Author name: Enthusiast

The most difficult part of making a folding camp stool (for woodworkers) is the leather or fabric seat. Getting the right shape for the seat and the three pockets for the legs has vexed many people who aren’t accustomed to a material that bends with hand pressure. These patterns are based on a few years of refinement, and they aren’t perfect in any way. So if you do find an […]

The post Patterns for a Simple Camp Stool Seat appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

  Tip Number 2: Let a deadman give you a hand. Tip Number 3: Add a bench jack. Tip Number 9: Add a removable top for gluing. Find out the other seven things Christopher Schwarz recommends for upgrading your workbench in our newest digital magazine, Workholding. Christopher teaches you how you can take a workbench from simply serviceable to a workholding workhorse. You can’t work the wood if the wood […]

The post ‘Workholding: Clever Tricks, Tools & Techniques for Securing Your Work’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The first time I ever tried steam bending wood, it took two of us to pull the scalding hot ash against the bending form and then clamp it down before it cooled. While it was an amazing experience, it was something I had difficulty doing on my own with just pure muscle (you will never see me shirtless in a beefcake calendar. Perhaps in a stringbean calendar…). Years later, bodger […]

The post Archimedes the Chair Maker appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Summer is a great time for expanding your woodworking horizons via classes and workshops that take place at some of the best craft schools in the country. Peters Valley is one of these schools and the only one in the metro New York area. I visited Peters Valley in New Jersey a few weeks ago to drop off one of my pieces Mulberry Trio  for their show, Making Matters: Fresh Perspectives […]

The post Summer Plans? Take a Workshop at One of America’s Fine Institutions for Crafts appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This post is less about the virtues of building a tote and more to do with some personal navel-gazing. Let’s deal with the tote first. I don’t think I’ve broken any new ground; my only aim was to keep it simple and strong. Attaching the base to the ends with dovetails gives a really strong foundation as this is where most of the stress and load is transmitted. All the […]

The post Simple & Quick Tool Tote appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

As I conclude this intro into marking knives and how to wield them, I wish to show you three knives that I recently began using. Two of them have the potential to become your all-around shop knife on top of serving as a good marking knife. These knives are so inexpensive and yet are made to such great quality that it is just mind boggling. The two knives I am […]

The post Intro to Marking Knives: Part Three – Great & Inexpensive All-around Knives appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.