Author name: Enthusiast

Continuing last week’s post (read it here) on comparative design, I thought it might be fun to move to Chippendale style chairs. The great thing about American Chippendale chairs is there’s tremendous variety, yet few are direct translations of Chippendale’s designs. The chair to the left is a perfect example. Chippendale’s “The Gentleman’s and Cabinetmaker’s Director” features no ball and claw feet in the book, but they remained popular in […]

The post Design in Practice: Negative Spaces appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’m yearning for the day I will have a space at home that is dedicated to woodworking. Right now, as many of you know, my “shop” shares space with books and my computer in my study. It’s a small room, and I have scads of books…and scads of tools. The books – most of which in said room are literary criticism and drama – are arranged by subject area (and […]

The post Tool Storage Solutions appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

For the last few decades, I’ve kept one indispensable tool readily available in my shop – glue sticks. Basically they are milled material about 2″ thick and around 4″ wide (in my shop they were always made from hardwood because there was always plenty of scrap) that is cut to approximately 3′ in length. The idea is to elevate the material you are gluing up in order to be able […]

The post Techniques For Gluing appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Almost every day I get some sort of question about the ‘Moxon vise,” a double-screw vise that I wrote about for the December 2010 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. It’s an ingenious portable vise that has been around for almost 400 years, yet it still generates controversy and questions whenever it is in the limelight. I know this blog entry won’t stop the questions, but it might help you decide […]

The post Questions About the ‘Moxon Vise’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

On May 7, 2014, we’re going to give you a chance to act like an editor for Popular Woodworking Magazine for the evening. That’s right, we’re going to let you (and a limited number of other folks) come into the workshop here at the magazine and test some of the newest tools from Senco. Can you tell me more about what’s going on? We’re hosting the event for Senco to […]

The post Senco is Coming to Popular Woodworking Magazine appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

One of the unanswerable questions in woodworking is: What type of bench dog is best? (Other unanswerables: What does Peter Follansbee hide in his beard? How many puns are possible with the word “rabbet?” Would you like to see my feathered crotch?) At least on the bench dog question, I have answered it for myself. I prefer a round wooden dog that I make myself. I’ve had these dogs for […]

The post The Most Domesticated Dog appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.