Woodworking with all the comforts of home. One glance in my shop reveals an unusual device—a reclining chair. But don’t get the wrong idea; things do get done here. It’s just that my 70-year-old [...]
The fastest way to rabbet the back of a cabinet is to do it all at once, after the cabinet is assembled. Unlike rabbeting individual pieces before assembly, I don’t have to worry about where to [...]
I always sign my work, now that I’ve figured out an easy and permanent way to do it: I use an engraver. But not just any engraver—it has to have an adjustable stroke (the distance the tip moves [...]
Filling knots with colored epoxy usually works quite well, but sometimes the void is in a spot that’s difficult to fill, like the edge of a board. Here’s how to do it. First, apply some paste wax [...]
Mice used to rule my shop. They got into everything! That all changed when someone told me that fresh mint repels mice. Mint grows wild in one corner of my yard (it’s a perennial and comes back [...]
Chamfering an edge with a block plane is often easier, faster and safer than using a router or tablesaw—particularly on a small part. I do it so often that I’ve dedicated one of my planes for the [...]
How do you know if the table on your drill press is square? Not more-or-less square, but precisely square? I’ve adopted an old machinist’s trick, using a very simple jig. To make it, you’ll need [...]
Cordless Curler As I leaned over to press down while drilling some holes in a board, my long hair slipped into the drill’s vent slots and got caught in the motor. Before I could release the [...]
An ideal project for learning how to make a bent lamination. A Mouse needs a nice home too, doesn’t it? At least, that’s what a friend had in mind when she asked me to design a little house [...]
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 [...]
Cut perfect circles up to 4′ across! Have you ever tried to cut a circle on a bandsaw, freehand? It’s quick, but it sure isn’t exact. Dollars to doughnuts you’ll get flat spots or bumps [...]
Chisels don’t wait to get dull until you’ve finished a job—do they? The trick is to keep them sharp while you’re working. Rather than pull out my stones to renew an edge, I keep a piece of MDF [...]