Woodworking Posts

For the last month, I’ve been revising and expanding my first book “Workbenches: From Design & Theory to Construction & Use” for F+W Media. The revised book is scheduled to be out by the end of 2015 and printed in the United States. I started writing that book in 2005, and a lot has changed in the last 10 years – not in workbench design, but in workholding. Plus, after […]

The post Revising my First Book, ‘Workbenches’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Collectively, members of the Popular Woodworking Magazine staff past and present have spent a lot of time at Old Salem and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) – I’d say it adds up to at least two months. And of course, if you were at Woodworking in America 2014, you likely spent time there, too. One of the perqs of being on the staff of a woodworking magazine […]

The post ‘Building the Portable Moravian Workbench’ DVD appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Last year while working in Maryland, I took a day to travel to Light Street in Baltimore to meet Jennie Alexander, author of the book “Make a Chair from a Tree.” Alexander is an iconic figure in woodworking and chairmaking, a term she would reject (or at least roll her eyes to when hearing). She calls herself an “informed amateur,” but has spent her entire life exploring how wooden parts […]

The post Make a Revolution from a Tree appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Any devoted home barista will tell you that if you are considering a $2,000 espresso machine, instead spend a grand on the espresso machine and a grand on a good grinder and you will get better brews. Coffee beans ground too fine, too coarse, or inconsistent in size will never yield a good espresso shot, no matter how expensive the brewing machine. When people ask me whether they should spend […]

The post Millionth-of-a-Micron Filters for Dust Collection Systems appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Any experience making or repairing chairs gives you a little bit of insight into how important the joinery is in chairs. And chair makers have long used socket joints – joints made with a round hole and a round tenon – because they can be made quickly and easily. One problem: these are a rather weak type of joint. That explains why with so many chairs when the glue fails, the […]

The post Learning from Windsor Chair Joints appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Last weekend, I finally got started on…and almost finished… the table build for the curved corner of my kitchen. The base is 34-1/2″ high and will get a top of butcher block that will be curved at the back to match the wall (which reminds me…I need to pick up a new band saw blade). The “ankles” – now “cankles” – are a little thicker than I’d originally intended…for reasons […]

The post Jointer Makes Quick Work of ‘Cankle Table’ Tapered Legs appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.