Lathe Maintenance 101

Regular attention to a few simple procedures will keep you turning smoothly. A lathe, like any other piece of woodworking equipment, is exposed to wood shavings, dust and other substances as well [...]

Make Drift a Myth

You can tune up your band saw to resaw veneer without expensive fences or blades. The subject most often written about in woodworking magazines is probably cutting dovetails. In second place – [...]

Adjustable Dado-routing Jig

I wanted to rout some shelf dados, but I didn’t have the correct-size bit for the job. Fortunately, my dad stopped by and, as usual, had the answer to my problem. We cobbled up a couple L-shaped [...]

Contoured Sanding Block

To sand a lot of molding, glue 80-grit sandpaper to several inches of the molding. Rub a block of Styrofoam on the sandpaper until the block conforms to the molding’s contour. Glue [...]

Common Woodworking Mistakes

There are many things we do wrong but we don’t know they’re wrong. In woodworking there are two kinds of mistakes: There’s the garden-variety gaffe where we simply cut a board too short or botch [...]

Brush Care 101

How to choose, condition, and clean a finishing brush. It’s really tempting to buy an inexpensive brush for finishing. Say you spend $4 on a standard paint brush and throw it away rather than [...]

Router Sitter

I don’t like to lay my router on its side with the bit exposed, so I built a stand for it. It’s just a 3/4″ x 8″ x 8″ board with a 2″ dia. hole in the center. The board …

Table Saw Infeed Table

The limited crosscut capacity of my cabinet saw made it a challenge to cut wider boards, so I designed an infeed table that hangs on a wall when not in use and quickly and securely attaches to [...]

Binding Clamps

Make your own light-duty one-handed workholding wonders. Like most workshops, mine is well-populated with spring clamps, the ubiquitous tool for applying localized pressure with one hand while [...]

Roast Your Own

Cooking wood in your kitchen can produce results that rival specialty kilns. Luthiers have long used roasted or tempered wood in stringed instruments because the roasting process pre-stresses the [...]

Homemade Bench Grips

Bench grips are handy for holding parts above the bench for routing, sanding or finishing.  To make them, just cut some wood and rubber shelf liner into 2″ to 3″ squares. Glue the [...]

Mobile, Sturdy Light Stand

Good light is a must in every workshop, but sometimes I need a little extra light in just the right place. To make my light/magnifier more portable, I drilled a hole in a handscrew to fit the [...]

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