Author name: Enthusiast

I’ve looked at, photographed and cut many dovetails throughout my days as a woodworker, book author and magazine editor. I’ve written on this blog at least once in the past that the angle used for dovetail layout is in no way consistent in antique furniture construction – you can find almost any slope or angle … Read more »

The post Dovetail Layout: What Ratio or Degree? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When it comes to making wooden shop tools, I think that most of the modifications we make to them are to stop us from throwing the tools away by accident. Many winding sticks are a right triangle in profile. Why? Mostly (I think) to prevent you from pitching them out with the garbage. Yes, the … Read more »

The post Straightedge Theory: Full of Holes? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When it comes to making wooden shop tools, I think that most of the modifications we make to them are to stop us from throwing the tools away by accident. Many winding sticks are a right triangle in profile. Why? Mostly (I think) to prevent you from pitching them out with the garbage. Yes, the … Read more »

The post Straightedge Theory: Full of Holes? appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’ve spent the last couple days working on a project for our December issue. It’s a wall-hung tool cabinet and when I designed it, I included several drawers and arranged the them both for function and for looks. To keep things interesting, there is some asymmetry to the drawer layout. I couldn’t leave well enough … Read more »

The post Hooray For the Router appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Among the things I like about Mark Harrell’s Bad Axe saws is that there is a wide range of customization options on what are essentially production tools. That is, not only can you choose your filing and from among several plate thicknesses, you can also select from among back materials and colors, saw nuts and … Read more »

The post First Look: Bad Axe ‘American Kid’ Backsaw appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When you learn woodworking through reading – books, magazines and websites – you often have no idea how certain words are pronounced. And so when you finally encounter fellow woodworkers in the flesh and have a conversation, there can be a language barrier. Here are some of the common mispronounced words I have encountered at woodworking … Read more »

The post Things that Get Mispronounced in Woodworking appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.