Frame and Panel Hope Chest
Frame & Panel Hope Chest Mortise and Tenon Joinery the Easy Way by Tom Caspar I used to struggle with mortise and tenon joinery. I tried every new system that came along, but they all seemed [...]
Greene & Greene’s Thorsen House
When you think of the work of Greene & Greene, you usually think of Pasadena, Calif. Pasadena is home to the Gamble, Blacker and Robinson houses, and there is a fantastic collection of the [...]
Good Wood Species for Tool Chests
I’ve seen a lot of vintage tool chests in my travels, and most of them have been made of pine. What kind of pine? Hard to say. Most pines look the same when they are covered in paint, dirt, [...]
Slot & Spline Paneled Door
Slot & Spline Paneled Door Hands down, the easiest way to make a frame-and-panel door. By Tom Caspar Purchase the complete version of this woodworking technique story from AWBookstore.com. A [...]
Secret to planing end grain?
Is there a secret to planing end grain? Is a low-angle block plane required? I don’t think so. My trusty wooden smoother does a good enough job for me. What you need to plane end grain is a [...]
Hardware for the Campaign Chest – Complete
After much searching, purchasing and examination I settled on a suite of hardware for the Campaign Chest I’m building for Popular Woodworking Magazine. The hardware arrived this week, and I could [...]
A Better Way to Learn SketchUp
Learning a new skill is a lot easier if you think of it as a hobby. Though I wasn’t one of the earliest adapters, I started using SketchUp, a drafting program you can download for free, a [...]
Confession & Redemption
I have a palm-grip random-orbit sander that I’ve used for many years on household projects that could not be planed because they were too big, such as 16’-long runs of base moulding nailed to a [...]
A Woodworking Award – of Sorts
I don’t believe I’ve yet written about the recent award I won for my (lack of) design prowess – probably because I’m mildly ashamed. But only mildly, because it was for a piece [...]
Rethinking Graduated Drawers
When it comes to building chests of drawers, most examples I’ve seen since the 18th century and later have drawers that graduate from top to bottom. Bigger drawers at the bottom; smaller drawers [...]
Who Are Your Woodworking Heros?
One of the best parts of this job is getting to meet great woodworkers, guys who have managed to make a living doing what the rest of us do for fun. We feature woodworkers now and then in Popular [...]
A Slightly Fancier Tool Chest
I examined lots of tool chests when researching “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest,” and found that their designs fell into two broad categories: 1. The plain and simple pine boxes with trays. 2. The [...]
