Techniques

Cooking wood in your kitchen can produce results that rival specialty kilns. Luthiers have long used roasted or tempered wood in stringed instruments because the roasting process pre-stresses the [...]

Since I received my Benchcrafted Roubo workbench a year ago, my woodworking life has tremendously improved. My new and heavy bench (I wrote about it here and here) has 1” holdfast holes that can [...]

Bringing an old hand plane back to life is simple to do, and will yield a top-not tool. When I build a project, I use a variety of “fancy” tools (readers’ words, not mine). Lie-Nielsen, [...]

Knowing the techniques will help you, even if you aren’t doing the sewing yourself. For a woodworker, upholstery can be intimidating. It’s hard to know what you want, until you can clearly [...]

This millwork technique can be used to make curved parts with accuracy and ease. Much of my recent work has been making period-appropriate arch-top sash windows for an historic building. They are [...]

Learn how computers, software and CNCs can contribute in your shop. There are a lot of ways to do woodworking. For example, there’s more than a dozen ways to make mortises and tenons. The same is [...]

A furniture maker visits the Pleasant Hill, Ky., community and unearths a fair number of surprises (nails!) about Shaker joinery. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the [...]

Learn a straightforward approach to creating stunning details. I come to the field of woodworking with an unfair advantage. I grew up in a family jewelry business and did a lot of detail work [...]

Create artistic signs the old-fashioned way. You can churn out lettered signs by the dozens with a router and a set of letter templates or produce them by the hundreds with a CNC machine. So why [...]

Quicker than starting from scratch, and you don’t waste any material. Editor’s note: Nancy Hiller passed away on August 29th, 2022 after a long battle with cancer. In honor of her [...]

A throwaway wooden ruler prevents fatal errors when dovetailing. The No. 1 mistake made by first-time dovetailers has nothing to do with sawing or chopping – the obvious choices. Instead, I’ve [...]

Not everyone’s ready to tackle hand-cut dovetails. Here’s how to get the most from your router and jig. Dovetails are prime joints. Long history, great appearance and cachet. Used in boxes, [...]