Author name: Enthusiast

Instead of storing your freshly sharpened scrapers loose in a drawer (or tight in a wallet), this easy-to-make storage unit, shared with me by my friend Bob Lee, holds them at the ready over the bench. A thin piece of stock front and back captures a C-shaped piece with a wedge in its bottom arm. The wedge holds a dowel in place. Slip the scraper in from the bottom to lift […]

The post Tricks of the Trade: Scraper Holder from Scraps appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Make your own copy of this precision vintage tool. by Peter Follansbee from the December 2016 issue of Popular Woodworking Even after two years of working alone, I can still hear the visitors to my museum shop where I worked for 20 years: “My grandpa was a carpenter….” It’s a line I heard a lot. I used to wish for a secret button I could step on to cue, at […]

The post Wedged Sliding Mortise Gauge appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In my last post, I used Rhino3D CAD software to create a 3D ripple for one of the BARN Workbench vise chops. 3D drawing tools were used to take a simple squiggly line and revolve it around a point to make a surface. For the design in this post, I’ll demonstrate the power of simple shapes and patterns. My design goal for this vise chop was to give it a classic […]

The post CAD to CAM to CNC: Part Five — Putting Patterns to Work appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

We are offering a spectacular collection of products by Bob Flexner at shopwoodworking.com right now. Check it out here, Finishing with Bob Flexner Collection. The two key considerations for choosing a wood floor finish are resistance to scratches and the large surface to be covered. To stand up to abuse, you need a very durable, scratch-resistant, finish, and to avoid filling the room with overspray that will settle and stick to […]

The post Polyurethane is Almost Always the Best Finish for Wood Floors appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Nancy Hiller is a weekly contributor to the Shop Blog. Look for her articles every Monday morning and be sure to check out her book, Making Things Work.  So you’ve decided to mount the drawers for your project on Blum Tandem slides. What do you need to know before you start cutting out drawer parts? 1. Choose your slide model and length Note: The following instructions are for Blum Tandem 563 […]

The post How to Calculate the Size of Kitchen Drawers with Blum Tandem Slides appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

After I learned to make stick chairs in a class, I returned home and set about to build jigs that would let me reproduce every aspect of the chair we built in class. I spent an entire week planning and building the jig shown in the photo above. Though it looks like a platform for holding Roman candles, it actually allowed me to drill four legs in a seat blank […]

The post Perfect Jigs (Which are Handcuffs) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.