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My shop is in a walkout basement with a steep grassy slope from the driveway.  The skateboard-like devices made for moving stock work well on hard surfaces, but not on grass.  My solution is an [...]

While making a base for a wooden vase, I had to glue up a small octagonal shape. I made this simple band clamp from a piece of string and a rubber band. Here’s how it works: first, tie one end …

Rout raised panel look-alikes in minutes.  Raised panel doors made with traditional stile and rail joinery are my first choice for cabinets. But I don’t always use them. For example, cabinets for [...]

I can’t stand throwing away good wood. When I’m turning a goblet or any other object, I don’t leave the waste areas blank. I pick up a gouge or a skew and use the waste to perfect my turning [...]

Tool: Leg-Up Shop Now   Manufacturer: Gorilla Gripper MSRP: $54.90 Most of us know all too well the hassles of working with large sheets of plywood. You get home from the lumberyard, drag [...]

Runaway Router My first router, a 1968 Stanley, was a heavy, single-speed machine. I remember it well because of what happened the very first time I used it. I chucked up a Roman ogee bit and [...]

Every woodworker knows not to rely on inside measurements made with a tape measure. Instead, I use two steel rules with dimensions that run to the edges. I butt one rule at each end, so the [...]

While looking around the shop to find a shim for my dado set, I saw the plastic lid from a cottage cheese container in the trash. Hmm, I thought, that could be it. I trimmed away the edge and [...]

Shavings Shower Last spring I reorganized my shop and moved my planer near the garage door so it could spew its shavings harmlessly onto the driveway. Now that it’s colder, I work with the garage [...]

Making an inset drawer line up flush with the face of a cabinet can be fussy work. To make it easy, I just install two screws on the back of the drawer and turn them until the drawer’s front is [...]

Clamping cauls are indispensable for gluing up casework. A caul is simply a stiff piece of wood used to apply pressure where a clamp can’t reach. Sooner or later, you’re going to run [...]

A master craftsman’s method for making perfectly spaced drawers. I made this dresser for a client whose father designed and built similar furniture back in the 1950s. Its grid system is very [...]