Author name: Enthusiast

I’m at work on a Sunday … procrastinating on a personal project in the shop. So, I’m spending a little time at my desk answering e-mail and trying to work up the energy to go back to my massive pile of plywood. One question in my inbox today was, “What tools do I need to get started?” (It’s a question we get a lot.) I’m going to let Frank Klausz […]

The post Frank Klausz’s ‘Your First Toolkit’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

For most of my life, I thought wood that was grain-painted looked like… an unprintable bad word that rhymes with “bass.” Many pieces of furniture were grain-painted to make a less-expensive wood look like a nicer wood. During the Arts & Crafts era, pine was painted to look like quartersawn oak. If you go back in time a little further you see plain woods that were painted to look curly […]

The post When Weird Chests Look Less Weird appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

In January, our parent company, F+W Media, acquired New Track Media, a company with a portfolio of magazines, books, supplies and events that help people get better at what they love to do – in other words, interest areas that fit in perfectly with the F+W family of magazines, books, stores, online education, events and more for fine artists, graphic designers, writers, sewers and quilters, to name just a few […]

The post Congrats to Glen Huey, Editor, American Woodworker appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When I was a kid, I used books to escape from my (boring) Arkansas upbringing. Today, I use books to escape from the drudgery of air travel. Every room in our house is full of books, and there is never enough room for them all. So as a woodworker, I’m always building more bookcases that stack on top of other things – including other bookcases. This week I started building […]

The post For Those Who Love Books, Travel & Joinery appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Since my post on drawboring last week (read it here), I’ve gotten a number of requests for information about furniture restoration and conservation. One common thread seems to be people using those terms interchangeably. While they may both deal with repairing furniture, I’ve never thought the two terms had the same meaning. Restoration is something I started doing right out of high school. The cabinetmaker for whom I worked also […]

The post Restoration Versus Conservation appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

An interesting e-mail dropped into my inbox yesterday. Across the top of the message was simple written “Karl Holtey.” Knowing that name, I eagerly opened the message. And if you’re mouth juices are beginning to build, you too know that name. Along with three photos came a short press release about a new addition to the Holtey stable of planes, a limited-edition stainless steel No. 983 block plane. Of course, […]

The post Thank You Karl Holtey appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.