Woodworking Posts

I’m delighted to announce that Brendan Bernhardt Gaffney (whom you may know from his ancient rules, sector, calipers and other work at burnHeart) joins the Popular Woodworking team in July as managing editor. He’ll not only be handling the day to day business of running the magazine, but bringing to the job his woodworking and toolmaking experience, and impressive computer skills  – not to mention unbounded creativity. Brendan’s first days as […]

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This reprint of David Denning’s 1891 classic “The Art and Craft of Cabinet-Making,” with a forward by Christopher Schwarz, is a must-read for hand-tool woodworkers, and for anyone who enjoys the history of the craft. I fought long and hard for this one, insisting that it be made to last, and that it be printed and produced entirely within the United States. I wanted the historic book to look and feel […]

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The Maslow is not a conventional CNC. It’s kit based, and costs less than $500. $350 if you’ve got a couple of 2” x 4”s and some plywood to throw in. If you’re new to the Maslow, here’s Part One, Two and Three. This started out as a crowd-funded Kickstarter project, which means that the product is still in a development phase. As you can see, the Maslow is rather unique. […]

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This article, by John Wilson (of The Home Shop, which offers Shaker boxes and supplies for making them) first appeared in the August 2005 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. While we’re still calling it the “$5 Router Plane,” it’s possible it will now cost a bit more to make – but likely still less than $10 (plus a bit of shop time). Here is a real-life shop problem: The project calls […]

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One of the most exciting (and frightening) aspects of building a Windsor-style chair is the ever-present possibility that you will split the seat when you drive the legs home. I always tell students: Keep hitting the leg’s tenon into its mortise until the very next strike will split the seat. Then stop. This is not always possible. Today, I split a seat twice. Both splits occurred in mortises for the […]

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  After Handworks 2017 wrapped up last Saturday, I took a few days off work as we wended our way back across the plains to Cincinnati (yes – I actually spent an entire three days doing almost nothing one might consider productive…and it was glorious). But it’s hardly fair to call Handworks “work.” It was a delight to not only see and try out the hand tools from so many […]

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