What is the Value of Woodworking?
There is an old book we used to print called “How to Make $40,000 a Year with Your Woodworking.” Years ago I dubbed it our only offering in the fiction category. Sure, there are enterprising [...]
Easy Way to Biscuit-join Edgebanding
I edge-band plywood shelves with solid wood, attaching the edge-banding with #20 biscuits. It’s no problem at all to hold the plywood shelf solidly while cutting the slot; that’s what bench dogs [...]
Tornado Table
One afternoon – start to finish – is all it takes, even for a new woodworker. This may be the easiest (and coolest) table you’ll ever build. If mid-20th century modern furniture design were as [...]
Router Plane Auxiliary Base
I had a project on which I needed to rout out a large area about 3⁄8” deep. It was a wooden case for a Nook reader, and the eReader had to fit into the excavation. I had …
Drill Press Table
It’s accurate, easy to use and built to last. There are all manner of drill press tables and fences, from a simple 2×4 clamped to the machine’s cast iron table to ones with gadgets and [...]
Earlex Steam Generator for Bending Wood
Tool: Steam Generator Manufacturer: Earlex MSRP: $69.99 You probably know Earlex as the British company that a few years back introduced North American woodworkers to an inexpensive but capable [...]
New Life for an Old Table Saw
This article originally appeared in the June 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking. The dream of a “barn find” looms large in most people’s imagination, whether it’s 1,000 board feet of [...]
Turn a Platter
Shop scraps and a few simple techniques will get you spinning along Large turning projects can be daunting. A large bowl, for example, requires gluing up a blank or sourcing part of a tree trunk. [...]
Spyder Jigsaw Blades Make Super-tight Turns
By Steve Shanesy Page 16 Spyder, a Kansas City, Mo.-based company, has introduced a jigsaw blade with teeth on the front and back edges. At first glance, these blades look odd at best and [...]
Dry-Erase Message Center
A low-tech solution for a family on the go. The kitchen is the crossroads for today’s busy family. And while we have high-tech gadgets to text messages, take notes and keep a calendar, I’ve found [...]
A Table for Your Trim Router
I was looking for a safer way to use my trim router for everyday chores around the shop. My solution was to build a router table that hangs off the end of my bench on a French cleat. When I’m …
Pattern Routing Curved Shapes
Looking for some help pattern routing curved shapes? Here’s a quick way to do it based on a wall-mounted dining server project by former Popular Woodworking publisher Steve Shanesy. The [...]