Tricks of the Trade

Making an inset drawer line up flush with the face of a cabinet can be fussy work. To make it easy, I just install two screws on the back of the drawer and turn them until the drawer’s front is [...]

Like most planers, mine snipes, overcutting a bit at both ends of a board. Sometimes I’ll simply cut off the sniped areas if I can afford the extra board length. However, with precious woods, [...]

After cutting out plugs on the drill press, I used to saw them from their blank using the table saw. Unfortunately, this would often send the freed plugs flying across the shop, forcing me to [...]

I use lots of wedges in my shop, sometimes as disposable clamp pads for tricky glue-ups or for general shimming chores. Sometimes they’re incorporated into a project, as when making wedged [...]

When working on small projects, I often need to glue odd-shaped mouldings and tiny trim to box sides and other pieces. Not much pressure is required to hold these small pieces in place, and I [...]

Clamping cauls are indispensable for gluing up casework. A caul is simply a stiff piece of wood used to apply pressure where a clamp can’t reach. Sooner or later, you’re going to run [...]

My basement shop is quite small and my drill press is right next to my workbench. When I needed to drill a long board, I would stack pieces of wood on top of my workbench to act as a support.…

Although I have several commercially made accessories for clamping mitered frames, they don’t work well on small frames. So, I devised my own small-frame clamping method. First, I made four [...]

Most of the time, the end vise on my workbench is more than adequate to secure workpieces between bench dogs. Occasionally, though, I need to work with thin wood at the front edge of the bench [...]

Old glasses cases are great for protecting, containing and organizing small tools, scrapers and plane irons. I label the outside so I can see at a glance what’s inside each case. -John Rustan…

When I rough out work on the band saw, I often find little pieces getting stuck in the throat insert or the split in the table. Also, I find that work can catch in the miter slot. So, I made …

Like most woodworkers, I never have enough clamps. Adding to a clamp collection is expensive, so when I needed some deep reach clamps, I made these auxiliary hardwood jaws. The jaws are mortised [...]