Archives

Q: I’ve got an old plane that my grandfather left me. I’d like to use it, but its cutting iron is really rusty. Do I need to buy a new one? A: Don’t throw away that iron yet. Flattening the …

Adjustable Curves Laying out a large curve with a cobbled-together, oversize compass is a pain in the neck. Instead I use a bowed slat that can be adjusted to any curve. I used to bend the slat [...]

Q & A: The Right Mortise/Tenon Fit Q: What’s the right fit between a mortise and a tenon? I’m going crazy trying to measure them with a dial caliper! A: You’re not alone. [...]

Snap-On Soft Jaws I’ve been using an old metal-working vise in my shop for years. Occasionally I really do need a metal-working vise, but most often I use it to hold drawer sides up high [...]

Comfortable Dovetails Like the majority of wokbenches, mine is fine for planing but too low for cutting dovetails without prolonged stooping. My answer is to clamp a heavy backing board, as shown [...]

Normal 0 0 1 377 2153 17 4 2644 11.1282 0 0 0 I recently attended the JLC Live event in Providence, RI. It's an event for builders and remodelers. Since Festool was showcasing some new tools [...]

Q & A: Warped Wood Woes Q: I ordered a milled piece of ebony through the mail last winter. It looked great upon arrival, but after a few days it was so warped and twisted that I [...]

Starting today, and continuing each Friday, I'll be posting tips from the American Woodworker archives. This first one, however simple, is one of my all-time favorites, and one of the [...]

Pull Saw Miter Box Short lengths of molding can be awkward—and sometimes dangerous—to cut with power tools. I’d rather cut them by hand, using a Japanese pull saw and a shop-made miter box. Make [...]

Q & A: How Much Light? Q: My husband wants to turn our basement into a TV room so I have to move my shop to the garage. I want to fix it up right and one of the big…

Q & A: Perfectly Flush? Q: I recently bought a plate joiner in hopes that it would help me get perfect alignment when edge-to-edge gluing. I’m still getting some unevenness at the [...]

Q & A: Slot Cutter vs. Plate Joiner Q: I saw an ad for a slot-cutting router bit. I have a router and buying the bit instead of a plate joiner would save me a lot of money. Is there …