Author name: Enthusiast

I’m always surprised by how many woodworkers – even experienced ones – try to avoid the grinder. They will purchase expensive diamond plates or (worse perhaps) a ream of belt sander paper and an expensive granite plates all to avoid stepping up to an electric or hand-cranked grinder. This is not just a fear among hand-tool users who avoid electricity. I’ve met guys who will use an unguarded shaper with […]

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This week I received advance copies of Michael Crow’s new “Mackintosh Furniture” book. Its a book of techniques and shop drawings to help you recreate 30 of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s furniture designs. Often remembered for his architecture and graphics, Mackintosh designed hundreds of pieces of furniture throughout his career. This is the first book of its kind dedicated solely to his furniture. Finally fans of Mackintosh’s work will have access […]

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A must-have tool for the lumberyard by Greg Paolini In addition to my truck and a pile of cash, there’s always one other thing I take to the lumberyard or mill – a lumber rule. Also known as a grading stick, a lumber rule is a simple tool that instantly shows how many board feet are in a piece of rough lumber. This helps me keep track of how much wood I’m […]

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For the December 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine I built a pair of folding campaign bookshelves based on a 19th-century pattern. Long-time readers of this blog know that I love mechanical furniture that folds up into tiny spaces and is durable. So 19th-century British campaign furniture is right up my alley. These examples have a Gothic look to them, but you could alter the profiles of the folding end […]

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A Desktop size CNC at an Entry Level Price The question I’m most often asked is “would you do a review of an affordable CNC?”  Up to now, there have been few choices for woodworkers on tight budgets with small home shops. Here’s the thing: as woodworkers, we do pretty heavy duty work and that doesn’t seem to match up with what’s available on a hobbyist budget. So, I looked […]

The post Preview: The Shapeoko XL CNC appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

“Insightful … erudite … polished … scholarly”, just a few of the words that we’d like to use when talking about the host of I Can Do That!, Chad Stanton. But seriously the words that are used are more impressive, “love your work”, “simple and thorough”, “exactly what I needed”, “all levels of ability can learn something”. Strong support for a show that aims to educate new woodworkers with minimal […]

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