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In the October issue of Popular Woodworking (on newsstands and at shopwoodworking.com now), you’ll find a bunch of great projects and articles. This issue was a lot of fun to put together, and we’ll be posting much of it online over the next few weeks.
The cover story is a table originally designed by Enzo Mari. In his 1974 book, Autoprogettazione, Mari published plans for 19 pieces of furniture designed to be easy to make but still look good. His grand idea was, in a nutshell, that people should make their own furniture and not fall victim to the capitalist tendencies of mass consumption. Chris Schwarz built one of Mari’s designs, with a few tweaks, and then finished it with a shou sugi ban finish. The result is a very striking form that’s simple enough to knock together in a weekend, but will last longer than most inexpensive particle board furniture you can purchase at a big box store.
Digital woodworking guru, Tim Celeski, helps another woodworker get started using CNC technology. His friend Todd Butler goes through the process of hiring a CNC service to cut templates for the first time. Tim’s system for using templates is one of the best I’ve seen, and the steps he lays out for getting them made are foolproof and inexpensive. If you don’t have a CNC, this is the next best thing.
Kieran Binnie shares his saw cabinet from across the pond. A dedicated hand tool user, Kieran’s amassed a wide array of saws, and his saw cabinet contains room to house them and more. The cabinet’s design is time-tested, and it presents a great opportunity to hone your own hand tool skills.
The final feature is an excellent primer on building cabinets. Nancy Hiller’s built lots and lots of cabinets, in all kinds of styles, and she distills everything she’s learned in her decades of building cabinets into a simple set of guidelines that woodworkers everywhere should take to heart. It’s a must read if you’re planning a built-in or working on a whole kitchen’s worth of cabinets (something that’s in my future).
Finishing expert Bob Flexner continues his quest to help demystify the language used in finishing, Peter Follansbee shares his technique for making a custom Sloyd knife and sheath, and George Walker gets into the details of design. Plus we share a great collection of router tips, our thoughts on a batch of new tools and more.
If you’re buying the October 2018 issue on the newsstand, you’ll also receive our special insert All About Workbenches. But if you aren’t able to locate a copy, you can also download the PDF here.
Enjoy!
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
