Woodworking Posts

I’m kicking off 2018 with a giveaway of our first book of this year which is just now hitting bookshelves: Steve Branam’s “Hand Tool Basics.” This book is a great way to incorporate hand tools into your woodworking process. Step-by-step photos and explanations walk you through everything you need to know from sharpening tools to stock prep to joinery and more. Simply post a comment below and I’ll choose one winner […]

The post Book Giveaway: Hand Tool Basics appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Yes, you’re right, Frank Klausz cutting dovetails isn’t exactly new. In fact, I’ve been watching Frank cut dovetails for 25 years. But guess what, it never gets old! This master craftsman not only makes the woodworking look effortless and nearly flawless, but he makes it entertaining! He has so much to teach that with every view of his process, I manage to pick up another little thing that I missed […]

The post Watching Frank Klausz Never Gets Old – Effortless Dovetails appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

If publishing a book is like putting a satellite in orbit via a multistage rocket, then last week I completed the first and most demanding leg of the lift-off. With the first stage of separation behind me, I am happy to report that the new book is on a steady acceleration course to join the Popular Woodworking library of books. For the last two years, I have been working on […]

The post Working Reclaimed Wood: A Guide for Woodworkers, Makers, and Designers is on its Way. appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

This is one I come across often. People tell me in one way or another, that they are going to sand off the finish or paint. So then I point out that stripping is faster, and in the case of paint could even be safer than sanding. It’s almost always better to strip than to sand. To begin with, except in cases where the old finish is flaking off, it’s […]

The post Don’t Sand Furniture – Strip it. Stripping is Faster and Often Safer appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’m in the final stages of setting up a new workshop in Covington., Ky. It’s my seventh (!!) workshop. I could probably write a book on the process, but instead I think I’ll sum it all up here. During the last 20 years I’ve visited and written about some of the most impressive and modest shops all over the world. From a home shop with a remote-control crane (that shop […]

The post Setting up a (Real World) Workshop appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

One of my current jobs involves adding a few cabinets to a 1912 kitchen. The kitchen’s lone original built-in has frame and panel doors hung on traditionally mortised brass butt hinges. The original hinges are unswaged, or what the English shops where I worked early in my career called solid-drawn brass butts. They have fixed pins and no finials. And they are a dark brown-black. One of my go-to sources […]

The post Make New Brass Look Old appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.