Tricks of the Trade

Here’s a quick way to get all the dust out of your machine’s nooks and crannies. Most shop vacuums have one port for vacuuming and a second port for blowing. Hook up a hose to each [...]

Drawer Helper Desperation is the mother of invention—isn’t that how the old saying should go for woodworkers? I invented this device when I realized that the drawers in my new armoire tipped down [...]

When I crosscut hardwood plywood, I use an old technique to minimize tearout on the bottom face. I simply make two passes with my general-purpose blade. After setting the rip fence, I cut a [...]

The dust collection port on my sliding miter saw missed a lot of sawdust, so I added an additional port mounted directly behind the blade. The port is a piece of 3-in. ABS pipe that’s cut at 45 [...]

Instead of making disposable inserts for my drill press table, I found that it’s faster and cheaper to make disposable fence/table assemblies. I can use the entire surface of my disposable [...]

A piece of thick plate glass is dead flat and it’s easy to use to align standard jointer knives that have gib screws. A couple of rare-earth magnets secured to the glass with double-sided tape [...]

I use biscuit joints in lots of small projects, particularly for joining rails to legs. I usually reference from the bottom of the plate joiner rather than use its fence. When I want to make an [...]

Like many woodworkers, I own a basic half-blind dovetail jig, which I use only occasionally for making utility drawers. During the interim, I tend to forget the setup procedures and spacing [...]

Rare earth magnets make really slick hinges for small boxes. The lid on this ring box pivots on two hinges made from 10mm magnets—nothing more. Each hinge is composed of two magnets: one is glued [...]

When I’m sanding pitchy wood or removing old finish, my sandpaper gets really gummed up and I can’t get it clean with the rubber eraser-type cleaner. I used to throw it away and buy more. [...]

Hole saws provide an inexpensive way to bore large holes, but they have a maddening tendency to clutch the drilled disk afterward. I’ve found that the best approach for removing a stuck disk from [...]

I needed a way to lift pieces off the surface of my bench for finishing, so I made some 3/4″ x 2″ x 3″ blocks and inserted 1/4″ x 1-1/4″ dowels into them. [...]