Archives

Replaceable Fence Faces It’s hard to improve on the performance of a T-square fence, but I think I’ve done it. I got frustrated with clamping on an additional subfence every time I [...]

Reading Grain Direction “Going against the grain” is a familiar phrase. It means doing something the wrong way.When you’re talking about wood, you always want to go with the [...]

Bandsaws for Cutting Metal and Wood   Q: I plan to buy a bandsaw, and I’d like one that can cut metal as well as wood. I’ve seen some two-speed bandsaws advertised. How well do [...]

Perfect Edge Joints A 6-step tune-up sets your jointer straight. By Dave Munkittrick   Jointers are simple machines with few moving parts, but the two beds, the fence and the cutterhead all [...]

Minimize Router Burns End grain burns easily on maple and cherry, and those burns are hard to remove. After sanding my fingers to the bone following one particularly unfortunate routing pass, I [...]

Scratch-Free Flush Cuts No matter how carefully I cut with my economy-model flushcutting saw, it always left scratch marks on the wood’s surface. To solve the problem, I attached a playing card [...]

Q: Does varnish go bad sitting on the shelf? A: Unopened varnish should last for years on the shelf when kept away from excessive heat. When a can is opened and the finish exposed to oxygen, [...]

Tambour Doors Disappearing doors hide your clutter and show off your skill. Tambour doors are a bit of woodworking sleight of hand. Now you see them, now you don’t. Fun to open and fun to close, [...]

Glue Squeegee I stack-laminate boards to create turning blanks. Each blank contains numerous laminations, so I have to work fast during assembly. To spread glue quickly and evenly, I use a [...]

Wedged Mortise and Tenon This joint will never loosen! By Tom Caspar   Tap, tap, tap. The wedges go home, the glue squeezes out and a big smile lights up your face. “This joint [...]

Dovetailer’s Dream Vise Treat yourself to the secure, even grip that’s essential for precision work. By Brad Holden Cutting dovetails by hand is satisfying and rewarding work, but [...]

Q: I make my own guards and router bases from plastic. How can I drill clean holes without the bit grabbing the plastic? A: A simple solution is to file a flat edge on a regular twist bit’s [...]