Two-Headed Clamp

I’ve combined the working parts of two quick-action clamps to make a good tool even better. A two-headed clamp allows me to quickly make an adjustable-height table for my drill press or an [...]

Venetian Blind Trick

When gluing plastic laminate to a substrate, lots of folks use sticks or dowels to support the laminate. Supports allow you to perfectly position the laminate, since it can’t be shifted [...]

Spray Gun Cleaning Jug

When I clean my HVLP spray gun, this shop-made container captures the liquid solvent and fumes. When the gun is clean, I simply pour the waste into a storage container for disposal. Drill a 3-in. [...]

Multiple Plugs

  Faced with cutting hundreds of plugs for a big project, I came up with this idea: I cut the plugs a little deeper than needed. Then I ran strips of masking tape down the faces of the [...]

Bye-Bye Birds-Eye

Bye-Bye Birds-Eye An Army buddy from northern Michigan stopped when he came upon a truck that had overturned and scattered its load of lumber. The trucker, who was unhurt, told my friend to take [...]

Deadbolt Bench Stop

For a quick and simple bench stop, I mounted a sliding bolt taken from an old door to the end of my workbench. In the locked position, the bolt stays put, and in the unlocked position it’s [...]

Two-Sided Tablesaw Insert

I needed a 1/4″ zero-clearance throat plate for cutting dados the other day, but my throat plate only had a 3/4″ slot in it. I didn’t want to interrupt my project to make or buy a new [...]

Re-Usable Tack Cloth

Micro fiber cloth picks up tiny dust particles as well as, if not better than, a tack cloth. Unlike a tack cloth, micro fiber cloths are washable and reusable. Rockler sells Norton’s micro [...]

Adjustable-Height Table

There’s no single surface in my shop that’s the ideal height for every job. With my adjustable-height sawhorses, I can quickly set up an outfeed table, drawing table, or assembly table at [...]

All That Glitters

“So this is what they used to look like. Wow!” That’s what I told all my friends after spending hours completely disassembling, cleaning and polishing a Porter-Cable Model 507 Extra Heavy-Duty [...]

Drill Bits for Pennies

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 [...]

Frankenstein’s Pencil

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 [...]

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