Here’s a surefire method to ensure flat glue-ups. Use cauls, top and bottom, made from Unistrut. This steel channel is used for light-duty structural support in electrical and plumbing [...]
I use a hand plane to remove milling marks, even on pieces that are 1/8″ thick or less. To hold the work, I made a stop whose top is only 1/32″ thick. When I’m planing wood [...]
Assembling furniture with dozens of Allen-head fasteners is no fun if all you have is a standard Allen key. Faced with one of these jobs, I sped up the process by using a mechanic’s socket [...]
Hacksaw blades ganged together make a really useful file, one that can be as wide or narrow as you wish. The blades may be full length or half-length. (Use a rotary tool to cut them in half). To [...]
Finishing the plugs for covering screw holes is a pain. When you run a brush or rag over them after they’re installed, they’ll probably cause the finish to run or drip. Finishing them [...]
A quick guide to the pros and cons of how to make the difficult part of a classic joint. Many pieces of old handmade furniture owe their long life to mortise and tenon joints. There are many [...]
My bandsaw’s blade-tensioning system used to be wobbly and difficult to turn. Instead of shelling out for a quick-release lever, I came up with this simple, inexpensive fix. To stabilize [...]
Using a tablesaw to cut rabbets on the end of a board is nothing new. If you’ve only got a couple to make, it’s hardly worth the time it takes to install you dado set. So, using your [...]
A mobile workbench is handy in a small shop, until you want it to stand still! After outfitting my bench with casters, I found that their locks didn’t prevent the bench from wiggling. My [...]
Achieving exact thickness is really important when making splines to reinforce box corners. The splines have to fit perfectly in the saw kerfs—a few thousandths of an inch one way or the other [...]
As a guitar maker, I rip a lot of very narrow wood strips, which can be difficult and dangerous to cut on a table saw. Instead, I cut them on the band saw using a low-profile fence, which allows [...]
To save space, my trash can doubles as a work support. I made a dolly with locking casters to fit the can’s bottom, so I can roll the unit to wherever it’s needed. The work support is adjustable [...]
