Author name: Enthusiast

We are very fortunate to have cats, chickens and a toddler in our lives. In our garden and in the woodland behind it, we occasionally see deer, squirrels, chipmunks, turkeys and many types of birds that either live in the woods or pass by. But it seems that the only animal that we did not intentionally acquire, but made a lovely home in our garden, is a chubby groundhog we […]

The post Reclaimed Wood Sign for a Groundhog’s Castle appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The cover story for the October 2017 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine – a Swedish gateleg table – can be read and downloaded for free here. No catch. No gimmicks. No registration. Just click it and read it. I built this gateleg table earlier this year and based my version on dozens of examples I dug up from the historical record. From looking at the table, you might think that the […]

The post Modern Gateleg Table – Free on the Website appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A contemporary-looking design that’s really from the 18th century. by Christopher Schwarz Pages 28 – 34 October 2017 Buy the issue here. If you’ve ever been dragged to Ikea by your spouse (few woodworkers go willingly – except to eat meatballs), you’ve probably seen a table similar to this gateleg one. It’s been a staple of the contemporary furniture company’s line-up for many years. One Saturday five years ago, my […]

The post Modern Gateleg Table: A Contemporary-Looking Design That’s Really From the 18th Century appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Drying oils, especially linseed oil (raw or boiled), are the only finishing materials that spontaneously combust. Solvents don’t spontaneously combust, paint strippers (including paint or finish residue) don’t spontaneously combust, and no type of varnish spontaneously combusts. It’s not totally clear whether 100% tung oil can spontaneously combust, so treat it like it does. As linseed oil dries, it generates heat as a byproduct. If you wad up linseed-oil-soaked rags […]

The post Spontaneous Combustion & Oil Finishes: Drape Rags Over the Edge of a Trash Can to Avoid a Fire appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

1. Wooden slides Traditionally, drawers have slid on wooden runners: strips of wood tenoned into horizontal rails at the face of a cabinet. In casework where a drawer will not be guided by the cabinet’s sides — for example, when the cabinet has a face frame that protrudes into the drawer opening — the runners are fitted with guides to keep the drawers from sliding left or right and binding […]

The post 3 Kinds of Furniture Drawer Slides: Pros and Cons appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This week, Nancy Hiller demonstrated her simple strategy for installing Blum Tandem slides – one for setting the depth and one for setting the height of the slide in the cabinet box. Her process was developed over years of using jigs that went out of date with slide design revisions. It’s simple and effective! We set inventory-clearing prices on a few great titles – I have personally enjoyed using Hand Tool Fundamentals […]

The post Week in Review – August 13-20 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.