Author name: Enthusiast

Machine guards are supposed to protect us from harm, but there are times when they can turn against you. The worst injury I’ve ever received from a machine was cutting my hands on the anti-kickback pawls while installing my table saw’s guard. Yesterday I ran into trouble on my jointer with disastrous results. The collar that controls the height of the guard vibrated loose. The tip of the guard contacted […]

The post When the Machine’s Guard Becomes Dangerous appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Here’s a tip on how to cut curves on the bandsaw. When cutting a circle or an odd shape from a square piece of lumber on a bandsaw, you’ve probably dealt with the annoying corners that try to pull the material out of your hands as they catch on the bandsaw’s table. Then there’s the additional annoyance of the blade binding in a weird curve. A few extra cuts on […]

The post Tricks of the Trade: How to Cut Curves on the Bandsaw appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Editor’s note: Blade Magazine is published by F+W Media, our parent company and my cubical is next to the organizer of Blade Show. I thought our west coast readers would be interested in hearing about this event! If knives aren’t your thing, disregard! – David Lyell Join Us Oct. 5-7 in Portland, Oregon BLADE®, the world’s No. 1 knife media brand, announces the all-new BLADE Show West in Portland, Oregon—the Knifemaking Capital […]

The post Knife Makers and Enthusiasts – An Event for You! appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A woodworker friend called wanting to know where he could buy some methylated spirits. He had just read in a book that it was the best solvent to use with shellac. So I asked him if the book he was referring to was from England, to which he answered that it was. This term has caused much confusion in the U.S. It’s often misinterpreted here as methanol (methyl alcohol) because […]

The post Methylated Spirits: Is it the Best Solvent for Shellac? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I recently received a press release that Powermatic brought a new version of their popular 3520 lathe to market.  The new version, “C”, is the 4th generation of the 3520 lathe family. The new features really grabbed my eye, so I gave the product manager for this new lathe, Michael D’Onofri, a call to hear first hand about them. The movable control box allows the user to place the most important controls […]

The post New Features on the Powermatic 3520C Lathe – Movable Digital Control, Integrated Riser Feet and More Mass appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

  Rooms are virtually never square, level, or plumb. Ceilings tend to sag toward the middle of their rooms; floors usually do the same. Plaster walls are rarely flat; drywall builds up at interior and exterior corners. You get the picture. Designing built-ins is an art that takes contextual imperfections into account and makes dealing with them as easy as possible. A common way of handling these points of intersection […]

The post Scribing, Part Two: Making Cabinets Fit Seamlessly into Irregular Surroundings appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.