Author name: Enthusiast

On our Twitter feed (@pweditors) and my Twitter feed (@1snugthejoiner) I’ve been slowly leaking the names of some of the instructors who will be at Woodworking in America 2014. But I know not everyone is on Twitter, so for those of you who eschew writing and reading in chunks of but 140 characters, thus far, we’ve revealed: Roy “the Woodwright” Underhill Wilbur Pan Matt Cianci Phil Lowe Drew Langser Frank […]

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I prefer to use cut nails in reproduction work because they hold better and look right to my eye. But when it comes to cut headless brads, which are used to hold moulding in place while the glue dries, I don’t think these nails are the right choice for me. While cut nails are always more expensive than the equivalent wire nail, cut headless brads are crazy expensive. A 1 […]

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I’m working on a book project at the moment in which we’re including an article that refers to another article…and I’m out of pages. So instead of editing around the problem (no time for such shenanigans), I’ve decided to post said “another article” online, and provide a link in the text. I figure I might as well share “another article” with everyone. So below you’ll find “A Better Blanket Chest […]

The post ‘A Better Blanket Chest Design’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Whenever I talk about glue to clubs and classes, I hand around a bottle of liquid hide glue and ask them to tell me what its disadvantages are. “It’s weak.” Actually no, it produces a bond stronger than the wood itself. “It stinks.” Hide glue smells only as bad as a wet rawhide chew toy. It’s not bad at all. “It is sensitive to heat and moisture.” Ah, but that […]

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Hollow-chisel mortisers are one of my favorite tools. When mortising machines were first invented, a drill bit and a chisel were mounted side by side. Ralph and Robert Greenlee changed all that, and production woodworking forever with the invention of the hollow chisel. It’s quite an accomplishment to drill a square hole, and while the device is simple, the relationship between the bit and the chisel is critical. If there […]

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In the June 2013 issue (#204) of Popular Woodworking Magazine I wrote about Wharton Esherick (read the article here) and got a bunch of e-mails regarding some of the pieces pictured in the article. One piece in particular seemed to garner more attention than the others, however. Wharton’s three-legged stools evidently were not only popular with his patrons, but with magazine’s readers as well. The funny thing about getting requests […]

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