Author name: Enthusiast

The trickiest cut when building a chair or stool is leveling the feet. This cut is always a wacky compound angle. And when you combine a compound angle with a foot that is an odd shape, such as the octagon shown here, it can be difficult to keep your saw in the right plane. Here’s how I do it – it’s a method that has yet to fail me. Lay […]

The post A Trick to Sawing Compound Angles & Odd Shapes appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A 360 degree VR shot of the CNC setup in my shop. Just click and drag around the image to have a look around. It’s never too early to think about space In the back of your head, you might be thinking that one day it’s possible that you might add a CNC to your shop, then you’ve got a lot to think about. There’s a number of factors that […]

The post Fitting a CNC in Your Shop appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Picture a military vehicle such as the tank shown. To help disguise it, it is painted with colors that blend in with the surrounding landscape. Problem is, the vehicle might move to a different landscape during battle, leaving it more exposed. So researchers in Australia have come up with a coating that changes colors to match the new environment within seconds. The concept imitates nature – for example, a chameleon’s […]

The post Smart Coatings: on Land and Sea appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Question: Why Not Make More Than One? For every digital woodworker, sooner or later you’re going ask yourself an important question: If you’re going to the trouble of making something, why not make more than one while you’re at it? In the previous post, I gave an example of CNC part making by showing a shape being cut out of a board. It was a simple triangle, but it demonstrated […]

The post Making Multiple Furniture Parts appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I don’t like gizmos that tray to make one tool (like a drill press) do the job of another tool (like a hollow-chisel mortiser). The results are usually sub-optimal. But the Milwaukee Right-angle Attachment is the grand exception. I’ve received a few questions about this tool because I am shown using it in the November 2016 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. I’ve owned this attachment for about five years and […]

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Ron Hock has a long association with the fine woodworking program at the College of the Redwoods (CR), which is soon to become The Krenov School under the administration of Mendocino College. Both the school and Ron are in Fort Bragg, Calif., where Ron started a knife-making business in 1981. He was soon thereafter asked by CR students if he could make plane irons for them, so he did.* Ron […]

The post The Krenov School: A Conversation with Laura Mays & Ron Hock appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.