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As a guitar maker, I rip a lot of very narrow wood strips, which can be difficult and dangerous to cut on a table saw. Instead, I cut them on the band saw using a low-profile fence, which allows [...]

To prevent rust and reduce feed friction, I apply paste wax regularly to my metal tool tables and other surfaces. It does a great job – but what a chore to buff the wax by hand! To make the job [...]

My task: 28 kitchen drawers of different sizes, all with hand-cut dovetails. The thought of laying these out was overwhelming, so I designed a jig to simplify the process. To make the jig, [...]

When making tenons for breadboard ends and other wide workpieces, the router is my tool of choice. Ensuring perfectly aligned rabbet shoulders on both sides of the board was a problem until I [...]

  Tips for taming those awkward and heavy sheets. Woodworking alone is peaceful, serene and quiet. Just you, the radio and your project. It’s also a pain in the posterior when you have to [...]

Difficult glue-ups are troublesome enough without having to position clamp pads as part of the process. I’ve tried using hot-melt glue, double-sided tape and various other methods to hold pads [...]

I usually work alone, but when I install upper cabinets, I always enlist the help of two shop-made cabinet jacks. They’re steadier than an extra pair of hands. The jacks stand on the lower [...]

A tenon should be one-third the thickness of a rail—at least, that’s what an old rule of thumb recommends. A 3/4″ board should have 1/4″ tenons, for example. But what about a [...]

Zero clearance inserts are wonderful for eliminating tear out, but unfortunately, they also eliminate dust collection. To give my collection system an opening to pull sawdust through, I cut a [...]

While I was gluing up the pedestals for an oak desk, I realized I needed a way to hold the sides parallel at the front. Three Quick-Grip clamps and a scrap wood spacer did the trick. They [...]

My flush-trimming setup allows trimming veneer and solid wood edging up to 7/8-in. thick. It consists of a router with a 1/2-in. straight bit, a table and a perpendicular fence. A 1″-thick [...]

I’ve found that padding my vise faces with cork prevents them from marring many surfaces, especially softer woods or finished workpieces. I use 1⁄4“-thick cork, which is available by the [...]