Woodworking Posts

The title above is not a typo. May of this year marks the third bi-annual Handworks, an event that draws more than 2,000 woodworkers to Iowa every two years for two fun days of trying out the best in hand tools and hanging out with like-minded folks (I’ll be one of them). I know that Woodworking in America is an investment. Not only is there a fee to attend (we […]

The post Woodworking in America 2018 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

If I had the extra time and material, I’d build a full-blown prototype of every new design I create. Prototypes let you see in three-dimensions all the mistakes and awkwardness you cannot see on a two-dimensional plan. And fixing the design is usually obvious when you have a prototype on your workbench. As much as I love prototypes, they are not always necessary or even possible. So here is what […]

The post Use Hardboard Templates Instead of Prototypes appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Most of my house rehab work to this point has been destruction rather than construction. For that, I’ve used a small kit a hand-held tools, both hand and power. I’ve gone through probably 50 blades on my reciprocating saw (there were a lot of plaster walls and inappropriate mid-century built-ins to take out), used up many multi-tool E-cut blades and spent a lot of quality time with my sledgehammer and […]

The post Table Saw Setup in my Near Future…I Hope appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

After cutting the branch to length, sawing around the neck and chipping away most of the wood around the handle, the time comes to grab a half-round rasp and begin rounding over the handle. Once the handle looks cylindrical enough I ask my students to imagine what kind of handle they want to form. I show them some mallet drawings and together we choose the one that best suits them. […]

The post Shape a Mallet Out of a Branch Part 2 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When woodworkers talk about their favorite hand tools, they might mention a treasured handplane — perhaps a superb pre-WWII Stanley Bedrock smoother outfitted with a Ron Hock blade or a beautiful set of hand forged Fujihiro chisels.  A hybrid woodworker might have a Felder combination machine with a slider and tilting shaper or perhaps a carefully restored and finely tuned antique 16” Oliver jointer. The point here is clear. Woodworkers […]

The post Cutting Tools for Digital Woodworking appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I say this often. I’ve written it many times. Maybe I get the insight from the many years I’ve spent refinishing furniture. No matter how good or how careful you are, stuff still happens, and you have to strip off what you’ve done and start over. Every professional or semi-professional refinisher knows this because they’ve had to do it. But woodworkers making new projects usually don’t do that much finishing, […]

The post Screwing up the Finish Won’t Ruin Your Project appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.