Archives

Why you’re better off to look this gift horse in the mouth. There is a trap lurking within the pages of our magazine. It is also in most woodworking magazines, and many books. It is called the [...]

Mr. Sheffield’s two-year writing slope. About a decade ago, I walked into my English professor’s office for advising and couldn’t take my eyes off of his homemade writing slope. He was talking [...]

About 30 years ago, my girlfriend led me to a dark, cluttered basement workshop to meet a sweet, 70-ish gem of a man: her grandfather, Hayes. He was surrounded by a lifetime’s collection of [...]

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 [...]

Super Sander After years of hard use, my tablesaw’s 120-volt motor finally expired. Eureka! This was the perfect opportunity to acquire a more powerful machine. I purchased a new 240-volt [...]

Wedged Woodworker Winter comes early here in Oregon, a fact I’d forgotten as I carried a custom kitchen cabinet to my truck. This cabinet was long and slender, to go above an extra-wide range. As [...]

Ease and speed versus the idealization of the past – sometimes. When Lord Acton wrote that “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he was referring to politics, but he could as easily have been [...]

Small changes can make a big design difference – and help train your eye. How do you dial in the proportions on a furniture design? I used to pose that question a lot. Perhaps what makes this [...]

The end grain holds the secret to what stock to use where. The single-most important factor in the appearance of any woodworking project is the selection of the material. This isn’t what species [...]

Flaming Scroll Saw When I work in my garage shop, I keep the garage door open to let the sunlight stream in. After working for several hours one fine afternoon, I smelled something burning—that [...]

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 [...]

This hand surgeon likes meeting fellow woodworkers – but not at work. I long ago lost track of how many people, upon learning of my interest in woodworking, have puzzled aloud over my table saw. [...]