Author name: Enthusiast

I have a meager collection of handplanes made up of mostly dog-meat users. I like using planes that have history because it’s fun to think about what each might have made during the last 100 years. None of my planes are particularly nice, but I do want to keep them from getting destroyed. For a long time, my planes cluttered my workspace, got knocked around on my bench and were […]

The post Tricks of the Trade: Gas-powered Plane-till Lid appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Across the world, students are heading back to school – and some of them are on their way to woodworking schools, like The Krenov School (my alma mater), North Bennet Street School, Center for Furniture Craftsmanship and many more. It was only a few years ago that I was gearing up for the same journey – and I have a little list of learning moments (i.e. screwups/mistakes/regrets) that I want […]

The post Back to School appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The doe’s foot – a block of wood with a “V” cut into it – is one of the most versatile and cheap appliances for your workbench. I have an article about this little gizmo coming up in the next issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine (look for it in the November 2017 issue, or perhaps subscribe). I work with a lot of odd-shaped parts, especially when I build chairs. These […]

The post All Hail the Versatile Doe’s Foot appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I got a call from a piano refinisher who had damaged the new finish he had applied by getting it too hot with an electric polisher. It turned out that he had polished finishes for years without this problem, but this was the first time he used nitrocellulose lacquer. He had used lacquer because his client requested it. What to do now? No finish is perfect. All have upsides and […]

The post Avoid Damaging Finish with an Electric Polisher and Lambs Wool Pad appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In response to a recent post about edge banding panels, a reader asked how I’d made the grain on a panel’s door run continuously around the corner and through to the cabinet’s side. (Above) The grain in question is striking, which makes this treatment so effective. The technique is ridiculously simple – so simple that some readers would come up with the idea themselves, then think “that can’t possibly be […]

The post How to Create a Striking Continuous Grain Veneered Cabinet Edge appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

We had a heck of a time deciding on the Editors’ Choice winners – and the Grand Prize winner – in the 2017 PWM Excellence Awards. There was so much outstanding work from which to choose. But we had to pick…so here they are: The Editors’ Choice and Readers’ Choice winners in each of the five categories, led off by the stunning work of Al Spicer – recipient of the Grand […]

The post Congratulations to Al Spicer – Grand-Prize Winner, 2017 Excellence Awards appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.