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I like to use carpenter’s pencils until they’re worn down to stubs. Stubs aren’t very handy, though–they’re hard to dig out of a pocket. To solve this problem, I gathered up all [...]

A mobile workbench is handy in a small shop, until you want it to stand still! After outfitting my bench with casters, I found that their locks didn’t prevent the bench from wiggling. My [...]

After hooking up my new dust collector to my contractor’s saw, I found that it just didn’t pull as much air as I’d like, even after sealing up the most obvious leaks. After further inspection, I [...]

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 vacuum. For easy mobility, [...]

How do you know when your miter gauge is set exactly at 90°? Here’s a method I learned years ago, before I could afford a precision square to check the cut. You’ll need a 24″ [...]

With sweat equity and a few simple tools, you can split strong, stable stock. Though sawn lumber was available to 17th- and 18th-century European woodworkers in Colonial America, many American [...]

While turning wooden pens, students in my woodshop classes kept wearing out the points on the live centers of our mini lathes. The points fit into the hollowed end of the pen mandrel. If the [...]

I buy glue in gallon jugs and, having tried about every glue bottle on the market, I thought I would never find the perfect one. My search ended while washing dishes with my wife one evening.  [...]

I made my own try square using a 1″ x 4″ corner mending plate and a couple scrap pieces of hardwood. To make one yourself, first check the mending plate to be sure it’s square. If [...]

Make your own light-duty one-handed workholding wonders. Like most workshops, mine is well-populated with spring clamps, the ubiquitous tool for applying localized pressure with one hand while [...]

Bench grips are handy for holding parts above the bench for routing, sanding or finishing.  To make them, just cut some wood and rubber shelf liner into 2″ to 3″ squares. Glue the [...]

I own several routers and they all have thin wrenches that are awkward to hold. To avoid frustration, I made the handles thicker by housing them in transparent plastic tubing from the hardware [...]