Archives

Discover a bit about clean, accurate boring. There are many tools in modern woodworking you can use to bore holes: powered drills (both corded and cordless), drill presses, hand-powered eggbeater [...]

Tools and techniques for general metalwork in the shop. While the woodshop may be where I’m most comfortable, I’ve been fascinated by metalwork for some time. I’m always watching for tips and [...]

I’ve always had bad luck with really small drill bits–if I don’t break them, I lose them. I’ve stopped buying new ones, and now clip the heads off finish nails and use the nails [...]

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 [...]

My tablesaw’s top often does double duty as an assembly table. It’s a guaranteed-flat surface. When I glue or screw together a project, it won’t come out twisted. Sometimes I use the saw’s fence [...]

A system as elegant as the joint itself. Compound-angle dovetails are some of the most beguiling joints in all woodworking. But, as John Lennon once suggested, they can be as difficult to make as [...]

This traditional glue takes a little bit of preparation and planning, but is still a valuable asset in today’s shop. “Ought a turn you to glue.” It was a saying that I heard my great-grandfather [...]

I made some half-overlay frame-and-panel doors recently, installing the panel a bit proud of the rails and stiles on the front, which recessed the panel on the back side. This isn’t an aesthetic [...]

How do you support an uneven piece on the drill press? Make something that’s the opposite shape, of course. After making 60 of these knobs, I realized that the directions didn’t include any [...]

All it takes is a router and a bandsaw. You’ll only need two machines to make these Arts & Crafts style knobs: a bandsaw and a router table. Although the saw cuts can be done on a tablesaw; [...]

Thin boards glued edge to edge have a tendency to spring out of place when pressure is applied to the bar clamps. A simple solution is to use short, notched clamping cauls at the ends of the [...]

I really like bright-colored speed squares because they’re easy to locate on the job, but I find them difficult to read. To solve this problem, I spray-painted my speed squares black. After [...]