When your hands aren’t strong or large enough to put the last squeeze on a big clamp, try clamping the clamp. My ingenious wife, who has very small hands, invented this solution. She works [...]
Think of it almost like a DIY track saw. Crosscutting a full sheet of plywood on a tablesaw is pretty difficult, particularly when you don’t have any help. I use a circular saw and this [...]
Every little bit helps when trying to keep your shop and tools clean. That’s why we’ve compiled some of our favorite tips all in one place. Mobile Suction My dust collector, though [...]
1. Lubricate a Bandsaw Blade It’s safe and easy to cut brass and aluminum with a bandsaw and a regular woodworking blade. Using a miter gauge, you can make a very straight cut. Be sure to [...]
I had to crosscut narrow strips to make a cutting board. The boards were too wide for my miter saw, so I decided to use my tablesaw’s crosscut sled. I tried a standard stop, but after a few [...]
An accurate inside measurement is sometimes difficult to obtain. For example, I needed to take a measurement behind a cabinet’s face frame to fit a new shelf. Typically, most people would [...]
Rare earth magnets set in a steel cup are perfect for all sorts of uses around the shop, but have you ever had to remove one? Once they’re in the cup, the magnets are practically impossible [...]
Monitoring the level of dust in your bin is a pain. You have to remove the lid and look, which isn’t easy. If you forget or put it off, dust will back up into the collector’s main [...]
Featherboards are an important accessory, providing both accuracy and a measure of safety. Typically, a featherboard is just a board with thin fingers sawn into the end that act as springs to [...]
Resin build-up on saw blades makes them less effective. A clean blade runs cooler, doesn’t cause burning on your workpiece, stays sharp longer and cuts more accurately. Cleaning blades is a [...]
Precise height adjustments on router bits and saw blades can be tricky because it’s really hard to see or measure small changes. This 1:8 tapered gauge “magnifies” them. Each [...]
Cutting wooden plugs used to be frustrating. I like to keep the bit going, but each time I would cut a new plug the previous one would be pushed out of the cutter and fly across the shop, landing [...]
