Woodworking Posts

Drawing furniture-scale curves – up to 48” or so – is a challenge to do by yourself. And many times when you use a springy stick and nails, you are so focused on holding things in place that you fail to see if the curve is fair or not. Years ago I bought the Lee Valley symmetrical drawing bow and designing with curves became a heck of a lot easier. […]

The post Anarchist’s 2017 Gift Guide, Day 6: Drawing Bows appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Lately I’ve been incorporating hand tools more and more into the projects I’m working on. I was recently exploring ways to make rabbets for a serving tray I’m working on as a Christmas gift. There are, of course, numerous ways to make them. I was in the mood to make mine by hand. As luck would have it – and because I’m the book editor – I happened to have […]

The post Video: Making Rabbets With Planes appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

A few weeks before our class begun (for past entries about my class read part 1, 2, 3, 4) I emailed my prospective students and suggest to them to look out for free furniture on the side of the road or near the trash bags on garbage eve (the night when trash is put outside.) I said that some nifty nice stuff can be “harvested” from abandoned or broken furniture, […]

The post Live Edge Class at Snow Farm, Massachusetts – Part 5: Lisa’s Cherry Table Completed appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Editor’s note: With the holidays upon us, I’m looking through vintage issues of the magazines and books we own for fun handmade gifts – things that you can build in not too much shop time, but that will help to create a lifetime of memories for the recipients. I’ll post (at least) two every week between now and the new year. This is Holiday Project Post number two – for […]

The post Craftsman Wall Shelf appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Below is a sidebar from my “Medicine Cabinet” article, from the June 2016 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine – how to install butt hinges using hand tools (and there are, of course, other techniques…but this is how I do it). — Megan Fitzpatrick  

The post Hand-tool Butt Hinge Installation appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I’m a bit ashamed of how long it took me to buy an inexpensive block of rosin and put it in my tool chest. Rosin, also called calophony, is derived from pine sap and increases friction on anything you rub it upon. That means that your slippery bench dogs or planing stop will suddenly stand at attention and stay that way. Rosin makes things stick. It comes in a variety […]

The post Anarchist’s 2017 Gift Guide, Day 5: Rosin appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.