Author name: Enthusiast

When I joined the woodworking team a couple of years ago I found myself thumbing through a couple of our newest books at the time to get the lay of the land. Those two books,“Chairs & Benches” and “Tables,” are part of our Furniture Fundamentals series and teach you how to build some of the most commonly built furniture forms while covering the essential techniques needed for success. The books are great jumping […]

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Last week I showed the first project that was completed during my live edge class at Peters Valley. This week I will show you Mark’s table. The Top Mark found a rugged cross-cut slice of a sycamore tree that was cut down near his home. His slice was wide and impressive and originated from the base of the tree, just above the roots. The arborist who cut it just wanted to […]

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The No. 984 panel plane, currently in production, will be the last run of commercial handplanes in Karl Holtey’s legendary and innovative 26-year career. His first original design is shown above. I had the chance early on in my time at Popular Woodworking to handle several of his incredible tools, and take a few shavings. It was about a year after I joined the staff and maybe 1 week after […]

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Flush-cutting saws are great, except when you have heavy work to do, or the saws dive into the work below the teeth, or they bend because you got too aggressive. I usually use these specialty saws for light-duty work – trimming small dowels – or when I can’t otherwise do the work – trimming overhanging moulding that has been dovetailed at the corners is one common example in my work. […]

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Caleb began his woodworking career designing and creating mid-century furniture, with a focus on Danish modern chairs. His entry into traditional chair making began with training from Peter Galbert and further expanded as he collaborated with Curtis Buchanan. This traditional type of woodworking guided his research into traditional tooling and led to his making 18th-century wooden handplanes. He regularly blogs about plane making and encourages the craft. PW: You’re known […]

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Glazing is easy to do, and it can add a lot of decoration to furniture or woodwork. In the case of the corner chest pictured, glaze is used to highlight the detail of the moldings and carvings. The glaze emphasizes the three-dimensional effect. The process is simple. First, seal the wood’s surface with one or two coats of finish – any film-building finish. You can apply stain under these coats […]

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