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I like to use purpleheart pen blanks because they’re less expensive than other exotic hardwoods. Recently, I stumbled on a cool trick. I discovered that I could cause the wood to overheat and [...]

Christopher Schwarz once demonstrated a time-honored trick for hand-cutting tenon shoulders. After laying out the joint, he chiseled directly downward onto the shoulder cutline, then made a [...]

Over the years, I’ve shortened a fair number of long bolts to some desired size rather than traipsing to the hardware store for just a few of the proper length. Unfortunately, I always [...]

I frequently need to clamp wood on edge to saw tenons or work the edge of a plank, but I don’t have a traditional woodworking bench. While studying at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, [...]

One of the most accurate approaches for checking a case or other assembly for square is to compare the inside diagonal measurements for equidistance. The easiest way to do this is using pinch [...]

I have to admit that I’m not very fond of dowel joinery. I’ve repaired too many old dowel joints over the years to trust them. Part of the problem is that a dowel hole in face grain offers only [...]

Glue Cleanup in Tight Spots Glue squeeze-out can be difficult to clean up in tight spaces such as beads and grooves because you can’t wipe the area very effectively with a damp rag nor insert a [...]

After years of wishing my old workbench had a tail vise, I realized I could make one of my new Jorgensen Cabinet Master bar clamps do the job. All I had to do was reverse the sliding lower jaw [...]

Re-sawing a board is tricky. Most blades drift, so that you must angle the board to get a straight cut. Standard bandsaw fences can’t be angled to compensate for drift, so many folks use a [...]

Having light precisely where you need it at the bench makes it easier to see what you’re doing, especially for jobs such as laying out joinery, cutting dovetails and other detail work. This [...]

I’ve struggled for a long time to adequately light my garage for woodworking. I’ve added fluorescent and LED work lights in the areas where I do the most woodworking, but overall [...]

A router can be one of the most versatile tools in your shop. We've brought together a few of our favorite tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your router.