Author name: Enthusiast

With time, furniture joints (especially in chairs) tend to loosen up a bit. It’s part of working with a material that once was alive and continues to react with the environment. Wood shrinks and expands with humidity, and the same goes for the holes that have screws in them. So before you retire a favorite chair to the less-used area of your house, take a little time to tighten things […]

The post How to Repair Loose Screws on a Chair appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I don’t like tool chests. There, I said it. Let’s see if I’m struck down by lightning from the woodworking gods. I’ve bought them in the past, built them, understand their logic. Protection from thieves, protection from moisture, protection from metal cancer. But there is something to the concept of “out of sight out of mind.” Besides, the only time I’ve had tools stolen was when burglars walked off with… […]

The post Open Totes – Stop Hiding the Functional & Beautiful appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’m delighted to announce that Brendan Bernhardt Gaffney (whom you may know from his ancient rules, sector, calipers and other work at burnHeart) joins the Popular Woodworking team in July as managing editor. He’ll not only be handling the day to day business of running the magazine, but bringing to the job his woodworking and toolmaking experience, and impressive computer skills  – not to mention unbounded creativity. Brendan’s first days as […]

The post Brendan Bernhardt Gaffney: New PWM Managing Editor appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This reprint of David Denning’s 1891 classic “The Art and Craft of Cabinet-Making,” with a forward by Christopher Schwarz, is a must-read for hand-tool woodworkers, and for anyone who enjoys the history of the craft. I fought long and hard for this one, insisting that it be made to last, and that it be printed and produced entirely within the United States. I wanted the historic book to look and feel […]

The post Denning’s 1891 ‘The Art and Craft of Cabinet-Making’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The Maslow is not a conventional CNC. It’s kit based, and costs less than $500. $350 if you’ve got a couple of 2” x 4”s and some plywood to throw in. If you’re new to the Maslow, here’s Part One, Two and Three. This started out as a crowd-funded Kickstarter project, which means that the product is still in a development phase. As you can see, the Maslow is rather unique. […]

The post The $500 Maslow CNC Beta Report appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This article, by John Wilson (of The Home Shop, which offers Shaker boxes and supplies for making them) first appeared in the August 2005 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. While we’re still calling it the “$5 Router Plane,” it’s possible it will now cost a bit more to make – but likely still less than $10 (plus a bit of shop time). Here is a real-life shop problem: The project calls […]

The post John Wilson’s ‘$5 Router Plane’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.