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Shop-Made Sanding Blocks   Q: Commercial sanding blocks all have some kind of padded bottom. Do my shop-made blocks need to be padded, too?   A: Yes they do. Padded blocks have two [...]

Faster Sharpening One of my favorite sharpening tools is a diamond paddle. I use it for router bits, knives and, most importantly, scrapers. The problem is that it cuts so fast the tiny spaces [...]

The primary advantage to square-drive screws is they are much less prone to “cam-out.” Cam-out refers to the slipping of the bit in the screw head as the screw is driven.

Q: Try as I might, I can’t seem to get a good edge on my bowl gouges. Are bowl gouge sharpening jigs worth looking into? A: Bowl-gouge sharpening jigs do a great job. The jigs give many turners a [...]

Saber-Saw Cushion The next time you use your saber saw, forget about hauling out the sawhorses or cantilevering a hard-to-hold workpiece off your bench. Extruded polystyrene insulation board, the [...]

Rip Fence for Plastic Laminate I used to work in a cabinet shop that churned out countertops by the truckload. We used this simple jig to keep plastic laminate from lifting during the cut or from [...]

Q: I am really puzzled as to how the tail vise actually works as I have only used a front vise. A: A tail vise’s main purpose is to hold a board flat on the bench for planing, routing, [...]

Q: I use my jointer to clean up sawn edges before glue-up. The results are great except when I try to joint figured wood. Any suggestions? A: Jointing highly figured wood often leaves nasty [...]

Clamp Leash My spring clamps always seem to be out of reach or scattered around the shop. To solve my problem, I suspended my dog’s old leash over my workbench. Now my spring clamps are always [...]

Q & A: Fix a Misaligned Blade-Guide Post   Q: Every time I change the height of the blade-guide post on my bandsaw, I have to readjust the thrust bearings and the guide blocks. Is there [...]

Rollers Ease Plywood Storage Before I installed these rollers, sliding plywood in and out of my storage rack used to wear me out. It also damaged the edges of the sheets. Now plywood sheets glide [...]

Q & A: Steam Bending Gear   Q: What do I need to know before building a simple steam-bending rig?   A: Steam bending doesn’t require sophisticated equipment. For a single [...]