Author name: Enthusiast

In the first post in this CNC Skills series on Origin Points, I emphasized how critical reference positions are for digital woodworkers. When you’re working on a drawing in CAD, the origin point is at the intersection of the X, Y and Z axis. All measurements — positive or negative, begin at that point. By the numbers, that’s X=0,Y=0,and Z=0. It’s from that position that the piece you’re cutting is […]

The post CNC Skills: Origin Points — Part Two: Finding and setting the Zero Point appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I was looking through some of our recent books for this week’s book giveaway and realized I had an extra copy of Zach Dillinger’s “With Saw, Plane & Chisel” on my desk. It’s a fascinating look at period-accurate building techniques. If you love classic American furniture and are interested in how things were made back in the day, this book is worth a read. Zach creates museum quality reproductions the old fashioned […]

The post Book Giveaway: With Saw, Plane & Chisel appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When I went to the lumberyard to buy the stock for my first project of my own design I picked through the store’s entire stack of 1x12s to find the boards with the most attractive constellation of knots. I wasn’t trying to be cheeky or make a statement (other than “I like knots”). I genuinely liked knots because they reminded me that the board was once a tree – not […]

The post In Praise of Knots, the Defect that is Watching You appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

As I mentioned in the first part of the story, Shay likes to frequent the Jaffa flea markets to look for all kinds of goodies. In fact, many of the tools that he uses come from boxes of miscellaneous items that he has seen there. He buys the tools for little money and later finds the time to rehabilitate them. After fishing the tool from a merchant’s box or picking it from […]

The post A Visit to a Furniture Restoration Shop in Tel Aviv: Part 2 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

On May 22 last year (2016) I complained about consolidation in the wood finishing industry, which is eliminating competition. The latest was Sherwin-Williams buying Valspar, a move that would effectively remove Valspar as a company independent of the interests of Sherwin-Williams. Many of you agreed with my complaint. The next day I reported that the Federal Trade Commission was looking into this. I guess they heard us because the latest […]

The post They heard us: Valspar Will Spin Off Wood Coatings Division in Sherwin-Williams Merger appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Nearly every time that I approach the planer, I think to myself, how am I going to get rid of snipe this time? Without fail, I end up with snipe at the leading or trailing edge at some point in the process to a varying degree. It has been rumored that some have totally mitigated the issue – but it is relieving to hear Doug Dale at Marc Adam’s School of Woodworking share […]

The post Video: How to Reduce Planer Snipe appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.