5 Practical Workshop Ideas
I like good ideas. I wrote “The Homemade Workshop: Build Your Own Woodworking Machines & Jigs” to show regular woodworkers the potential of a little creative thinking. Whether it [...]
Deck Coatings that Fail
In the last few years at least three major coatings’ suppliers have introduced deck coatings that have failed often enough so they have generated a number of class-action lawsuits against the [...]
Popular Woodworking Videos Free Month
In 1997 my parents built a new house. I was a rambunctious child, and my dad figured out a way to get me out of his hair for a while so he could work. He gave me a long board, …
Show Us Your Best Dovetail Tricks
The furniture record shows us that “perfect dovetails” is a modern mania. As the photos of antiques above prove, even some of the ugliest joints will stay together for a very long [...]
More on Smart Coatings
Smart coatings fascinate me. In an earlier post I told you about a paint that uses nanotechnology to cause pee to bounce off walls back onto the shoes of the perp. In another post I told you [...]
Design Brief No. 4: The Danish Campaign Chest
Unlike other furniture designers, I have a handicap. When I design something I am burdened by 15 years of designing furniture for a magazine audience. During those years, I sought to simplify [...]
Video: Level a Chair á la Christopher Schwarz
About a year-and-a-half ago, Christopher Schwarz got a bunch of woodworkers together for a sawbench building party at John Hoffman’s house outside Indianapolis. Chris was using us as guinea [...]
Build a Pocket Hole Jig Picture Frame
A few weeks ago, I was asked to build a frame for a 36” x 40“ map of northern Kentucky. I had some leftover maple and decided to build the frame quickly with a pocket hole jig. It may not …
May ‘Kits:’ Get ’em While They’re Well-priced!
We’ve some “kits” left over from May – collections of items on like subjects offered together at an attractive price (and we typically put together only 50 to 100 of each [...]
Crackle Lacquer
A friend called me the other day with a question. He was matching a crackle-lacquer finish from the 1980s and wanted to know how this finish is made and how to apply it. Crackle lacquer is [...]
Reading and Working with the Grain, a Simple Tip
Perhaps the most important characteristic of wood is its grain. And grain orientation is undoubtedly the most critical consideration for charting a plan for cutting, milling and shaping wood. [...]
Design Brief No. 3: The Danish Campaign Chest
A lot of Danish Modern dressers are taller than your typical campaign chest because the designers added a drawer or two. But some of them look like the pieces shown here. After staring at the 25 [...]
