Shop Blog

When the British Empire expanded to almost every corner of the globe in the 19th century, the furniture of the mobile class evolved into simplified versions of high-style Georgian wares, [...]

Why Does My Wood Have Stripes?   Q: I put a clear finish on a beautiful ash table I made and found faint stripes an inch or two wide going across each board. Any ideas on what caused them [...]

After today’s installment we have one installment left in this multi-part series. Last week we added the top front rail with dovetails and the drawer support system. This week we will add [...]

Portable Food Safe This safe features two sliding doors and two removable trays. By Randy Johnson No more smashed frosting, cracked crusts or capsized casseroles.You can take your culinary [...]

Perfectly Parallel Fence Here’s a quick and easy way to align your tablesaw fence with your miter slot.Plane down a board until it fits into your miter slot without play. Now slide the [...]

When I built my traditional-looking tool chest, I was focused on the challenges of building furniture in a small apartment space. It came out great, but let me tell you – it was a bear to move [...]

Earlier this year a friend purchased all that remained from the estate of Franklin Gottshall. If you are not familiar with that name, then you probably aren’t into furniture from the Queen [...]

Last time I wrote about and showed you the old shop and the complete make over we put it through. This time I will talk about our woodworking program.  After the initial renovation was [...]

Thanks to a book I’m writing on campaign furniture, I’ve installed more brass hardware in the last two years than in my first 18 years of woodworking. As a result, I have become quite particular [...]

Repairing Ripped Belts Sanding belts can rip at the worst possible moment – such as when you're out on a jobsite with no spares. When this happens I remove the belt, turn it inside out [...]

I spent a good part of the summer designing and building this simple looking cabinet, the cover project for the December 2013 issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine. The issue should be on its way [...]

I just did something pretty satisfying. I just completed my first woodworking task – a task that’s part of a build – with a handplane. I’m pretty sure that no one other than me will be impressed [...]