Author name: Enthusiast

One of the nice traditions at the school I teach in is our annual Fall Fair. The Fair is a one-day extravaganza in which the school transformed into a magical forest-like world. Laden with autumn and winter atmosphere, our building’s interior is decorated with fabrics, branches, logs and leaves to support the imaginary themes of fairy tales and mythology. To help our school with fundraising during the fair, parents volunteer […]

The post Woodworking Workshop for Parents and our Fall Fair 2017 – Part 1 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A spray pattern, with all the controls on the spray gun wide open, is supposed to be an even, elongated oval shape. If the pattern is heavier on one end than the other, the likely cause is that one or more of the holes in the air cap are plugged up. It’s also possible that the fluid nozzle has been damaged. To determine which, rotate the air cap one-half turn […]

The post Here’s How to Fix a Spray Pattern that is Heavier on One End appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

All the sharpening systems out there work, but I have a favorite: Shapton Pro Series stones in #1,000, #5,000 and #8,000 grits. Shapton Pros cut fast, stay pretty flat and don’t have to be soaked beforehand. As I sharpen three to five times a day, those are important qualities. Recently there has been turmoil with the supply of Shapton stones to the United States. In the end, the U.S. distributor […]

The post Important Shapton News (a Price Cut!) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’ve long been struck by the aptness of our English word “cope” – “I just can’t cope,” “I’m barely coping” – in light of its meaning in a woodworker’s lexicon. Sure, some of us may use the word when describing our emotional state, but more often we use it to denote a technique for joining two pieces of trim or molding where they meet at an inside corner. There’s nothing wrong […]

The post A Lesson in Coping – How to Join Trim appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I resist making jigs like I resist going to the dentist. So when I do break down and build a jig, it’s going to be something with a dial indicator and lasers. No, that’s a lie. It’s going to be something dirt simple but solves my difficulties completely. I build a lot of chairs with spindles that run between the seat and the armbow. The best way to drill the […]

The post A Jig for Drilling Holes for Chair Spindles appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Editor’s note: This article ran in the October 2011 issue of PWM and we are resurfacing it because John is clearing out some bins of blanks in a warehouse sale on his site. I’ve included part of the article here and the build is detailed in the PDF of the issue. This is not a sponsored post, we just wanted to share a great article that paired with his sale […]

The post Warehouse Sale at Bridge City! Build a Brass and Rosewood Try Square appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.