Author name: Enthusiast

This week I’m finishing up work on an aumbry for a future issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. More than anything, this project has been about exploring Gothic geometry. But as with any project, I always have a lot of detours and dead ends. The pierced carvings on the front of the aumbry are fairly simple, yet I was afraid they would be off-putting for some beginning woodworkers. So I started […]

The post An Introduction to Gothic Tracery (With a Router) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In the November issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine I wrote an article outlining the router bits I consider to be the core of any powered shop. The workhorse bits of that core set are the straight bits. Straight router bits come in three varieties: Spiral-upcut, spiral-downcut and straight-cut bits. The choice of which to use comes down to the specific job and your preferences. The difference between straight and spiral […]

The post Straight or Spiral appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Darrel Peart raised an interesting questions during my recent web seminar on “Unkown Arts & Crafts” for Popular Woodworking University. He noted the similarities between one of Rohlfs’ tables and the poppy table by Gustav Stickley and asked if one maker influenced the other. Both tables share a similar form — trunk-like slab legs support a flower-shaped top — executed in an Art Nouveau style, which suggests the possibility for […]

The post Rohlfs & Stickley: A Case of Flowery Inspiration appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Numbers are a big part of my job here, as is looking at data in new and different ways. In light of that, I thought I’d share some interesting information I found as I was getting ready to start at Popular Woodworking. Back in the ’90s, a couple of scientists decided to answer the burning question of “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” We know, of […]

The post How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck – Exactly? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

It’s been warm outside and there are still some tomatoes in my garden, so it’s been easy to stay in denial. But when I saw holiday stuff on display in a local mall I knew I was in trouble – those projects I meant to make as gifts might have to be given as Valentine’s presents, maybe even Fourth of July presents. That sewing-machine-shaped inlay I have in mind for a […]

The post Holiday Projects & that Sinking Feeling appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Every day I receive dozens of e-mails. Everyone suffers from this affliction, but when you’re on the staff of a magazine you’re an attractive target for photographers, illustrators, PR people and marketing gurus. I wade through them all, and every now and then I’m pleasantly surprised to get a message from a reader with a photo of his version of something I’ve designed and built for Popular Woodworking Magazine. That […]

The post Another 21st Century Workbench appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.