Woodworking Posts

The following blog entry might seem snarky. I assure you it is not. I’m interested in what impresses people when they view a piece of furniture. In fact, when a fellow woodworker shows off a piece of furniture, I observe the other people in the room as much as I observe the piece itself. So here is a short list of things that seem to really impress. Big Furniture To […]

The post How to Impress the General Public with Your Woodworking appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Daniel Carter and Lance Granum a few weeks ago for a  This Old Workshop podcast; it seems I talk too much, because they’ve broken the conversation into two sections, and they’re now live on the site. Click on the link above to hear about some upcoming articles in the magazine, what we look for in queries, favorite tools (both mine and the guys’) […]

The post A Look into the Future appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

One of the things I enjoy in life is the experience of the under promise and the over delivery. I bought “Is It Genuine” (1971) while searching for good information about 18th-century furniture. I don’t worship what the 18th century has to offer but at its core it represents what I feel is the pinnacle of hand-powered woodworking. It’s a unique period of the pre-Industrial Revolution world that relied on […]

The post ‘Is It Genuine?’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

The shop at Popular Woodworking has been a bit of an embarrassment for the, oh, last year or so. We’ve made a desultory effort now and again to whip things into shape, but ever since our garage door was moved to the far end of the shop (as far away from as possible and around two corners and a fence from the dumpster and recycling bin*), we’ve been less apt […]

The post Spring Cleaning (6 Months Late) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

If you haven’t figured it out, I’m wary of tool reviews in magazines or online. With rare exception they are uninformed or (worse) misguided. And believe me: I am the first to admit that I was uninformed and misguided when I started writing and editing these reviews in the 1990s. In my experience, Milquetoast reviews are not the result of malice. They are the result of several things. Readers want […]

The post How I Read & Write Tool Reviews, Part 4 appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

How did woodworkers create beautiful, curved table legs without machinery? A technique used building this tea table (pictured left) will show you… Queen Anne-style furniture makers focus on curves and achieving a light, graceful look. Cabriole legs are all about curves, and to give a lighter look to the design, slipper feet were the choice for many tea tables. Forget the lathe. A slipper foot is shaped by hand. To […]

The post Cabriole Legs Without a Lathe appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.