Projects

You Want Me To Help You Make a What? If you have kids in school, you’re well aware of the fact that you’ll be pressed into service to help make art projects countless times. For me, [...]

Precision 3-Wall Scribes A simple template guarantees a perfect fit. By Brad Holden Fitting a countertop between two side walls and a back wall is one of the most challenging installations you [...]

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, [...]

Ultimate Tool Stand An easy-to-use space saver with more functions than a Swiss army knife. By Dave Munkittrick For those of us who share shop space with a car or a washer and dryer, elbowroom is [...]

A Little Bit of Buried Treasure   A friend of mine had an old two-seater Adirondack chair that she figured was rotting and ready for the landfill. But she liked it so much, that she asked me [...]

Laminated Pedestal Table Curved legs make this table strong, practical and attractive. By Fred Matlack After knocking my knee on the leg of our kitchen table and spilling the gravy for the [...]

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 [...]

Wicked Sharp For the ultimate edge, use a leather strop. By Alan Turner I have a special set of chisels that I only use for paring. To do a good job, they have to be wicked sharp— and stay [...]

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 [...]

Cordless Jointer.  Yup, it's late. But it's still Friday. It's been a whirlwind of a week. While working on a project today, I got to use one of my favorite techniques. Most [...]

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 [...]