Author name: Enthusiast

A lot of the work in any machine-oriented woodshop revolves around creating and improving jigs. While I’ve used hold-down and F-style clamps in most of my shop fixtures, the Microjig Matchfit Dovetail Clamps offer a new means of integrating adjustable clamping into a jig, securely and out of the way of blades and bits. The clamps have a dovetail cross section on the top arm that fits into a 14º […]

The post Microjig Matchfit Dovetail Clamps appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

My favorite part of the magazine, when I was on the other side of the publication, was the End Grain articles. I love reading them, for their oft lofty, funny or thought-provoking content about the craft. Now, as managing editor, I get to solicit and search for the material for these pages. With the hope that I’ll have plenty to read, I’m holding a little contest. We’re always looking for good […]

The post End Grain Contest appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I laid out the shape of my my dugout chair in chalk. Then it rained. The next day I laid out the shape of my dugout chair in lumber crayon. Referring to my CAD drawing (below), I drew in the seat at 17” from the ground. Then decided to put the arms 8” above the seat and have them slope back about 1/2” or so. The depth of the seat […]

The post Dugout Chair Part 4, Cut the Arms appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Instead of storing your freshly sharpened scrapers loose in a drawer (or tight in a wallet), this easy-to-make storage unit, shared with me by my friend Bob Lee, holds them at the ready over the bench. A thin piece of stock front and back captures a C-shaped piece with a wedge in its bottom arm. The wedge holds a dowel in place. Slip the scraper in from the bottom to lift […]

The post Tricks of the Trade: Scraper Holder from Scraps appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Make your own copy of this precision vintage tool. by Peter Follansbee from the December 2016 issue of Popular Woodworking Even after two years of working alone, I can still hear the visitors to my museum shop where I worked for 20 years: “My grandpa was a carpenter….” It’s a line I heard a lot. I used to wish for a secret button I could step on to cue, at […]

The post Wedged Sliding Mortise Gauge appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In my last post, I used Rhino3D CAD software to create a 3D ripple for one of the BARN Workbench vise chops. 3D drawing tools were used to take a simple squiggly line and revolve it around a point to make a surface. For the design in this post, I’ll demonstrate the power of simple shapes and patterns. My design goal for this vise chop was to give it a classic […]

The post CAD to CAM to CNC: Part Five — Putting Patterns to Work appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.