Mid-century Coffee Table
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 [...]
Matching The Color Of A Finish
One of the most challenging tasks in wood finishing is matching the color of an existing object, color swatch or photo in a magazine. Most people try to accomplish this with just a stain, but it [...]
Diablo General Purpose & Crosscut Finish Blades
Tool: D1040X and D1090X Manufacturer: Diablo In recent years, Freud’s Diablo brand has become synonymous with high quality, high tech, reasonably priced circular saw blades; these new blades [...]
Illusion Cabinet
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 [...]
The Butterfly Horse
Whether I’m working in the shop, remodeling or performing routine maintenance around the house, I am in constant need of a sturdy, lightweight worktable. The most popular one for, oh, the past [...]
Prize Rabbet Plane
Tool: Bevel-Up Jack Rabbet Plane Manufacturer: Veritas MSRP: $329.00 Specialty planes have a special place in my shop. They’re good for the soul. I use them when I want to turn off the [...]
Wooden Bar Clamp
I saw stars the last time I dropped a bar clamp on my foot. Then I saw the light, in the form of a wooden handscrew. I’d been making my own handscrews—wood threads and all—for years. Why [...]
My American Shop
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the April/May 2013 issue of American Woodworker When I came to America eight years ago, I was able to get a work permit and a job at LA [...]
An Ideal Joint for Small Drawers
When you slide open a small drawer that fits nice and tight, it’s a pleasure to see well-crafted joints. Small, handcut dovetails answer well, but sawing and chopping them requires a lot [...]
Chucks and Chucking
For many woodturning operations, a chuck performs the essential job of holding the work securely and safely. These operations often present unique requirements, so a dizzying array of [...]
Set-up / Sanding Combo
Tool: Table Saw Setup and Sanding Disks Manufacturer: Infinity MSRP: $29.90 This tablesaw set-up/sanding kit from Infinity really hits the mark for me. As I’ve noted in the past, a tool [...]
Inside Job
Inside Job While building kitchen cabinets, I purposefully chose straight-grained lumber for the doors’ stiles and rails and bought expensive, highly-figured boards to make the panels. In [...]