Author name: Enthusiast

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.

One of the most exciting (and frightening) aspects of building a Windsor-style chair is the ever-present possibility that you will split the seat when you drive the legs home. I always tell students: Keep hitting the leg’s tenon into its mortise until the very next strike will split the seat. Then stop. This is not always possible. Today, I split a seat twice. Both splits occurred in mortises for the […]

The post How to Fix a Split Seat appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

  After Handworks 2017 wrapped up last Saturday, I took a few days off work as we wended our way back across the plains to Cincinnati (yes – I actually spent an entire three days doing almost nothing one might consider productive…and it was glorious). But it’s hardly fair to call Handworks “work.” It was a delight to not only see and try out the hand tools from so many […]

The post Handworks 2017, Day 2 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Frank Klausz has created many beautiful furniture pieces in his lifetime, and one of the features he enjoys using is string inlay. In this short video, Frank takes us on a tour of his home, pointing out a number of the pieces he has made. He highlights a china cabinet in his dining room for its special inlay features, then takes us into the shop to show us how it’s […]

The post VIDEO: Frank Klausz – Home Tour & String Inlay Advice appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Though I’ve built a lot of chairs, I don’t own an adze, which is used to roughly shape a plank seat so it has a buttocks-shaped depression. I also don’t own any of the typical power-tool solutions, such as an angle grinder outfitted with a special cutter for seats. Instead, I have a scorp, which is like a drawknife that was bent around a telephone pole. It’s much slower in […]

The post Use a Drill to Shape a Chair Seat appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.