Author name: Enthusiast

Most everyone is familiar with the saying “When the editor is away the other staff members will play” (or you’re familiar with a similar saying). Late last week and early this week, our editor was away for a short vacation down south. The other staff members, two of whom were legitimately working on upcoming projects for the magazine, were in the shop doing what we do. I was out there […]

The post Always Check the Basics appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

One great aspect of being senior editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine is I get to meet people from all over the world who have the same warped (pun intended) sense of humor as I. So, naturally, when I got an email from John Madden (who is a Laguna representative “down under”…check out Gregory Machinery‘s web site for more info) letting me know that Laguna Australia is running a contest called The Laguna […]

The post Be The Best Woodworker in The World appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When I started work at Popular Woodworking in 1996, the goal was to cram as many projects into each issue as possible. No techniques. No tool reviews. Just 17 to 20 projects. Oh, and we couldn’t use outside authors to help. As a result, we were building all day, everyday. And we were always trying to goose the numbers so we could increase the total count of projects in the […]

The post 5 Must-build FREE Project Plans! appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

While I was in Sarasota, Fla., for a short vacation/mini family reunion last weekend, much of my time was spent in family activities (and listening to my 4-year-old niece sing Katy Perry’s “Roar”), but I did have a few woodworking sightings in my travels. My mother and I took advantage of Monday free admission to the Ringling Museum of Art and walked the grounds of Ca’ D’ Zan (pictured above). […]

The post A Few Florida Furniture Sightings appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Discussions about the proper height for a workbench always crack me up because they are usually myopic in the extreme. When you look at workbenches across long periods of time and across cultures, there is a lot more diversity. Roman workbenches, for example, were about knee high. And lest you think that bench went out of style with togas and public baths, think again. These sorts of benches have never […]

The post Workbenches, Mexi-Roman Style appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

While this isn’t the dumbest shop trick ever (that honor belongs to: “A coffee mug is a good place to store pencils”) it’s close. About six months ago, I became crazy annoyed about my workbench moving while under heavy planing. The bench weighs about 350 pounds, so it wasn’t a matter of mass. For some reason I picked up the wooden wedge jammed under one of the legs that keeps […]

The post Stop Your Workbench in its Tracks appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.