Cut perfect circles up to 4′ across! Have you ever tried to cut a circle on a bandsaw, freehand? It’s quick, but it sure isn’t exact. Dollars to doughnuts you’ll get flat spots or bumps [...]
Not everyone’s ready to tackle hand-cut dovetails. Here’s how to get the most from your router and jig. Dovetails are prime joints. Long history, great appearance and cachet. Used in boxes, [...]
Cut mortises of any width and length in stock of virtually any size. Here’s a win-win proposition: Spend a day in your shop and turn your drill press into a mortising machine. This fixture makes [...]
I use lots of wedges in my shop, sometimes as disposable clamp pads for tricky glue-ups or for general shimming chores. Sometimes they’re incorporated into a project, as when making wedged [...]
Most of the time, the end vise on my workbench is more than adequate to secure workpieces between bench dogs. Occasionally, though, I need to work with thin wood at the front edge of the bench [...]
I don’t have a lathe, so when I need to make a cylindrical part, I do it by hand. Using this holding device, I can easily turn a square piece into a round piece using a hand plane—and you can, …
Tool: Original Cabinet Hardware Jig Shop Now Manufacturer: True Position Tools MSRP: $199 Installing cabinet pulls can be a bit daunting. It’s usually one of the last steps in the process, [...]
I re-sharpen disposable planer blades a few times, using a shop-made jig, before tossing the blades away. I use a set of three diamond hones to sharpen the blade at an angle 5° higher than the [...]
Welcome to my home shop. It’s fairly small — about 14×24 and located in our finished basement. It houses my collection of hand tools, lathe, table saw, router table, drill press, band [...]
Simple to advanced methods for precisely duplicating parts. No other method for shaping is as fast or efficient as template routing. It works like this: the part to be shaped is fastened to the [...]
A few weeks ago I talked about the shop-built cross-cutting square that helps me achieve quality right angle cuts on solid lumber. This week I am going to show how I am using a few inexpensive [...]