Woodworking Posts

  Rooms are virtually never square, level, or plumb. Ceilings tend to sag toward the middle of their rooms; floors usually do the same. Plaster walls are rarely flat; drywall builds up at interior and exterior corners. You get the picture. Designing built-ins is an art that takes contextual imperfections into account and makes dealing with them as easy as possible. A common way of handling these points of intersection […]

The post Scribing, Part Two: Making Cabinets Fit Seamlessly into Irregular Surroundings appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

If you design furniture or work a lot with curved parts, it’s difficult to function without a “drawing bow.” This simple jig – a stick and a string – allows you to lay out precise and large curves with only two hands. Before I could afford a commercial one (Lee Valley Tools makes an excellent one that I recommended in my 2017 Anarchist’s Gift Guide), I made my own. While […]

The post Make Your Own ‘Drawing Bow’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Congrats to Ramsey L. from Grand Rapids! They won the set of Kreg in-line clamps and bench clamps from our last giveaway! 🎥 Modern Builds – https://youtu.be/gM3oCXcyxoA 🎥 wortheffort – https://youtu.be/VGQOKcZe9TM 🎥 RIDGID Tools – https://youtu.be/mKFj2SD1WLU 🎥 Wood and Shop – https://youtu.be/CMN8tJP0HGQ 🎥 Matthew Cremona – https://youtu.be/9IPkqEPuKpw 🎥 April Wilkerson – https://youtu.be/EGNuhyfyF6k Enter this week’s giveaway, two BORA roller stands! Popwood Playback – Bora Rolling Stand! ➕ More viewer submitted […]

The post PopWood Playback #6 | Top Woodworking Videos of the Week appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When you don’t need an absolutely accurate line drawn on a piece (say for a shooting/nailing line or layout line) all you need is a wooden folding ruler, a pencil and your two hands. Lay the rule on your piece the proper distance in, then hold the rule in your left hand with your index finger against the edge of the piece. With your pencil against the tip of the […]

The post Tricks of the Trade: Testing the Finger-Guided Ruler appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Tapes and Rulers Early on, I remember reading somewhere that you should never rely on measuring tapes in a woodworking shop. Only use your rulers, never tapes. Though I understand the conclusion suggested because tapes are heavily used and vulnerable, I thought it seemed an odd idea. In practice, I neither agree with nor follow that rule. Because I make furniture — where many part dimensions are longer than most rules, […]

The post Precision Instruments for Woodworkers — Part Two: Rules and Tapes appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Woodworkers tend to have very strong feelings about the different ways of doing things – and handplanes is one of those subjects where opinions can vary wildly and discussions can even get pretty heated. There are three main arguments about handplanes: bevel orientation, number of planes to use and body type. Bevel orientation refers to the way the iron sits in the plane. Shown above are a low angle bevel-up […]

The post Handplane Basics appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.