Dust is a real problem when you can’t use a router table’s fence and its dustport. Here's a clever way to suck up that dust using your shop vacuum's nozzle.
My lathe came with a lamp, but the lathe’s manual has this weird warning: “Position the work lamp so that wood chips do not accumulate inside the lamp shade and pose a fire hazard.” Now, [...]
For small cabinets, I prefer to use small, discreet shelf pins that I make myself. I also make sleeves for the pins to fit into. Sleeves help hold the pins firmly in place. I make the pins from [...]
Flush-cutting dowels, corner keys or screw-hole plugs used to frustrate me because my saw’s teeth always left scratches on the project’s surface. Rather than buy a special flush-cutting saw, I [...]
Shellac is a mainstay in my shop, both as a sealer and as a finish. I mix my shellac from flakes and usually go with a 1 lb. cut, which is ideal for brushing ultra-smooth coats. I used to measure [...]
Having grown tired of bending and tearing sheet sandpaper again and again to get the size I need, I finally decided to employ the time-honored trick of cutting it with a hacksaw blade screwed to [...]
The limited crosscut capacity of my cabinet saw made it a challenge to cut wider boards, so I designed an infeed table that hangs on a wall when not in use and quickly and securely attaches to [...]
Instead of measuring for my circular saw’s offset each time I need to make a cut, I use a modified edge guide. I screwed two 3/4″ x 3/4″ x 12″ hardwood blocks to the front and [...]
I have a hard time throwing things away, such as these chucks from a couple of worn-out drills. To put them back into service, I bought a 3 ft. long, 3/8″ dia. threaded rod at the hardware [...]
On a crosscut sled, the fence must be absolutely square to the blade. Here’s a super-accurate method of testing for square. It makes errors easier to detect by magnifying them by a factor of [...]
Here is my adjustable jig for ripping thin strips on a table saw. Used with a push stick and zero-clearance insert, it keeps my hands a safe distance away from the sawblade. The base is MDF [...]
