Author name: Enthusiast

One of the most frustrating parts of using a smooth plane is when you have a low spot on your board that simply refuses to be planed out. There are several strategies. Here are just a few: Just keep planing as usual until you are an old man or woman. Drop down to a coarser plane (such as the jointer). But this could introduce tear-out. Increase the depth of cut. […]

The post Planing Away Low Spots in Panels appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In my last post I explained how Valspar wood coatings may remain “independent” of Sherwin-Williams’ attempt at consolidation for a while. But there’s a much bigger consolidation being attempted by PPG. It’s trying to buy AkzoNobel. PPG is headquartered in Pittsburgh and owns paint and finish brands including Olympic, Glidden, Sico, Dulux and its own PPG brand. AkzoNobel is headquartered in Holland and owns paint and finish brands including Chemcraft, […]

The post Speaking of Consolidation: PPG Seeks to Purchase AkzoNobel appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This morning a colleague told me that Graham McCulloch, author of the ShortCuts blog is retiring from the online column after 22 years. Graham has been a voice in the woodworking community for more than 70 years.  He has contributed articles to numerous publications including Canadian Woodworking magazine and Family Handyman magazine and has authored numerous woodworking books, including a couple of titles for Popular Woodworking:  “The Woodworker’s Illustrated Encyclopedia” and  “601 Woodshop Tips […]

The post ShortCuts Blogger, Graham McCulloch Retires appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

by Megan Fitzpatrick pages 26-31 From the June 2016 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine A slick technique makes the divided-light door a snap. In 2008, I built a contemporary maple chimney cupboard to hold towels in my bathroom. Eight years on, I decided it was time for a matching medicine cabinet – in large part because the house I recently bought has solid masonry walls, so I needed a nice-looking […]

The post Contemporary Medicine Cabinet appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In the first post in this CNC Skills series on Origin Points, I emphasized how critical reference positions are for digital woodworkers. When you’re working on a drawing in CAD, the origin point is at the intersection of the X, Y and Z axis. All measurements — positive or negative, begin at that point. By the numbers, that’s X=0,Y=0,and Z=0. It’s from that position that the piece you’re cutting is […]

The post CNC Skills: Origin Points — Part Two: Finding and setting the Zero Point appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I was looking through some of our recent books for this week’s book giveaway and realized I had an extra copy of Zach Dillinger’s “With Saw, Plane & Chisel” on my desk. It’s a fascinating look at period-accurate building techniques. If you love classic American furniture and are interested in how things were made back in the day, this book is worth a read. Zach creates museum quality reproductions the old fashioned […]

The post Book Giveaway: With Saw, Plane & Chisel appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.