Author name: Enthusiast

This morning the crew from Popular Woodworking Magazine showed up to shoot photos of my recently built aumbry for an upcoming issue. While I’m always happy to shoot my own photographs, if they offer to send photographer Al Parrish, I roll over immediately. He is one of the finest photographers I’ve ever worked with. I also immediately purchase pastries – Al travels on his stomach. They started by shooting the […]

The post A Return of the Home Invasion appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When I first built an English layout square in 2011, it took me about 20 minutes to cut one of the six bead details on the square. Four years and more than 100 beads later, each bead is less than 5 minutes of work. If you have ever thought of building one of these beautiful squares, here are tips for the tools and processes that make it easy. Make a […]

The post Cut a Bead Detail for the English Square appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I love routers. In fact, as I write this I can hear the high-pitched whine of a 2-hp router bearing into the edge of a piece of wood begging to be formed. OK, I love most things about routers. They are a little noisy, and they do make dust – but I see those as necessary by-products of an incredibly versatile workhorse that will always have a home in my […]

The post Free Excerpt: ‘The Ultimate Router Guide: Jigs, Joinery, Projects & More’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I got a good start on my kitchen island over the weekend…but then Monday came along and work intruded. Loath to let my momentum falter, I decided on sawdust for lunch instead of my usual diet of Diet Coke and pretzels. So I headed to the shop to cut the dados for the two “floating” shelves; the top one will hold the microwave, the bottom one will likely be quickly […]

The post Dados for Lunch – Yum! appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Antiques stores are often a draw for me and I’m sure for many fellow woodworkers. You can be sure to find inspiration and education in equal measure. While browsing through one of the local venues I found a smart-looking tool chest. Chatting with the owner I discovered the chest was brought in by a person late in years and was reputed to belong to their Grandfather, who was a lifelong […]

The post Mr Langmaid’s Tool Chest appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Though I’m still coughing and sniffling a little, I just couldn’t bear to sit home while there’s work to be done in the shop. And I want my kitchen done. So, I came in to work on the base of my kitchen island. I won’t be writing about it for the magazine (the dimensions and purpose are too particular to my narrow needs), so I’ll share bits of it here. […]

The post Open-sided Mortises appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.