Woodworking Posts

I am building my first campaign chair with hard maple. Can you recommend a finish to make a darker look to the light color of the maple? Also, Christopher recommended ‘black wax’ in the video.  Will that work on my maple and where can you buy black wax? Ken FWIW, I like the look of maple with a clear finish – why not let the beauty of the wood shine […]

The post Campaign Chair Finish Questions appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

OK – so I’m two days late on posting about Get Woodworking Week 2015, Feb 15-21. And that feels about right, because it always takes me a day or three longer than planned to get away from my computer and into the shop. (Case in point – we were closed for President’s Day yesterday, and I was planning to spend it in the shop at work, but a snowstorm put […]

The post Get Woodworking & ‘I Can Do That’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

While I wait for the homemade stopping to set on my boarded chest project, I’ve allowed myself an attempt at making a plane. A pair of wooden planes caught my eye on eBay and I took a punt on them. They looked good to the eye but the photos were quite poor and to be honest, I should of asked more questions as they turned out to be a little […]

The post Making a Jack Plane appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Believe me – I’m at least 10 times as tired of my kitchen rehab as you probably are. But there’s one last big project to tackle before I can call it (almost) done. That’s a counter-height (and counter-topped) table for a wonky curved corner to the left of the stove. Because that’s where the cat bowls are, I didn’t want to build a cabinet (I also didn’t want to have […]

The post Wonky ‘Corner Table’ Build (& Thank You SketchUp) appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Before you read beyond the first few sentences of this blog entry, there a couple things you should know: I have no problems sharpening a drawknife. Never have (except that time in the 1990s where I ended in the ER for seven stitches). One of the first tools I inherited from my grandfather was his old drawknife, which I still use. I have just finished editing a chairmaking book by […]

The post Galbert Drawsharp in Use appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

When considering ideas and looking for inspiration, I don’t like to limit myself to just the furniture or joinery in isolation. Considering the environment around me helps me form ideas and leads off into interesting tangents of discovery. “Holistic” would be a nice term, but would likely make me sound pretentious. You see, I’m not an expert; I just have a healthy zest for learning. The photos here are snapshots […]

The post Architecture as Furniture Inspiration appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.