Archives

I use a hand plane to remove milling marks, even on pieces that are 1/8″ thick or less. To hold the work, I made a stop whose top is only 1/32″ thick. When I’m planing wood [...]

Assembling furniture with dozens of Allen-head fasteners is no fun if all you have is a standard Allen key. Faced with one of these jobs, I sped up the process by using a mechanic’s socket [...]

Hacksaw blades ganged together make a really useful file, one that can be as wide or narrow as you wish. The blades may be full length or half-length. (Use a rotary tool to cut them in half). To [...]

Breezy Bandsawing Reasoning that I’d only be cutting small stuff in my basement shop, I parked my bandsaw diagonally in a corner. Then I decided to make one of those arched-top garden arbors. My [...]

Finishing the plugs for covering screw holes is a pain. When you run a brush or rag over them after they’re installed, they’ll probably cause the finish to run or drip. Finishing them [...]

I’ve had trouble making square and smooth edges on face frame parts, but this planer jig solved all my problems. It produces accurate and consistent results. For the jig’s base, cut T-slots in a [...]

My finishing turntable is perfect for spraying large parts or projects. To make the device, I mounted five fixed 3-1/2” casters on a plywood panel. They’re equally spaced in a 16” diameter [...]

Trimming small parts on a table saw using a miter gauge can be a little nerve wracking. In order to trim small parts safely, I mounted a handscrew to a piece of plywood. First I trimmed the [...]

About 30 years ago, my girlfriend led me to a dark, cluttered basement workshop to meet a sweet, 70-ish gem of a man: her grandfather, Hayes. He was surrounded by a lifetime’s collection of [...]

My lathe tool rack is based on a fishing rod rack that I made some time ago. Made from 3/4-in.-thick walnut, it measures 3-1/8-in. by 10-in. by 30- in. I made the matching front and back tool [...]

My bandsaw’s blade-tensioning system used to be wobbly and difficult to turn. Instead of shelling out for a quick-release lever, I came up with this simple, inexpensive fix. To stabilize [...]

Adding a hold-down to my shop-made crosscut sled makes the sled easier and safer to use. My parts don’t slip and my fingers are far from the blade because I don’t have to hold the workpiece. The [...]