Author name: Enthusiast

It’s widely believed and promoted that the proper finish for 18th and 19th-century antique furniture and reproductions is shellac. The reason is that shellac was the finish that was most likely used in that time period. I have no problem with this, but I want to make the case that nitrocellulose lacquer is also appropriate. Here’s the main consideration when choosing a finish for very old furniture and for reproductions of […]

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So as not to have this interpreted as a ruse, I perhaps should have waited until Monday to open the entry period for the 2016 PWM Excellence Awards. But this is no joke: We’re giving the grand-prize winner a check for US$1,000 – and to enter, it costs no more than a few minutes of time to submit pictures of and a description of your best work. You can enter […]

The post Show Us Your Best Woodworking; You Could Win $1,000 (No Joke) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Gizmodo posted this morning about a new “transparent wood” that is ready for mass production, developed at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The post notes that it can be veneered into panels strong enough for construction purpose; it’s a nifty thought to replace windows with walls that let in light…but what about for making furniture? While I can see making a bookcase or other display-type piece out of panels […]

The post See-through Furniture? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

All of our vises at school have cast iron jaws that can damage work and tools. So, I am in the process of lining them with wood inserts to save our rasps and gouges from damage. This also allows our students to have a better grip on the curved and rounded objects that we clamp, mostly mallets and spoon blanks. In order to provide an even better clamping (vising) agent, […]

The post Pressed Paper Pulp to Protect Your Work and Tools appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

At the beginning of a hand tool class at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking, one of the students stopped me as I was passing by his bench. “I have a question for you,” he said. “What is this plane for?” He held up a chisel plane. “I thought it looked really useful,” he said, “maybe for planing tapers on legs.” I knew I was about to break his heart. […]

The post Hand Tools: What is Most Common is Most Precious appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’m nearly done with my workbench project, I promise! I’ll break down the build soon with plenty of videos and explanations as to the whys and wherefores. I wanted to get the project done before I start sharing it because I hope it will enhance things a bit, seeing the finished article at the start that is. It’ll also give me some time to generate content for the next project with […]

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