Save up to 64% and get a free gift. Subscribe »
Pop Wood Editors
A Sharpening Handbook: What Every Woodworker Needs to Know About Sharpening If there’s one thing to be said about woodworkers, it’s that we’re old school and prefer to pick up a book (or a magazine). With that in mind, I’m thankful for the community of master woodworkers that put forth a great effort to put…
Logan Wittmer
This traditional glue takes a little bit of preparation and planning, but is still a valuable asset in today’s shop. “Ought a turn you to glue.” It was a saying that I heard my great-grandfather tell his mules as he was out working. Roy was a muleskinner — a mule trainer. That phrase was one…
Peter Follansbee
The cost of this stock is physical exertion, but it’s fun and rewarding. The riven oak that I use for joinery work is the best stock available; but it comes at a cost – the labor invested to produce it. Money can’t buy this material; you must split and plane it. But the rewards are…
Giving a little bit of attention to the flooring in your shop can make your shop more inviting and more comfortable to work in. When’s the last time you took a good hard look at your shop floor? I know that’s an odd question. But if you think about it, it’s the one thing in…
Yoav Liberman
After reducing the volume of the original half-mortise using two strips of wood and addressing the crack in the shallow recess of the catch plate (read part two of the story here), I decided to fill the old screw holes with dowel segments. This step was crucial because you don’t want the new mounting screws…
Follow these best practices to get the most out of your dust collection system. I don’t think that there has been something that’s increased my enjoyment in the shop as much as getting a good dust collection system in place. I enjoy working in a clean space, and any rogue dust drives me nuts (let…
Garrett Glaser
Shape wood with a propane torch. Here’s a simple, but effective way to bend thin stock (1/4″ thick or less). The only tools you need are a length of 1-1/2″ galvanized pipe, a propane torch, a jig to hold them both, and a fire extinguisher–just in case. The pipe is attached to a flange through…
Attach the tree to the base. Part 1: Introduction • Part 2: Push and Peel Knife Maneuvers • Part 3: Parting and Pulling Techniques • Part 4: Rounding the Tree • Part 5: Sculpting the Branches Now that we have finished creating the tree, it’s time to plant it. You have several options for creating…
Sculpting the Tree Branches Part 1: Introduction • Part 2: Push and Peel Knife Maneuvers • Part 3: Parting and Pulling Techniques • Part 4: Rounding the Tree • Part 6: Attach to The Base We’ve reached the final stages of the whittling journey – crafting the tree branches. Let’s start by tracing five or…
Willie Sandry
A simple approach to this classic finishing technique. Finishing options abound in the woodworking world, however with Arts & Crafts style pieces, you need to get the finish right to complete the feel of the piece. This isn’t a project made from birch plywood, where an opaque finish might suffice. There are several finishing schedules I’m…
Bob Flexner
Did I mention there would be a quiz? Here are 20 questions, together with the answers, based on my articles from Popular Woodworking. If you have been reading regularly, you should do well. For more in-depth explanations, go to the finishing section of the site, where you’ll find many of the articles, and you can…
This traditional finish can be tricky to apply. If you have read much in the woodworking press, you’ve surely encountered many articles, including mine, in which the writer uses and recommends shellac as a finish. This may persuade you to try shellac. I certainly don’t want to discourage you because shellac is a great finish…
Tom Caspar
Match the size to the job–that’s the key Hand planes come in a bewildering variety of sizes. Why are there so many? I’ll help explain this mystery by dividing the field into four groups, in order of size: block planes, smoothing planes, jack planes, and leveling planes. I’ll show you what the planes in each…
Michael Dunbar
These once-standard tools still have a place in the modern shop. Here’s what you need to know about the use, care and keeping of drawknives and spokeshaves.
James Mursell
Learn how to choose and use these versatile shaping tools. As a Windsor chairmaker and spokeshave maker, I use a spokeshave more than any other tool. I have three: two straight shaves (large and small) and, for hollowing wood, the curved specialty shave called a travisher. My introduction to spokeshaves came at school where we…
A system as elegant as the joint itself. Compound-angle dovetails are some of the most beguiling joints in all woodworking. But, as John Lennon once suggested, they can be as difficult to make as “fixing a hole in the ocean.” Well, maybe not that hard—but it all begins with figuring out those odd angles. I’ve…
Mario Rodriguez
Fine furniture calls for an elegant drawer. A master cabinetmaker shares his approach to design and fitting. There are just a few things my partner at Philadelphia Furniture Workshops, Alan Turner, and I don’t see eye-to-eye on. But how to make a good drawer isn’t one of them. When building furniture, we probably spend as…
American Woodworker Editors
Tool: Quick-Release Pock-It Hole Clamp Shop Now Manufacturer: Rockler MSRP: $25.99 Pocket hole joints are quick and easy to make. For some applications, such as face frames, they’re perfect. But if you’ve ever tried to assemble a face frame with narrow rails and closely spaced screws, you know that holding the pieces together can be…
Brad Holden
When using my miter saw, I’ve found that the easiest way to sneak up on a line is to use a stack of sticky notes. First, set a stop block to cut your part slightly oversize (1/16″ is plenty). Attach a thin pile of sticky notes to the stop block, make a cut, and then…
I use a portable circular saw to break down plywood and other sheet goods into manageable pieces before bringing them to the table saw for final sizing. I prefer to do the job on sawhorses rather than crouching on the floor. Unfortunately, you normally need three or four horses to provide enough support to prevent…
The next time you use your jigsaw, forget about hauling out the sawhorses or cantilevering a hard-to-hold workpiece off your bench. Extruded polystyrene insulation board, the rigid pink sheets used in housing construction, makes sawing easy, whether you’re cutting a small piece of hardwood or a full sheet of plywood. During the cut, the workpiece…
I love the convenience of mobile bases, but I hate it when they wobble on the floor even when they’re locked down. I got my chock block idea at the airport where the ground crews use something similar for parked aircraft. My chock block locks the fixed casters on my mobile bases so they don’t…
I made some half-overlay frame-and-panel doors recently, installing the panel a bit proud of the rails and stiles on the front, which recessed the panel on the back side. This isn’t an aesthetic problem, but it does create difficulty when routing the rabbet around the edges to create the half-overlay. The doors were rather large,…
I recently built a chest of drawers with sliding-dovetail joinery. During assembly, I found that the fit was just a little too snug. Rather than trying to realign my router jig, I looked around for another solution. I needed something that could slip in along the dovetail. I decided to stick some sandpaper to a…
Tool: Stainless Steel Precision Rulers Shop Now Manufacturer: JessEm MSRP: $24.99+ The Canadian company JessEm, known for their high-quality router lifts, recently released a new line of precision steel rules. As you can see in the photo above, what makes these rules different than others is the laser-cut shapes in the center. These shapes are…
Tool: Magnetic Straightedge Shop Now Manufacturer: Lee Valley MSRP: $7.50 Don’t have a drafting table? Can’t draw freehand to save your life? Here’s a tool from Lee Valley that lets you easily make isometric shop sketches. The tool has two parts: a standard 12″ ruler with a matte finish and an innovative black straightedge. Seven…
Robert W. Lang
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 cutlist, and while it poses as your helpful friend, you’re better off to ignore it and make your…
Join our email list and download your choice of 7 plans instantly. Plus get Popular Woodworking’s top projects and tips, special offers and product news.
Start typing and press Enter to search
