality construction. There’s been no shortage of Shaker woodworking projects in the pages of Popular Woodworking over the years, and We’ve gathered five of our favorite ones for woodworkers of all levels. To see the full project instructions, simply click on the slideshow image. Any…

One afternoon – start to finish – is all it takes, even for a new woodworker. This may be the easiest (and coolest) table you’ll ever build. If mid-20th century modern furniture design were as popular as the Arts & Crafts style is today, then thousands of these tables would be turning up for sale…

While simple to build, the details present a worthy challenge. While teaching a class at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, I was asked to sneak down to the Connecticut Historical Society to take a look around. At the museum, I was shown into a back room full of off-exhibit furniture. Halfway down the first…

This simple credenza is perfect for storing your extra dishes and linens. The seamless case features routed joints reinforced with floating tenons as well as easy lock miter drawers.

Combine five 2x4s, a handful of screws and a long afternoon to build a handsome and sturdy sitting spot for your deck or garden. My father always has had a knack for doing more with less. He built the first house on our farm using a Skil saw, a drill and a hammer. Sometime during…

This versatile router joint is perfect for production work. When I need to batch out a bunch of drawer boxes, I use a lock miter router bit. Not only does this bit create a joint with a clean, mitered look on the outside, but the profile of the bit gives the drawer a good mechanical…

We redesigned this classic with techniques so simple even a novice can build it! Project #1918 • Skill Level: Beginner • Time: 3 days Almost everyone likes the look of barrister bookcases. But what makes them so appealing? I think there are a number of characteristics that make the barrister design popular and enduring. First…

Designing sag-proof shelves. Have you ever heard a shelf groan? Well, maybe not, but some shelves look like they would if they could. So much stuff gets piled on them that they end up sagging like a limp noodle. It’s not a pretty sight. A span that holds up weight should look strong and sturdy….

You needn’t rely on ready-made patterns to design good-looking gams. Legs with engaging, flowing three-dimensional curves can add immeasurably to the aesthetic success of such pieces as tables, stands and chests. In this article, using the legs for a small floating-top table as an example, I’ll show a practical method for producing such legs, and…

A master craftsman’s method for making perfectly spaced drawers. I made this dresser for a client whose father designed and built similar furniture back in the 1950s. Its grid system is very modern looking, but getting all the spacing just right requires an old-fashioned, methodical approach to ensure that the case is square each step…

Find a piece with great design, such as this Stickley No. 79 bookcase, then make adjustments to the construction to better match your skill set.

This intriguing utilitarian design is at home most anywhere. As a curious designer I often find myself frequenting estate sales, online auctions and even local antique stores in search of oddities and relics of the past. This exercise affords me the opportunity to be exploratory in my quest for inspiration and has become a practice…

This walnut table features simple router inlay and can be easily built during a long weekend.

A simple table saw technique levels four legs in no time flat. Rock-n-roll. That’s what four-legged pieces have a habit of doing – even with perfect joinery and a careful and unhurried assembly. Even with all the care and attention you paid to building it correctly, it doesn’t sit flat on your floor but moves…

Two tones of color and sharp, square edges give this piece modern flair. Inspired by a design in the February 2008 issue of the German magazine Selbst, this “I Can Do That” project commenced (as always) with a pilgrimage to the home center, where I picked up four 6′ 1x12s and one 6′ 1×6 of…

Our staff offers simple, strong and fast ways to make this important furniture component. In woodworking magazines, books and plans there’s almost always an omission that’s big enough to drive a truck through: How to build the drawers for the project. Usually the woodworking author (always well-intended, I can assure you) writes instructions such as:…

How to build a strong bookcase without a back. When I’m designing furniture, I often turn to the Arts and Crafts era for inspiration. I love this style. It’s simple, but elegant. When a client commissioned me to build a small bookcase, I knew exactly what to start  with: a photograph of a piece built…

Two classic joints build a beautiful utility piece PROJECT #2103 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 1 week • Cost: $200 As we’ve settled into our fully working from home routine, one thing has become clear: sitting all day, without the prompts to head to a different office for a meeting, run out to lunch…

When it comes to the history of woodworking, period furniture styles, and woodworking techniques, most woodworkers think about William and Mary, Queen Anne, Federal, Chippendale, and so on. It is arguable, however, that furniture as we know it would not be the same without Chinese furniture, and that studying Chinese furniture leads to lessons about…

Learn the tricks to making sturdy furniture that folds flat. For those with mechanical minds, building furniture that folds into small spaces is great fun. Not only does the piece have to look good and serve its ultimate function as a bookcase, chair, or bed, it also has to collapse into the tiniest form possible….

As much as this piece is a homage to Shaker design, it is also quietly a love letter to both hand tools and shared shops. Project #2113 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 10 • Days Cost: $500 Online extras: Glue-Up Tips for The Shaker Sewing Table • Cutlist and Layout PDF I work in…

This simple seat is ideal for a hallway or porch. This project is inspired by a period choir bench in my mom’s dining room – but I modernized the Gothic revival design of the original with sweeping curves on the arms (instead of shelter arms), and left out the moulding and cutouts. Panel Glueup This…

Project #1923 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 1 Week • Cost: $250 I’m not a fan of period furniture from England. The English emphasis on the horizontal conflicts with the American emphasis on the aspiring vertical that I find so appealing in period furniture built in this country. But, of course, there are exceptions,…

Creative thinking and dirt-simple jigs make the joinery a straightforward task. Full-Size Plan:  Download I tend to think of Chippendale chairs as highly ornate. But there are startlingly simple examples of the style as well. After encountering some of the simpler versions of these chairs, I became fascinated. I love the interplay of curves and angles,…

It’s just as comfortable as it looks. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of American Woodworker  There it was–an Adirondack loveseat–sitting right on the deck of the Tin Fish, a restaurant overlooking Lake Calhoun in the heart of Minneapolis, my hometown. I’d been thinking of building one for years, but…

The planters and bench are separate parts—arrange them as you wish. Smell the flowers. Touch the leaves. It’s easy to enjoy plants when they’re placed at a convenient height—and easier still when you can sit right next to them. Sitting on a planter bench brings nature close to hand.    While you can make this…

Steve Shanesy builds an improved Adirondack chair with Norm Abram in The New Yankee Workshop. Build the chair and learn how Abram works. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the August 2005 issue of Popular Woodworking  I’ve become keenly aware throughout the years that patience allows time for opportunities to come along that might…

Simple joinery allows (time to add) cool design details. I like traditional joinery, and I enjoy working with hand tools. But I also like completing a project without having it drag on because the joinery is labor intensive. This table has all the earmarks of a traditional heirloom: beautiful hardwood, classic proportions and solid construction….

Angles and an artful inlay set this Arts & Crafts-inspired design apart. I’ve been fascinated by interesting little tabouret tables lately, and it seems the more complicated the design, the more I’m intrigued. Tapered sides, angled joinery, and curved shapes all tend to invite the eye for a closer look. This small side table is…

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…

Clear finish updates the look of this classic design. This modified Shaker design, downsized from a set of creamery shelves, is adapted from a Shaker Workshops catalog. To ensure our 3⁄4“-stock would  not bow under the weight of even the heaviest items, we decided to make these shelf pieces a bit shorter than those you’ll…

Recreated from a photograph and measurements, this design feels both modern and timeless. One of the things I have come to admire as a furniture designer-maker is the timelessness of works created long before us. I am continually impressed by the works’ latent ability to establish a perpetual necessity within the lives its users. It’s…

Years ago I discovered Federal furniture and knew that with beautiful veneer, superb inlay and simple carving, this would be my furniture period of choice. Federal furniture has much to offer woodworkers. In addition to the traditional joinery, there is veneering, inlay (stringing, banding as well as pictorial), reeding, curved work and some carving. Initially…

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…

Lightweight, folding and portable, this chair is so simple to make you’ll want a pair – or more.  I’ve always disliked the Adirondack chair and have never understood its popularity. I find it uncomfortable because the human frame does not bend at right angles and also, because it neither folds nor stacks, it’s an awkward…

This classic design is at home in settings both rustic and modern. PROJECT #2007 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 4 days • Cost: $500 My home is a 150-year-old farmhouse situated in the middle of Cincinnati, Ohio. When it came time to tackle the renovation of the dining room, we decided on a dining…

This wall hung magazine rack is easy to make with a few simple tools and readily available material.

Ladders form the base of this knockdown desk —     simple steps to a higher education in woodworking. Editor’s Note: Hunter Lang was a high school senior when he completed this article for Popular Woodworking in 2009. I’m in the midst of preparing for college, so I need a desk that is functional but…

With simple lines and straightforward joinery, this project yields ample shelf space (and drawers to boot). This large case-on-case shelving unit is adapted from similar pieces I’ve seen in private libraries and in stately homes. I also dug up a few pictures from the Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction sites, where the form is referred to…

Simple joinery serves this sophisticated geometric design. Mid-century modern design is enjoying a surge in popularity, and rightly so: Its clean lines and functional design make it practical and attractive, two traits evident in this bookcase by an unknown designer. Its stark, geometric design shows modern roots while giving it a strong graphic presence. And…

Curves, angles and comfort – this piece will have you sitting pretty. I’ve always found making something simple yet refined to be more work than it seems. I suspect that the slat-back chair doesn’t exactly look simple to build if you’re not a chairmaker. But it is relatively simple in the world of chairs, and…

At the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan, world-renowned woodworker Tak Yoshino creates custom, handcrafted chairs that promote proper and healthy posture through the practice of Zen. As a result of his chairs receiving worldwide acclaim and an increasing number of woodworkers learning Japanese carpentry from Tak, he is currently building a woodworking school with…

Designer Enzo Mari gave the world this design (and many others). But are they worth building? When my grandparents married before World War II, they bought a dining room set that cost several months of my grandfather’s salary as a paper salesman. At that table, Popo and Grandma raised my father and uncle. And our…

Add GFRC to your furniture-making arsenal. I’ve always loved aircraft-inspired design. There’s just something about an everyday item inspired by a plane that evokes a sense of wanderlust in me, and I wanted to make a piece of furniture that had that aircraft feel. This concrete and walnut “wing” table is the result. Before I…

Use the power of the sliding dovetail. PROJECT #2002 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 5 days • Cost: $500 The Shakers were a Protestant sect of English Quakers that immigrated to the U.S. in 1774. They founded largely self-sufficient communities from Maine to Kentucky and lived by the three guiding principles of honesty, utility,…

A tapered (not turned) post sets this stand apart from contemporaries. I have a thing for candle stands. These small tables are quick to make, don’t require a lot of material to build, and are useful furniture to own. They make for excellent bedside tables, end tables and work well as a standalone piece, too….

Attractive lines, a comfortable seat and some lathe work provide the foundation for for this Shinto-inspired bar stools.

Build a modern workspace with just a single sheet of plywood. Project #2012 • Skill Level: Beginner • Time: 1 day • Cost: $150 Creating your own space seems to be a rite of passage for most first-time homebuyers. Albeit, its often easy to become disillusioned, overzealous and even unrealistic about the amount of work…

Restrained elegance in an American classic. Someday in your woodworking career, you’ll want to reach for the sky. Maybe you’ll have an urge to make an ambitious piece of your own design, or perhaps you’ll prefer to walk in the shoes of cabinetmakers who have gone before and build an American classic. If you love…

Build a rock-solid cabinet from one sheet of plywood. Your state-of-the-art TV deserves something better than a flimsy flat-pack shelving unit from the big box store. This handsome display stand features sturdy construction, storage for CDs and plenty of room for cable, gaming and sound-system components. It’s even designed to hide the cord clutter that’s…

Chairmaking requires its own unique tools and skillset. It may be daunting, but building a Windsor chair opens up a whole new world within woodworking. Here’s how to do it.

This rare and timeless silhouette is updated for contemporary use. When our youngest went off to kindergarten, my wife took on freelance copy-editing and needed a work station. An executive-size desk would not fit in out compact Chicago apartment, but this classic drop front, originally designed by Arts & Crafts master Charles Limbert, only needed…

Add a new dimension to your work with a few basic skills and an inexpensive machine. Woodworkers are joining the welding renaissance that’s happening among makers. Understanding the fundamentals of welding is key when you begin welding. Here’s how to incorporate beautiful welded frames into your furniture using simple designs and just a few tools….

Why liquid hide glue should be your first choice as an adhesive. Since the beginnings of civilization up until World War II, most pieces of furniture were assembled using animal-based glues. That fact changed almost overnight in the 20th century, however, with the introduction of polyvinyl acetate (PVA), what we call yellow or white glue….

This slender table maximizes minimal space. My family recently left our sprawling farmhouse for a compact ranch. We left our farmhouse-sized stuff too, and now we need new furniture. This little console table, under 4′ wide and just more than 1′ deep, fits nicely below a wall-mounted TV to maximize floor space, and the removable…

Conquer some fun joinery challenges with this geometric Baillie Scott build. As soon as I saw Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott’s 1901 occasional table on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, I knew I had to make one. Baillie Scott (1865-1945) was an architect at the forefront of the Arts & Crafts…

Build a standing desk tailored to your body. I designed this compact stand-up desk to meet a prescription from my doctor to be less sedentary. “Sitting is the new smoking,” I was admonished. It was also to give me a challenge: to create a project start to finish almost entirely within the realm of pre-industrial…

Create sultry sophistication with Art Deco details. Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann (1879-1933) is considered by craftspeople, collectors and designers to be the premier Art Deco furniture maker; he was called “Art Deco’s greatest artist” by The New York Times in 2009. All the fuss is for good reason. This French designer’s work is characterized by the skillful…

This stool builds your skills with eight different joints and bent laminations. Competition is the whetstone of talent; this was in full effect when I built this Wharton Esherick-inspired stool for an online shop stool build-off hosted by Flair Woodworks. It was the perfect opportunity to try out a design that had been floating around…

Design without compromise: An exercise in high-end handwork. Sometimes a cup of tea is more than a cup of tea. Its surface may be still, its color translucent and its container unadorned. But in a single sip of hot water, you can taste the time of year the leaves were harvested, the sun that touched…

Once you understand ‘resultant’ angles, sawbenches (and chairs) are easy. Most first-time chairmakers are intimidated by the compound joinery used to fasten all the legs, stretchers, spindles and arms. The truth is, it can be quite complicated if you try to figure out everything using trigonometry. But if you take some lessons from other chairmakers…

This handsome piece is simple to build and easily adapted to fit your stock. A friend asked me to design and build a table using a special piece of walnut. I was given approximate measurements, but everything else was up to me. I love the freedom these types of projects offer. While the table would…

This early form – an aumbry – spawned many different types of furniture. It is easy to forget that many of our favorite pieces of furniture are recent innovations. Forms such as coffee tables, bookcases and desks are – archaeologically speaking – new objects brought on by incredible modern wealth. When you cast your eye…

An 18th-century chairmaker’s saw makes 21st-century work easier The graveyard of obscure and forgotten tools is large, densely packed and many layers deep. Many of these tools richly deserve their pauper’s burial. But once in a while you come across a tool that does things that are quite remarkable, and you wonder why it ever…

Mortise-and-tenon joinery and side-hung drawers make for a simple but impressive build. Early in my career I met an avid antiques collector whose focus was objects from the William & Mary period. Like many people, my first reaction was, “That stuff with those big, ugly ball feet?” Under his guidance I began studying various periods…

A simple approach to a sublime design. I’ve been enamored of Greene & Greene furniture since my early days of woodworking, well before I possessed the skills to produce such a piece. Since that time, this style has become a regular part of my woodworking vocabulary, and I enjoy making reproductions and interpretations of classic…

Though not as lightweight as an eReader, this portable library is far more stylish. Bookcases that fold up like a clamshell were common among British travelers of the 19th century. Soldiers, students, clerks and the clergy were all fond of this easy way to take a library with them anywhere in the world. This version…

Top this sleek design with patterned veneer – it’s much easier than it looks. All over the country, mid-century designs, with their sleek surfaces and clean lines, are turning up in high-style interiors. Here’s a simple table that’s perfect for any modern interior setting. It employs loose-tenon joinery and a veneering technique I introduced years…

Stylish legs and a dapper door dress up a simple case piece – and help to deceive the eye. This design is inspired by a taper, but I needed to establish the right proportions to flesh the idea out. In much of my design work, I hover around the safe ground of a 3:5 or…

Make Boxes to fit your books – and your space The typical bookcase is a good example of poor design. We make them that way because that’s the way we’ve always made them; almost every plan you see is 12″ deep, yet few books require that much space. Most bookcases are heavy and a pain…

This antebellum free black man was the most successful cabinetmaker in North Carolina. My introduction to Thomas Day came in 1998 on a shopping trip to High Point, N.C., for a bed. I stumbled across a reproduction of an antique piece that had soaring mahogany posts supporting a tester that authoritatively defined the space that…

A modern approach to joinery yields perfect miters. Project #2009 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 3 days • Cost: $250 I have a definite affinity for Mid-Century furniture. There’s just something about those refined forms with clean lines and angles that really get me. When it came time to build a cabinet for my…

This classic furniture piece offers lots of storage in a small footprint – and it’s a simple hand-tool build I need some additional storage space in my 7′ x 13′ shop, however, space in my shop is at a premium. At the moment, every inch of floor and wall space is occupied, except for a…

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson commissioned Benjamin Randolph, a Philadelphia cabinetmaker, to build a compact lap desk to serve as a portable office. This small mahogany box, now prominently displayed at Monticello, Jefferson’s hilltop home near Charlottesville, Virginia, has become one of the most famous wooden artifacts in American history. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence…

This reproduction of an industrial workhorse will give you years of use in your living room. At the turn-of-the-century, no factory existed without several industrial carts (also known as trucks) at its disposal. From hauling lumber to carrying crankshafts to serving city ice, these workhorses served many functions. Today, many of these antique carts have…

The first time I encountered this table in the White Water Shaker collection, it was locked in a storeroom with more than a dozen other pieces. To my eye, there was something unusual about it. Was it the size? It’s 25″ high – a bit shorter than typical. Was it the single drawer surrounded by…

  Construction lumber dressed up for display. For sturdy, attractive and affordable material to build these shelves, bypass the fancy stuff at the front of your local home center and head for the back where they keep the lumber intended for use as rafters and floor joists. In my neighborhood the available wood is Southern…

Small tables are useful just about anywhere in the home. They can be easy to build, but a good design is important. To make the design more interesting, tapered legs (often part of Shaker, country and Federal furniture) are part of this design. The taper begins below the aprons and continues on a slope until…

  A little geometry and a simple prototype ensure a pleasant ride. I recently set out to design and build a new rocking chair. I’ve designed and built a handful of rockers, but my past efforts didn’t rock as well as I would have liked. I have confidence in my ability to make a comfortable…

  A clever design yields portable functionality. My father-in-law gave me a table just like this one on our last trip to Portugal. He picked it up in Serra de Monchique, a small mountain village in the Algarve in the southern part of the country. He has a good eye for design, and knew I…

Expand your casework repertoire with a curvaceous front. One of the most interesting aspects of a serpentine chest, with its front concave at the ends and convex in the center, is how the wood grain changes as the curves undulate across the front. A drawer front that begins as a piece of flat stock presents…

My Uncle Bob was a butcher—not the woodworking kind people joke about, but the real thing. In his off hours, he used to switch blades and put his meat-cutting bandsaw to work as a woodworking tool. You won’t find any of his stuff in the Museum of Modern Art, but you will find one of…

Though not traditional, router patterns make quick work of the inlay. In southeastern Pennsylvania, just northwest of Philadelphia, is Chester County. It was one of the original three counties formed by William Penn in 1682, under a charter signed by King Charles II. In 1729, a large portion of the western county was split off…

This simple modular shelf offers plenty of options for reconfiguration. Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the December 2012 issue of Popular Woodworking. One symptom of my pervasive early 20s restlessness is that I regularly overhaul my apartment, completely rearranging the furniture and décor once a month or so. It’s not so much that…

Steam-bending or bent laminations can be used to make this eye-catching design. The design of this table is part of a series that I revisit from time to time. The original concept for the series was based on a pinwheel (a common example of which is a child’s pinwheel on a stick that blows in…

Three variations on a carved foot offer high style. Access to information provides the modern woodworker with greater variety, and it challenges their skills more than their 18th-century counterparts. When we consider how fashion-conscious both producers and consumers were in the 1700s, it’s truly amazing to think how quickly the word spread of stylistic changes…

Expose your joinery skills with this Arts & Crafts classic. In the early 1900s, furniture maker Gustav Stickley began producing a unique style of furniture that he called “Craftsman.” At the time, the world was coming into the modern industrial age, and Stickley, among others, began to question the value of mass-produced furniture and its…

Campaign-style furniture is as sturdy and simple as Shaker. It is as masculine as Arts & Crafts. And it is free of adornment, like Bauhaus pieces. Yet many woodworkers are unaware of this furniture style, which was popular for more than 150 years in Great Britain, its colonies and North America. Perhaps the problem is…

This North Carolina beauty exemplifies the style of the early South. I don’t consider myself a furniture snob, but until recently, I’d not studied furniture from the South beyond pieces featured in “Southern Furniture 1680-1830: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection” by Ronald L. Hurst and Johnathan Prown (Colonial Williamsburg). After spending a few days combing through…

This small coffee table is a great introduction to building furniture. It doesn’t require much material and it’s an opportunity to develop your skills. This project is sturdy, attractive and easy to build. All of the parts come from standard widths of lumber. I used poplar from my local home center, and I made the…

Learning to work with veneers and curves enables you to design and build almost anything. This bow-front entry table serves as a good introduction to both – without costing a small fortune or requiring you to attempt an overly intimidating project. Veneer introduces to you to a world of beautiful grain patterns and species that…

Gerrit Rietveld’s simple design for a lounge chair is a great platform for exploring ergonomics. PROJECT #2005 • Skill Level:Beginner • Time: 4 hours • Cost: $50 Gerrit Rietveld was a Dutch furniture designer and architect that worked in the first half of the 20th century. Part of the De Stijl art movement, Rietveld’s furniture…

Many interesting pieces of furniture are deceptively simple. Deceptive, because although they appear simple, they are actually very difficult to make. Although this is occasionally true in my own work, that’s not the case with the Arch Table, a piece that looks more complicated to make than it actually is. I’m not saying it’s easy;…

As the old saying goes, sometimes you have to learn to walk before you can run. That’s certainly been true in my career as a cabinetmaker: I’ve tried to learn the basics on small projects, where I could afford to make mistakes, before tackling the really ambitious work that I’ve had my heart set on…

Remember Lincoln Logs? When I was a kid, my friends and I spent hours building cabins and forts with them. Lincoln Logs locked together, one on top of another, just like the real deal. They were my first introduction to wood joinery. While playing with them, I must have learned something that stuck with me…

Unique because of its appearance and easy to build because it’s constructed using basic woodworking techniques, this two-part cabinet provides copious storage and signals the work—and the shop—of a true craftsman. The two cabinets share the same features and joinery, so building them simultaneously offers economy when milling the parts. But either cabinet would make…

Coffee tables didn’t exist as a furniture form until the 1920s  (when they were known as cocktail tables). So while there is no true Shaker coffee table, I needed a table to put in front of my couch that would work well with the other Shaker-influenced furniture in my living room. And to my mind,…

Video: Watch Bob’s table saw techniques for cutting the drawer finger joints. I designed this buffet cabinet a couple years ago for a weekend seminar on Arts & Crafts joinery. After the class I added a 3-D model to the Popular Woodworking Magazine online SketchUp collection. It was an easy way to provide detailed plans…

Recreate this classic design and push your skills to the next level. Project #2004 • Skill Level: Advanced • Time: 3 days • Cost: $400 Of all the surviving Charles Limbert designs, there are three that stand out above the rest in my mind. One is the #355 Cottage Bookcase, and the second is the…

Back in the 1950s, traditional cabinetmakers in Scandinavian workshops produced sleek, powerful furniture using modern materials and modest machines. This project pays homage to those exciting days of Mid-century modern furniture. I designed the Metropolitan Console to function as an end table or a nightstand. Its low profile, streamlined design and light color fits well…

Thomas Jefferson’s book boxes became the foundation of the Library of Congress. I like to think of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library as America’s first “bookmobile.” When the British burned down the nation’s capitol in 1814, the inferno took with it many of the books owned by the government of our young nation. Lucky for us,…

There’s something special about a small table with a round top—it invites intimacy. When I sit at one, I stop and savor warm memories of lingering with my wife in a quiet café or bistro years ago. The task of making a round top can break that spell, however: it ain’t easy. Well, it could…

Pattern routing makes quick and easy work of these urn-shaped sides. Click here for the SketchUp model of this project. While vacuuming a few weeks back, I was thinking about what to build for this issue’s “I Can Do That” project when it hit me … actually, when I hit it with my vacuum. I’ve…

Sit up straight. Or lean back and relax. This Gustav Stickley Morris chair is an icon of American furniture design with exposed joinery and solid quartersawn white oak. Reproduce an Arts & Crafts classic and reward yourself with the ultimate easy chair. In Gustav Stickley’s book Craftsman Homes, there is a picture of this chair…

While visiting with chairmaker Bob Erickson (pictured above with his son Tor), it seems appropriate to ask, “What chair are you sitting in right now?” He explains it’s an unfinished Van Muyden chair part of a dining room set he’s building for a client in New York City. Bob’s Van Muyden Chair—three-legged, crafted of quilted…

Have you ever heard of a “faldstool?” You’ve probably seen one in a movie that’s set in Medieval or Renaissance times—it’s the distinctive portable chair that a nobleman or Bishop sits on, the one with curved legs and arms that looks like it would fold together. The oldest faldstools really did fold up, which makes…

I’m a boot guy. I wear work boots pretty much every day I spend in my shop—and as a hard-working professional cabinetmaker, that can often be six days a week. I’ve got three pairs of well-worn Carhartts to cycle through, plus a pair of hiking boots. They’ve been cluttering up my hallway for years, but…

If you can cut a lap joint, you can make this bench. PROJECT #2001 • Skill Level:Beginner • Time: 2 Days • Cost: $100 When I started woodworking, it was driven by necessity; I needed something that didn’t exist, so I made it. My woodworking was also driven by a desire to spend my time…

Extra-large finger joints add a distinctive touch to any project. Every woodworker is going to ask, “How did you do that?” Most finger joints are pretty small in scale and easy to cut on a tablesaw or router table. But what if you want really, really big finger joints? Can you imagine making accurate cuts…

Curved-front drawers add a touch of grace and liveliness to a cabinet. But if you’re not set up to re-saw wide stock into thin, uniform laminations, you’re sunk, right? Wrong. You can use thin plywood instead of re-sawn hardwood, so the biggest obstacle is out of the way before you start! Build the Drawer, On…

Spine and rib construction is key to this design. Project #1924 • Skill Level: Intermediate • Time: 4 Days • Cost: $200 Thanks to advanced design tools, an entirely new category of modern architectural details, furniture design and art has emerged. Named after the specialty software tools used to create it, it’s called parametric design….

Turn a closet into a hiding place with a basic bookcase, trimmed to match the room. The alluring nature of secret rooms has captivated my imagination for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my mind would race with possibilities, as I’d watch someone unlock a bookcase by tilting a book or some other…

I moved to Kentucky/Cincinnati on July 1st, and by the 15th of the month, I was already starting out on building the furniture for my new house here. Josselyn (my partner) and I had committed to leaving behind the cheap, second-hand furniture we had bought since leaving college years ago, and in doing so, arrived…

Yoav Liberman and his student Lisa put the finishing touches on a unique live edge desk.

Is there life after running your own professional furniture shop? Absolutely, says Russell Gale in Part 2 of my series on different kinds of furniture makers.

Slab, or live-edge furniture is all the rage, and I like it! If you think wood is one of the most amazing things ever created, then how can you not like a piece of furniture that retains so much of the look of natural wood? The grain on full display and the undulations and imperfections…

A trip to a professional upholstery shop yields valuable lessons in prototyping furniture and more.

See the completed burl slab coffee table, plus learn how Yoav and his student Helder ensured this highly irregular table stays level.

How do you differentiate between varieties of furnituremakers? Here’s the preliminary take on how I do.

Yoav Liberman and his student Helder design and construct a coffee table out of a particularly intriguing burl slab.

Learn how to make through dovetails step by step and improve your overall hand tool skills.

We’ve come a long way from cabins in the woods and 18th Century dwellings. Part of that transition is the mental shift of thinking of furniture as part of our wealth and property…

I haven’t given much thought to the culture of paying dues until a few recent occasions, when I’ve been struck by how this dimension of woodworking culture—at least, the culture of professional furniture and cabinetmaking, outside the art furniture world—has changed.

Things have changed enormously for woodworkers over the last 40 years. Here are a few examples, with less visible ones coming next week.

Get an inside look at the legendary contemporary and mid-century designs featured in the Boyd Collection at Chicago’s Wright auction house.

Last July I returned to Peters Valley School of Crafts to teach a six day-long class in live edge furniture making. Live edge, aka Natural Edge, is one of my most beloved wood mediums.

Meet the artists from the December 2017 issue How five masterful makers integrate CNC and CAD technology into their woodworking In the December 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking magazine, the article, Digital Artistry gives the readers a peek at what five professional woodworkers are doing with digital tools in their shops. Each has an extensive…

Meet the artists from the December 2017 issue How five masterful makers integrate CNC and CAD technology into their woodworking. In the December 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking magazine, the article, Digital Artistry gives the readers a peek at what five professional woodworkers are doing with digital tools in their shops. Each has an extensive…

One of the unique pieces built during my weekend workshop at Snow Farm was a live edge coffee table. Lisa’s “Cape Cod coffee table” began as a 1” cross cut of a cherry tree that showed an attractive burl, intriguing insects cavities and some natural cracks. Our plan was first to fill the imperfection with…

Curvy furniture is great to look at and usually offers a tactile aesthetic that makes it appealing. Holding it all together is the joinery – and whether it’s dovetails, tenons or lap joinery, creating that joinery on a curve adds a new level of complication. Whether made by hand or by machine, most of our training on…

Award-winning inspiration from the 2017 competition. Read the article in its entirety. Article: To see all of this year’s entries, go to the entry page here. From the November 2017 issue, #235 Grand Prize The grand prize goes to Al Spicer for his demilune (half-moon) marquetry table, featuring on its top a flowering morning glory vine…

I came across David Thomas Brown’s coffee table build on Reddit last week and thought it was a great build. If you spot a build that has great photography and solid technique, send me an email! – David Lyell I remember the glory days of unlimited garage/driveway space and access to my dad’s tools that…

When Josselyn and I moved out here to Covington, I refused to do two things. For one, I wasn’t going to bring some of the beater furniture that had been following us around since college. And two, I didn’t want to buy any cheap furniture when we got here, with the plan of replacing it. This led to…

When I lived in Maine, I had a wide array of projects and furniture that I wanted to build for our house. When it became clear, however, that we were going to move down here to Covington, Ky., I put the designs and wood aside, not wanting to build a bunch of furniture only to…

Traditional chairmaking starts with a shaving horse and a drawknife. Used with both green and dried wood, woodworkers have relied on these two tools for centuries. Simple to use, there are just a few things to be aware of before getting to work. In this short video, Windsor chairmaker Elia Bizzarri gives a valuable overview…

One of the challenges when building a chair is clamping the dang thing down so you can work on it. I’ve seen lots of solutions that use band clamps. But I dislike band clamps (perhaps I had a bad experience at band camp). So here’s what I do. Most workholding problems can be solved with…

When you make a table it’s fairly straightforward. Four legs (or some variation thereof) and a top. Not too hard. If you choose to splay the legs, then you’ve added some geometry and math to the process…and that’s why you see a lot of tables with straight legs! If you build a chair with straight…

Stretch and enhance your creative skills by learning how to design your own furniture. Professional furniture maker Aaron Fedarko shares his expert design instruction to help you achieve success.

I recently found myself with that most fortunate of situations – a whole day in the shop. I knew exactly what I wanted to do: get some furniture projects finished. I had three waiting for the right moment to apply the final touches. The first of them was a simple nailed board chest. I found…

You can’t use this wood as it is. You’ve got to do some selective cutting first and then dry out the wood before making furniture with it.

Editor’s note: The measured drawings for the Risom coffee table in this article by Michael Crow are similar to the shop drawings included in Crow’s new book, “Mid-Century Modern Furniture.” The book presents shop drawings and techniques for creating 29 projects designed by some of the era’s foremost designers, including Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl, George Nelson…

Before you read beyond the first few sentences of this blog entry, there a couple things you should know: I have no problems sharpening a drawknife. Never have (except that time in the 1990s where I ended in the ER for seven stitches). One of the first tools I inherited from my grandfather was his…

This article is excerpted and abridged from the Winter 2010 issue of Woodwork Magazine. Lost in thought, I stood in the grocery store checkout line, with the design for a table desk on my mind. To be frank, I was frustrated with my design efforts in general, because they were bounded by rules that were…

Is Greene & Greene actually a part of the Arts & Crafts Movement? Lately, there has been discussion that would bring this into question. It is undeniable that their work was highly refined and stands apart from the other makers of the era. So, is it possible they were simply lumped together with their contemporaries…

Two-Part Bookcase Here’s a big bookcase that you can build in a small shop. By Tom Caspar Building a tall bookcase can stretch the limits of a small shop.We all know that big boards can be a bear to handle and glue up, so I’ve taken an old Scandinavian design and sliced it up into…

Butterfly Inlay Make a perfect fit with a shop-made template. By Tom Caspar Don’t you just love it when something that looks extremely difficult turns out to be oh-so easy? Making butterfly inlay with a plunge router is a good example. The technique is very easy to learn. All it takes is a set of…

Pedestal Picnic Table One day in the shop and you’re ready to party! By Jean Bartholome If you’re looking for a picnic table that’s simple to build but looks great on your deck or patio, here’s the design for you. Its pedestal support ensures that no one can complain about “having the leg.” The round…

Steam Bent Music Stand “Learning to bend wood with steam takes practice, just like playing an instrument.” By Seth Keller Bending wood with steam always intrigued me, but I never tried it. The process seemed mysterious, complicated and maybe even dangerous. But one day a beat-up old music stand motivated me to give steam bending a…

The Unsinkable Molly Brown's Parlor Table This little charmer folds flat, then sets up in seconds. By Tim Johnson This table is an accurate reproduction of one purchased by Molly Brown and her husband in the late 1880s, when they were starting their family in the rough mining town of Leadville, Colorado. It easily disassembles…

Trophy Coffee Table Stunning Beauty Right from the Tree By Dave Munkittrick Big planks of wood with natural bark edges make my heart race. Most woodworkers share a desire to build something from a single, thick plank of wood. After 20 years of building custom cabinets and furniture, I finally got my chance. The first…

Beautiful Boulle Work A masterpiece of inlaid intricacy begins with a sandwich of brass, sheet, wood veneer and waxed paper. By Silas Kopf “Plus c’a change, plus c’est la même chose.” This centuries-old French expression translates something like this: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” It’s a bit of wisdom that…

Classic Country Hutch American style and classic hardwood create a timeless treasure By Tim Johnson Tall and stately, this cupboard promises to be the focal point of any dining area. A functional wonder, it combines elegant display with spacious storage. For you as a builder, though, this cupboard is loaded with something quite different: advanced…

All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better. – Ralph Waldo Emerson You know what the Telephone Game is, right?  One person starts by whispering a phrase into the next person’s ear and that person whispers what they heard to the next person and this continues down the line.  By the time the…

Mario Rodriguez of the Philadelphia Furniture Workshop has an article in our August 2013 issue that shows you how to build a clever table saw jig he uses to carve the chair seat for his contemporary chairs; it’s a jig he first encountered two decades ago in a book by Robert Marquis, “Making the Classic…

  No matter what your political bent, you’ll want to check out the latest episode of Charles Brock’s The Highland Woodworker, which Popular Woodworking proudly sponsors, and watch as he visits former President Jimmy Carter. Chuck gets and an up-close look at the Moulthrop bowls and Sam Maloof furniture President Carter keeps in his office….

Congratulations (and belated good wishes) to Ralph S. Wilkes, who in April celebrated his 100th birthday. Mr. Wilkes wrote for Popular Woodworking (and other woodworking magazines) in the mid-1990s, after retiring from Keuka College in Keuka Park, N.Y., where for 35 years he was a business manager and treasurer. He now lives in Canandaigua, N.Y.,…

Selecting "Best of Show" awards at the San Diego "Design in Wood" exhibition on behalf of Woodwork and American Woodwork was a challenge. As I described in my last blog, the process for choosing the winner in the Furniture category was made somewhat easier because at least all the contenders were furniture…and there were only…

Because chairs take abuse like a rented mule, the simple mortise-and-tenon joint is sometimes not enough. In traditional Windsor chair construction, the legs and spindles are attached to the plank seat using tenons that are cone-shaped along their lengths. So the mortises have to be the same shape. These tapered joints are clever. The more…

Gluing and clamping angled assemblies – like most chairs – can be a hassle. There are some great strategies for approaching glue-ups, angled and otherwise, in various books including “Glue and Clamps,” but sometimes it just comes down to having the right tool for the job at hand. For years I fought with K-Body or…

Where is the craftsmanship line crossed between between handwork, machine work, and machine work driven by computers? Or, is there a line at all? I certainly don’t know the answer. But I was thinking about the question recently after my son sent an e-mail to me with a link to a video. The message was…

Old styles of furniture can still speak to us loud and clear today. The Queen Anne style, popular in America from 1725 to 1760, is an elegant language of flowing lines and reverse curves. This footstool is a small-scale example of a very elaborate style. If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at cabriole…

Show Case View your treasures from every angle. By Luke Hartle Any collection you want to display, from fish fossils to Baccarat crystal will look great inside this cabinet. It allows unobstructed viewing from the front because the doors are on the sides. The doors themselves are frameless glass to maximize the side views. Inside,…

St. Croix Valley Chairs Enjoy your setting while comfortably sitting. By Tim Johnson Stylish and comfortable, these chairs are also built to last. Made of rot-resistant white oak, with robust joinery secured with weatherproof glue, they’re guaranteed to become some of your garden’s most cherished perennials.  We’ve engineered the building process so you’ll be able…

Frame & Panel Hope Chest Mortise and Tenon Joinery the Easy Way by Tom Caspar I used to struggle with mortise and tenon joinery. I tried every new system that came along, but they all seemed way too complicated. One day a friend of a friend walked into my shop, said “Throw away those fancy…

Mission Blanket Chest If you love Mission-style furniture, here’s the perfect complement to your bedroom. By Tom Caspar Store blankets, bedding and memories inside this huge chest. Three frames and a plywood back make up its basic structure, and all the other parts are added on, one by one, so building it is about as…

Sliding Dovetail Bench Super-strong router joints give it elegant simplicity. By Tim Johnson This elegant bench has humble origins: Its forebears have been sat upon, stepped on and dragged about for centuries. Utilitarian ancestry is readily apparent in our bench. It features simple construction and strong interlocking joints.  The pieces fit together like a puzzle,…

Barbara's Table A small amount of fabulous wood can go a long way. By Tom Caspar Surprise! My wife loved this table because I designed it just for her. It’s beautiful, versatile and with time-saving biscuits and dowels, it only took me a few weekends to build. It’s a great project. You may also like……

I’m gearing up to build a run of Roorkhee Chairs for some customers and (fingers crossed) this magazine. But before I can even order the wood I had to do something I thought I’d never do again: Buy a piece of commercial furniture. The Roorkhee Chair is a seminal piece of British campaign furniture and…

Restore an Antique Oak Table Thoughtful finishing and new leaves prepare this classic for the next 100 years. By Kevin Southwick Purchase the complete version of this woodworking technique story from AWBookstore.com. This old table looks like a prime candidate for refinishing. Strip off the old finish, sand out all the dings and scratches, spray…

Display Cabinet Open sides and built-in lights showcase your treasures. By Randy Johnson Some cabinets are all about displaying the beauty of wood. This cabinet, with its glass doors, shelves and sides and built-in lighting, is all about displaying what’s inside. Whether it’s your collection of antique tools or fine porcelain, whatever you put inside…

As CNCs become increasingly common in small woodshops, an amazing variety of work is emerging. This confirms the technical versatility of CNCs, it’s an even greater testimony to the creativity and ingenuity of woodworkers, designers and artists alike. The following projects are but a sampling. To see more, follow the web links in this article….

“Two DVD’s + Book + Full-Size Patterns + Online Support = Success!

Shaker Sewing Cabinet Machine-cut dovetails add a new twist. By Tom Caspar You can find a place for every conceivable sewing notion in this Shaker-inspired chest of drawers. Mix 'n' match modular trays fi t perfectly in the middle drawers. Store patterns or magazines in the large lower drawer. There’s enough compartments for a complete…

Stowaway Bench This bench will fit in any entryway, and store your umbrella and gloves too! By Jon Stumbras This country-style bench will cut the clutter by the door and serve as a resting spot to put on your shoes. The lid opens up to reveal a handy storage area. At only 11-in. wide by…

Greene and Greene-Style Hall Table ?Exquisite detailing turns ordinary into extraordinary. By Bruce Kieffer People just love this wonderful little table with its soft-colored mahogany, ebony accents and finger-jointed drawer. The spectacular detailing is characteristic of furniture designed by Charles and Henry Greene. The Greene brothers were prominent architects and furniture designers in Pasadena, Calif.,…

Dovetailed Bookcase No screws, no nails—tapered sliding dovetails hold it all together. By Luke Hartle Simple, beautiful, strong. This bookcase is just six boards held together using one elegant joint: the tapered sliding dovetail. Dovetails join the shelves to the sides and the sides to the top. This joint has a well-deserved reputation for being…

Two-Part Bookcase Here's a big bookcase that you can build in a small shop. By Tom Caspar Building a tall bookcase can stretch the limits of a small shop. We all know that big boards can be a bear to handle and glue up, so I’ve taken an old Scandinavian design and sliced it up…

Early American furniture has been widely studied, but through a narrow lens. Typical museum pieces seen today were not found in typical homes, and there

Bow-Front Bookcase Sleek, gentle curves make it easy to look at. “Sandwich” construction and simple joinery make it easy to build. By Randy Johnson This bookcase combines straightforward joinery and materials in a design that won’t overwhelm your budget or your room. Yet its deep shelves provide plenty of room for oversize books or a…

Mission Bookstand Display your scrapbooks, photo albums and woodworking skills. By Tom Caspar Woodworkers like to see how things work, right out in the open. We love looking at gears, levers and cams, and when it comes to furniture, there’s nothing more fascinating than exposed joints, like dovetails and wedged tenons. This bookstand is held…

Stickley-Style Sideboard A masterpiece in Arts and Crafts style By Tim Johnson and Bruce Kieffer This sideboard is a reproduction of one that originally appeared in Gustav Stickley’s 1912 Craftsman Furniture Catalog as piece No. 8141⁄2. The cost was $50. It was factory produced, at a time when woodworking as a hobby was virtually unknown….

Limbert Table A slick bandsaw jig makes it straightforward to build. By Jon Stumbras and Tom Caspar Bold design, strong joints and graceful cutouts.These are hallmarks of the Arts and Crafts furniture made by the Charles P. Limbert Company of Holland, Michigan. In 1910, Limbert designed a large oval library table that’s become an icon…

Greene and Greene-Style Side Table By Tim Johnson Why make an ordinary table when you can make this elegant one instead? The difference is in the details. That’s the genius behind the furniture of Charles and Henry Greene, California architects and furniture designers active during the first quarter of the 20th century. Through thoughtfully designed…

Cottage Bookcase Reclaimed Douglas fir gives rustic charm. By David Radtke Every board of this bookcase is full of character—nail holes, gouges and even hammer marks. That’s because each piece was pulled from an old Montgomery Ward warehouse in Baltimore. Originally part of a large shelving system built more than 75 years ago, our reclaimed…

Modular Desk System Mix-and-match components make a desk that fits your needs. By Bruce Kieffer Download this Modular Desk System Project with complete plans and step-by-step instructions from AWBookstore.com. This computer-desk system has more going for it than great looks. The system is based on modular components that can be assembled in a variety of…

“(Chairs) are too hard. Chairmakers are doomed to poverty.” — Gary Bennett (1934 – ) furniture maker and artist If I were a full-time chairmaker, I don’t think I’d be doomed to poverty. Instead, I’d be doomed to starvation – or taking a job as an assistant baby chicken sexer. But I do like me…

Our latest CD collection, “The 100 Best Shelving & Storage Projects,” is on sale now at ShopWoodworking.com for the introductory offer of $15.99 through August 31 (regular price: $19.99). For this collection, we looked through all the issues of Popular Woodworking from the last 12 years, and all our issues of Woodworking Magazine, to select…

Modern Mission Cabinet Simple jigs create stylish joints. By Tim Johnson My dog’s energetic tail inspired this cabinet. Anything within wagging range was endangered, including a number of my favorite antique toys. After one-too-many near misses, I decided to move these small treasures to safety—above the wag line and behind glass. The cabinet I built…

Grand Walnut Bookcase Rich Walnut, elegant details and secret storage in a design that’s fast and straight forward to build By Randy Johnson Sometimes a new piece of furniture conjures up images from a distant time and place. This bookcase, I imagine, would fit right into an early 20th-century lawyer’s office, filled with leather-bound volumes…

Shaker Stand By Tim Johnson Though it looks modern, the original version of this three-legged stand was built almost two hundred years ago in a Shaker community. Simple, purposeful and elegant, this stand is an outstanding example of Shaker design. Like the Shakers, we’ve embraced simplicity and innovation in our version of this timeless American…

Stickley Style Chest of Drawers Build a masterpiece with handsome quartersawn oak. By Randy Johnson This striking chest of drawers is closely modeled after one of Gustav Stickley’s most famous designs. Both bold and graceful, the wide overhanging top, slightly bowed legs and arched apron of Stickley’s chest show the strong influence of his brilliant…

Café Table Transform rugged Australian jarrah into a graceful outdoor table. By Tom Caspar Picture yourself at a small, round café table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. The world goes by along a busy boulevard. People are hurrying about their business, but you’re an island of calm in a crazy world. Although…

Hefty Bookends Resaw your own veneer to hide the steel shot inside. Got a small chunk of figured wood that you’d like to show off? Resaw it into thick veneers and make a pair of matching bookends. They’re laminated to conceal holes filled with steel shot. Although these blocks look light, they’re actually heavy enough…

Cantilevered Display Shelves Strong, glueless joints support these elegant, cantilevered shelves. By Dave Munkittrick Whatever you collect—rocks, porcelain, folk art or photos of your Schnauzer—it’ll get the attention it deserves when displayed on these shelves. The simple design is wide open at the front and sides so nothing interferes with what’s on display. The stepped…

Walnut Wall Shelves Versatile go-anywhere shelves to hold books, discs, kitchenware, or anything you want! By Jon Stumbras Never enough shelf space where you want it? This little shelf is a great way to add extra storage in just about any room. It’s compact—only 22-3/4-in. wide by 31-1/4-in. tall by 9-1/4-in. deep. Yet it’s tall…

Shaker Table A perfect blend of classic lines and modern joinery. By Tom Caspar When I first saw a drawing of this table 20 years ago in a book by Thomas Moser, I knew I had to make it (see Sources, below). It perfectly captures the essence of classic Shaker design. Taut, lean and elegant,…

Shaker Trestle Table Graceful bent-laminated feet are super-strong. By Chris Cander This modern interpretation of a Shaker communal table appeals to furniture maker Mark Love’s customers because of its elegant simplicity, ample legroom, and the fact that it’s easy to clean under. But Mark loves to build it because of the feet. “Making these feet…

Cherry Pie Safe This versatile classic goes together fast with biscuits. By Dave Munkittrick and Bruce Kieffer Pie safes like this one were once commonplace. The pierced-tin panels kept insects out while providing ventilation for cooling baked goods. Our version is built of solid cherry with a simple, modified-Shaker style that blends easily into most…

Cantilevered Display Shelves Strong, glueless joints support these elegant, cantilevered shelves. By Dave Munkittrick Whatever you collect—rocks, porcelain, folk art or photos of your Schnauzer—it’ll get the attention it deserves when displayed on these shelves. The simple design is wide open at the front and sides so nothing interferes with what’s on display. The stepped…

Television Cabinet Hide the electronics behind ingenious double-hinged doors by Dave Munkittrick I love my new 36-in. TV but my wife hates what the glass and plastic monolith does to the look and feel of our family room. To avoid marital strife we went looking for something to house the behemoth. No luck. Sounds like…

Home Theater Modular construction and a knockdown TV cabinet allow this home theater to be built even in a small shop. By Dave Munkittrick At first glance, a project of this scale may seem impossible for anyone other than a professional with all the tools and plenty of room. But take a closer look. The…

Walnut Entertainment Center A 19th-century wardrobe fills a 21st-century need   An antique wardrobe from a 19th-century German settlement in Iowa was the inspiration for this piece. Its most striking element is a radiused cove that gently curves around the corners giving it an air of stately elegance. Its structure is simple yet solid and…

Weave Traditional Chair Seats Traditional techniques and modern materials produce attractive, durable results. by Tim Johnson Visit any antique or second-hand furniture store and you’ll find great old chairs—such as these solid cherry ladderbacks—that are bargain priced because their woven seats have worn out. In fact, any chair with round rails or dowels used to…

This is a model of a set of stacking bookcases featured as the “I Can Do That” project in the June 2011 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. Project design, construction and SketchUp model by executive editor Robert W. Lang.

  Café Table Transform rugged Australian jarrah into a graceful outdoor table. by Tom Caspar Picture yourself at a small, round café table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. The world goes by along a busy boulevard. People are hurrying about their business, but you’re an island of calm in a crazy world….

Those of you who’ve been reading our Editors’ Blog for more than a week or so know that I like cats (3.75 of ’em in my house). And books (thousands). So, when a Facebook friend posted this video on my “wall,” I immediately went in search of more information. This may well be the most…

This is straight from André Roubo’s “L’Art Du Menuisier” in the section on oscillating spindle sanders. True, the spindle sander shown in plate 322 is treadle-powered, and the menuisiers shown are wearing frilly shirts and tights, but other than that, it’s stone-cold André. When I make arm bows for chairs, I struggle with getting the…

I must get off my hinder and start beavering on these two Welsh stick chairs I’m making for a friend. The arm bows are bent, the seats are glued up and…that’s all I got. Until this moment, the excuse for my lethargy was that I was waiting for the arm bows to dry while they…

This is a model of a reproduction Gustav Stickley side table.

This is a model of a knock-down bookcase.

This small Shaker style table is perfect as an end table or as a nightstand.

Grand Walnut Bookcase Rich Walnut, elegant details and secret storage in a design that’s fast and straight forward to build by Randy Johnson Sometimes a new piece of furniture conjures up images from a distant time and place. This bookcase, I imagine, would fit right into an early 20th-century lawyer’s office, filled with leather-bound volumes…

I’ve been working on a coffee table build for what seems like years. Now that I’m in the closing stages, I went back to look at the first photos I took; that was in mid-October of last year. But I’m finally nearing the end of the project. The drawers are finished and fit; the top…

For years I owned pick-up trucks or SUVs so I could move wood and projects around town with ease. But I never liked their poor gas mileage. Oh who am I kidding; pickups don’t go fast enough for me, or have a decent sport suspension. Now I drive a two-door Acura RSX (yes, it’s the…

Today we’re taking the cover photo for the June 2011 issue, stacking bookcases based on the reproductions at Monticello. Last night, these bookcases were loaded up with about half of my woodworking library. (Yup, half. That’s my kids’ inheritance.) Today we spent the morning removing many of my woodworking books and replacing them with books…

Turned Post Bed By Tim Johnson Here’s how to maintain a positive attitude the next time you hear the phrase “Honey, would you please make the bed?”  Forget about the sheets and pillowcases. Head down to the workshop, glue up some timbers and make this bed! It’s a big project that’ll wear you out, but…

Contemporary Bookcase Fresh, clean lines, simple, strong construction, and a design you can modify to fit any room. By Randy Johnson The credo of many great 20th century architects was “Form Follows Function.” And for this bookcase, it certainly does. The strong shelves are supported in a straightforward fashion by equally strong uprights. No decoration, no superfluous details,…

Arts & Crafts furniture builders offered a decent variety of pieces at the beginning of the 1900’s, but coffee tables weren’t on the list. But if Frank Lloyd Wright had given it a try, we think it might look like this.

To make the rabbets on which the glasses of the upper doors will rest on, I’ll be using this rabbeting bit. The bearing will follow the lower shoulder of the groove while the cutters will cut the upper shoulder to form the rabbets.     Standard bits cut 3/8’’ wide by 1/2’’ deep rabbets. Since…

All the rails being cut, now let’s fine tune them.     I fine tune each tenon with this small shopmade tool that I call Poor Man Shoulder Plane. To learn more about this tool, clic here.     The expected result is a joint that dry, supports itself.     The dry assembly and the…

After making the groove on the first rail I think about adding a featherboard to keep workpieces against the rip fence to obtain consistency on the grooves and the shoulders.     Here are the completed on the four rails and the four stiles.     I’m glad about the fact that I thought of…

  This is a first sanding session of the rails and the stiles. At this step I can make it easier by clamping them. As shown, I align them with a mallet and a block of wood.     The pad prevents from any slipping and I sand using 100-grit to 150-grit sandpaper for now….