What is Cupping and Why Do Boards Do It?

Getting to know the what and why of cupping lumber. In our 1960s house, many of the old-fashioned closet shelves were crafted from solid carpentry-grade softwood. It appears that the lumber for [...]

Crosscut Sled Cam Clamp

I use a sled for cross cutting 3/4-in. melamine and plywood panels up to 24 inches wide. These panels can be hard to hold in position while making a cut, so I installed a cam lever that securely [...]

Easy Frameless Cabinet Joinery

A hassle-free fast track to frameless cabinets. I’ve always liked the clean, modern look of cabinets built without face frames. My early attempts involved building plywood boxes first and [...]

Hook for Inset Doors

Have you ever closed an inset door in a cabinet you were building and found that you couldn’t open it, because you hadn’t added the knob yet? Well, I have. Here’s an easy, effective solution: [...]

Shelf Liner Sanding Pad

One roll of shelf liner will provide a lifetime supply of pads to improve the performance of your sanding block. I bought a 18″ x 48″ roll at a local home center for about $5. At [...]

Glaze a Picture Frame

Add richness, depth and color like a pro. Some wood finishes seem to have richness and depth that combine to create a special warm glow. This glow usually comes with age, due to natural changes [...]

Bargain Screw Lube

A toilet bowl floor gasket is an excellent lubricant for screws–much better than paraffin, soap, or all of the other materials I’ve tried. It’s very soft, so all you have to do to [...]

Suction Box

If your shop is inside or attached to your house, you know that migrating sawdust is a problem, especially if you do a lot of power carving.  To minimize dust, I cut out one side of a 65-quart [...]

Drill Press Sharpening System

Here’s a fast, inexpensive way to keep your edge tools razor sharp. First, cut out a few 5″ x 3/4″ MDF discs.  Drill a 1/4″ hole in the center of each disc. Next, glue different [...]

Pin Board Marking Jig

My task: 28 kitchen drawers of different sizes, all with hand-cut dovetails. The thought of laying these out was overwhelming, so I designed a jig to simplify the process. To make the jig, [...]

Crown Molding Restoration, Part 4

After completing the reconstruction of the main broken molding piece, I glued the molding back onto its panel and began restoring the adjacent corner that was also damaged and required repair. [...]

Precision Depth Gauge

My dovetail jig doesn’t have a depth gauge, and with my engineering background, I like things to be precise. This depth gauge allows me to set my router bits to within .001 of an inch! I also use [...]

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