Author name: Enthusiast

Recently, a woodworker who’s about to start building a set of cabinets for her own kitchen asked me how I apply heat-sensitive edge banding to doors and drawer faces when working with architectural veneers. She’d done some similar work before but had problems with tear-out during trimming. Here’s my technique, a hybrid between the system used at the first shop where I encountered this type of veneer work and some […]

The post Edge Banding Architectural Veneer in a Small Shop appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Two years ago I wrote about some unusual homemade winding sticks I encountered in North Carolina (read the article here). Instead of using inlay to help broadcast a board’s twisted state to your eyes, these used a pair of half-moon cutouts. They worked brilliantly, perhaps better than any other set I’ve used before. This summer I made myself a quick pair while in Germany. These were made with a Forstner […]

The post Half-moon Winding Sticks – to Make or Buy appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Many of us have experienced the phenomenon of F-Style bar clamp slippage. It can happen to quality clamps that had been put through extensive use, but it is more common with inexpensive clamps, where the manufacturers tried to cut on production or material costs. The problem is that the moving jaw can’t anchor itself to the bar because the bar is too smooth. The first thing you need to do […]

The post How to Fix a Slipping F-style Bar Clamp – It’s Easier Than You Think appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I just returned to the PW offices after a nice lake vacation. I’m still in the mood for swimming, fishing, BBQs and s’mores. So I thought this week’s book giveaway should be a fun one. Treehouses sort of scream summer fun, don’t you think? This week I’m giving away a copy of “The Perfect Treehouse” by Django Kroner. It’s a book filled with treehouse building advice and common missteps to avoid. Django […]

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I’ll probably get pushback for this post, but I’m posting it anyway. Three decades ago I had a unique opportunity of being considered for a conservator’s position in the magnificent furniture collection at the Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Wilmington, Delaware. How that came about is another story. Here, I want to relate some of what I came to believe after touring the museum during the interview. (If you ever […]

The post Conservators – How Some Hide Glue Changed the Trajectory of my Career appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I don’t actually remember how long ago I discovered figure-eight fasteners (ten, fifteen years?), but it was one of those moments when I felt like someone had answered a wish. I was struggling with how to attach something vertical to something horizontal and I wanted it nearly invisible. Then I found the figure-eight fastener. They’re not really a tip or a trick, more like someone showing you that ice cream […]

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