Woodworking Posts

One of the gripes I hear about French workbenches is that the benchtops are difficult to flatten because of the end grain protruding through the top. I don’t buy it. Here are a few simple tricks that deflate that argument. 1. Start with ‘Stop Shavings’ When I flatten a French benchtop, the first thing I … Read more »

The post 4 Tricks For Flattening French Benchtops appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

Sometimes, no matter how diligent we are, defects creep into our projects. Often we’re the cause and other times the defects are beyond our control. Or are they? Cherry is often rather brittle and the fibers occasionally fracture while the log is still standing. So it came as no surprise as I worked the curly … Read more »

The post Cracked Curly Cherry appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

With the recent release of our eleventy-billion-years DVD (OK, it’s 19 years, and more than 9,000 pages, plus it includes Glen D. Huey’s “Finishes that Pop” video), I’ve been getting questions about where the old “extras” can be found. (The actual title of the new DVD is “Popular Woodworking Magazine: 1995-2013.”) Before the flood of … Read more »

The post Antediluvian Magazine Extras appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

An eagle-eyed reader spotted this small benchtop that looks like the bigger Danish brother to the portable Milkman’s Workbench I wrote about in the June 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. This benchtop was made by LEVARD, a company in Denmark that still manufactures workbenches. I’ve seen LEVARD workbenches in Europe and even the United … Read more »

The post A Cousin to the ‘Milkman’s Workbench’ appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

There’s something challenging about simplifying complexities that pulls something out of me. Years ago, a young apprentice I worked with was jumping through many hoops to make faceted stars for inlaying. Fingers and sticks inches from the chop saw blade gave me the willies. Of course you can set up machines to do this safely, … Read more »

The post Make a Decorative Star with Paul Sellers appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.

As editors, we search our two web sites (popularwoodworking.com and shopwoodworking.com) constantly for information for the online extras portion of all  articles and most columns – the information, we hope, is both relevant and interesting. While searching the sites, I often come across books, articles and DVDs that have scads of interesting information, including tips … Read more »

The post Video Short with Matt Cianci appeared first on Popular Woodworking Magazine.