Author name: Enthusiast

Learning woodworking isn’t just about “how to” do something. A good example of this comes from my days as an apprentice in a commercial cabinet shop. I entered the experience with a misguided, romantic notion of working beside an experienced craftsman and being tutored in the fine points of cabinetmaking. I figured I would be coached and guided as my skills developed. That type of experience may exist in old […]

The post The Most Important Lessons in Woodworking appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Tomorrow, we’re shooting a cover for a new (and updated) edition of Michael Dunbar’s venerable book, “Restoring, Tuning & Using Classic Woodworking Tools” (due out from Popular Woodworking Books later this year). So I was asked to go through the boxes of tools I inherited from my grandfather to find some suitable candidates for the photograph. I’m not sure I found anything sexy enough, but I’ve got a few chisels, […]

The post It’s No No. 80, But… appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Since joining the Popular Woodworking Magazine staff, I’ve missed out on a few of my regular extracurricular activities from the last few years. I haven’t seen my fellow presenters at a bunch of the Woodworking Shows (or the attendees either). One of my favorite shows I’ll be missing this year is the Northeastern Woodworkers Association‘s (NWA) Showcase in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on March 29th and 30th. If you are unfamiliar with […]

The post A Show(case) With Style appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The hand tool versus power tool discussion is something that comes up frequently at work (at least where I work these days). Prior to 2007, however, I didn’t even know it existed. In August of that year I decided to open a woodworking school and began writing for Popular Woodworking Magazine. Prior to that I was building furniture every day and had no idea there were wars raging in the […]

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What discussion of shop-made boxes would be complete without something dovetailed? A common project for many woodworkers is a dovetailed box. It’s a great warmup for making drawers and larger scale projects. When I was learning to cut a traditional dovetail by hand, one of the first ‘real’ projects after practice joints and the like was making a dovetailed candle box with a sliding top. A great box to have […]

The post A great box to have dinner with… appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When I teach woodworkers about SketchUp we always reach a point where I say, “the level of detail to include in your model is up to you”. Then I explain the level that I usually work to and conclude with “but if you know what you’re doing it doesn’t take that long.” Dovetails are a good example of this. What you see is a typical drawer side. If you want […]

The post Dovetails in SketchUp – Easier Than You Think appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.