Author name: Enthusiast

Cutting a square rabbet with a rabbeting plane is a challenge for beginners; usually they cut a rabbet that slopes in toward the shoulder or away from the shoulder. When I teach people how to use a moving fillister plane, here are some tips I offer them to assist their efforts. 1. Don’t hold the knob. If the plane has a front knob, I recommend you remove it. At the […]

The post How to Stop Your Rabbets from Sloping appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Short of that stint living in Anchorage (yep, Alaska) from birth until I was about 2 years old, and the last seven months or so living in the Cincinnati area, I’ve lived the vast majority of my life outside of Philadelphia. You might be thinking that is the singular reason for the title of my post but you’d be wrong. While I truly enjoyed being completely immersed in the history […]

The post Furniture Details: Why Philadelphia is Just Better appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Woodworker Zachary Dillinger, of Charlotte, Mich., has been named to Early American Life magazine’s 2014 Directory of Traditional American Crafts in the Painted/Formal Furniture category. You’ll find this year’s list in the magazine’s June issue. Zach (whose spice chest shown at left was featured in our August 2013 issue), is only 30 years old, but he’s been making things for two decades. Since 2008, he’s focused almost solely on authentic […]

The post Zachary Dillinger a 2014 EAL Top Traditional Craftsman appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

As the time draws near, a couple of spots have opened for the Senco event here at Popular Woodworking Magazine. They are bringing in their newest pinner, the 21LXP (which won’t even be available to dealers at the time of the event) for you to try, along with lots of other new products. Senco and PWM are giving away door prizes and everyone will get some swag. I forgot to […]

The post Last Call appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Shannon Rogers of the Hand Tool School brought along his 48”-long Roubo frame saw to the Saturday meeting of the Chesapeake chapter of the Society of American Furniture Makers, explained its details and (most importantly) let us try it out during lunch. It was so effortless to use (as long as you used your legs to propel it) that I wanted to resaw the entire board. Shannon has put a […]

The post Shannon Rogers’ Big French Saw. Dang. appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Though I’ve been a non-editor at both Popular Woodworking and The Fine Tool Journal for almost three years now, I still have debts to pay. And I take those debts seriously. One of my first reviews for The Fine Tool Journal, which was reprinted in the book “Handplane Essentials,” is a review of Clifton bench planes. I had some of the first-ever Clifton planes, which were both spectacular and troubling. […]

The post Settling Debts: An Update on Clifton Handplanes appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.