Author name: Enthusiast

It’s wonderful that so many things within woodworking can be accomplished with such simple principles and relative ease of application. This humble wedging action is a perfect example. Clamping, securing tenons or the angle of a dovetail all have a simple taper at their heart. I’m at the stage of my workbench project where I need to edge glue some boards to make the aprons. It seemed an ideal time […]

The post Joiner’s Dogs, Simple Clamping appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Though I’ve been building campaign furniture pieces for five years, my focus has been on British pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries. There are definitely other traditions in campaign furniture. They just don’t appeal as much to me as a woodworker. North American campaign furniture – mostly from our Revolution and Civil wars – is fairly unsophisticated compared to the British forms. Rarely was it made to identifiable patterns. […]

The post Different Campaign Furniture (Different Campaign) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The paint-and-varnish removers commonly available in stores are gradually shifting from those available in metal cans to those available in plastic containers. The ones in plastic aren’t as strong or fast acting as those in cans, which are methylene chloride and various lacquer-thinner solvents. Just the packaging, plastic vs. metal, tells you this. The vast majority of strippers sold in plastic containers are based on the solvent n-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) […]

The post Remove Residue NMP From The Wood appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

You can create beautiful finishes without a lot of equipment, but there are a few things you should always have on hand. Here are a few things you should keep around for finishing that are helpful for other purposes too. Lint-free Rags Rags are great to have around the shop for many reasons, but they’re especially usefulfor finishing. Don’t use old socks or t-shirts; they’ll leave lint behind. Get some lint-free […]

The post 5 Must-Have Wood Finishing Supplies appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Building a functioning tool is a fantastic skill-building exercise for anyone who studies woodworking. Whether it is a wooden plane, a marking gauge or a mallet, the process of creating an object that will be used for making other objects adds magic to the learning process. So, when I started to brainstorm project ideas for our 7th grade class, I knew that I wanted them to build a tool. What kind […]

The post Build a Frame Saw Part 1: Design and Stock Preparation appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In the day of helicopter parents, litigious lawyers and cubicle life how is a person going to experiment with a risk vs. reward model with relative safety?  Woodworking gives us an outlet to analyze, and take the risks that can provide great reward while avoiding the risks don’t. One example is pushing a board through a saw. It doesn’t matter what type of saw you’re using, if you push the board through in an unsafe manner there […]

The post The Bleeding Edge of Risk appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.